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Dying capes

Started by Lochan_load, November 12, 2014, 08:54:25 PM

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Lochan_load

I'll give that a watch, wee davie fix!
I watched him tie a goats toe the other day just  to see if he did it any different, nope, good anyway

Lochan_load

Bought 3 capes from eBay £3.40 delivered, not sure about their origin and it's possible the guy cut them off the hens himself!
[attachimg=1]

Planned to do 2 (a white and a brown) blue and the other one claret.
The white one dyed well and is pretty uniform and ideal for a teal blue and silver, the brown one didn't take the dye well at all and looked patchy and almost green. The same happened with some pheasant tails I did at the same time.
The opposite seems to be true of claret, I've found it works best on a natural brown feather and dyed the brown cape nicely and looked really good over a natural pheasant tail.  When I've dyed  white feathers before  it leaves it a bit pinky and light.
Fiery brown and black seem to work well on pretty much anything I've tried, but they are stronger colours .
As the second cape hadn't taken the blue well I thought bugger it and threw it in the pot with the left over claret dye, nothing to lose really and it actually came out a pretty nice dark claret, although it's not completely uniform I'm sure it'll come in handy , hope this helps anyone who's thinking of having a go, I'll attack a pic of the finished capes to give an idea, the colours  haven't photographed totally true .

Lochan_load

[attachimg=1]

Darwin

#23
Wash the feathers well with warm soapy water, that helps prevent the blotchy uptake of the dye.  They all look nice but I really like the clarets, the dark one looks like what I have seen called chocolate claret.   :D

**Edit Synthrapol is also helpful with blotchy issues.
http://www.dharmatrading.com/chemicals/synthrapol-detergent.html

Lochan_load

It was a bit of an accident but is probably the colour I like best  :D
I wash everything in warm water with washing powder, the capes I think had just been done by a farmer and the pheasant tails were from a guy I know who shoots , the dirt of just a few feathers is amazing, I let them soak for a bit as well and then rinsed with cold water. 

bibio1

Bought two cheap badger capes. Dyed one an olivey yellow and the other flouro orange.

I'll use these for kates and dabblers.

Also going to start to fill a new fly box for boat fishing. Need to bet tying.

Cheers

Paul

Lochan_load

They look magic Paul, im always scanning eBay for a bargain cape. Got a cracking cream one last week and dyed it with a mix of sunburst and fiery brown, came up nice ginger for soldier palmers.

bibio1

Looks good. It's becoming a bit of an obsession with me. Trying to get a good golden olive and a nice bright orangey red game is difficult. What colour of sunburst do you use. Orange or yellow.

Likewise with eBay. I've started buying them and then halving them.

Cheers

Paul

Lochan_load

Yellow sunburst Paul, really wanted a proper claret cape, the dyes and the ones you buy are very purple and the veniard dye can even be quite pinky. Bought a blue dun hen cape ( not a cheap one ) and combined claret dye with some fiery brown which is quite reddish in colour, started with the purple claret in the pan and added to the brown til it looked about the  right colour, came out really well and more of a true claret. Quite addictive this! Will tie a fly in the morning
[attachimg=1]

bibio1

For a brilliant claret try flouro orange and fiery brown....
Not slot of orange is needed. Try it with seals fur first. The best claret I've ever had .

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