Dyeing fur

[Harma]

Hi all,

I know this is not exactly leatherworking, however I often come across working with fur as well and am very curious how to dye it to create patterns and such.

So far I haven't found the right type of dye yet (though I only did try leather dye).

What I'm also curious about is with what the leather beneath the fur can be coloured with as the regular dye I use doesn't work, which probably has to do with the way the hides have been treated. At times I'd like to darken the edges where I cut the fur so you won't see the white of the hide beneath it as much.

I generally use penetrating dye's from Fiebing, Grison and something nameless.

Best regards,

Harma

[HorsehairBraider]

Usually when I dye stuff that has the hair on, I am not only trying to dye the leather, I am trying to dye the hair as well, so I don't know if this will work for you or not.

I use fiber dyes - I approach it the same way I would approach dying wool or mohair or silk etc. If you can get acid dyes I would suggest those. (I know it sounds bad, but the acid is either acetic acid or vinegar.) The union dyes that you can commonly get in the supermarket - such as Ritt - are a bit of a waste of money, in that you can't exhaust the dyepot. That's because there is more than one class of dye in them so that they'll dye nearly anything (which is why it's called a "union dye").

A good source for dye is Pro-Chemical Dyes. There are also some good instruction sheets here on how to use various dyes, as well as explanations of how to dye safely.

[pete]

You confused some of the folks here in Arkansas. I thought that you made "sumoin' so purdy it was worth dying fur!"

pete

[Harma]

Thanks very much.

Will try to get my hands on some of that stuff and start experimenting. I'm not entirely sure the website ships oversea, if not, I should be able to get it around here as well somewhere.

Thanks again,

Harma

P.S. lol at Pete. Did I make an error? Realise that English is not my first language, wouldn't be the first time I'd write or say something unintentionally funny because of it.