dying feathers
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: Freshwater Fishing
Forum Name: Fly Tying
Forum Description: Swap tips and techniques for Fresh and Saltwater fly patterns
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=101748
Printed Date: 30 Jan 2026 at 10:03am
Topic: dying feathers
Posted By: old timer
Subject: dying feathers
Date Posted: 12 Jun 2014 at 7:41am
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anyone dye their own? what did you use and how did it turn out? Edit: just realised I should have put this in the tying section edit:Uncle moved
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Replies:
Posted By: Jaapie
Date Posted: 12 Jun 2014 at 3:32pm
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Mate, I've dabbled around with dying feathers over the years. In all honesty, it is a royal PITA. I used to tie quite a few flies for a shop I worked at for pocket money and needed specific colours for traditional old fly patterns. I'm going back more than a few years trust me  Started out with white feathers and used a commercial dye available at pharmacies in those days in 60 degree water to start the process. Had to leave the feathers in the solution for 15 minutes and then remove them to cold water for the dye to set. The hardest thing with all this was getting the feathers to dry again. It was fine dying full or half capes, but I did lose some because mould set in if they weren't completely dried. I was shown by a taxidermist to put salt on the capes after they were dyed. It was also supposed to set the dye and absorb any remaining water - this worked well. It was a long process and messy to boot, but it did work. I'd be very surprised though why you would want to dye your own these days as there is every conceivable colour under the rainbow from online stores, unless you have something special in mind. That's just my take on it though. Good luck mate........oh, and work outside when your dying your colours. That stuff stains like a *******! ------------- "Only when the last tree has died, the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught,will we realize that we cannot eat money" - 19th Century Indian Creed |
Posted By: old timer
Date Posted: 13 Jun 2014 at 11:54am
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I thought that might be the case. I shoot/ gather a lot of my own materials so was just wondering if it would be worth it. it sounds like probably not cheers for the help |
Posted By: desmofrankie
Date Posted: 20 Jun 2014 at 5:42pm
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I had a go at it last year with what they call in the US the "Kool aid dying" method. Basically they have some lollies (Kool aid) with so much food color in it that you can use them with some vinegar to burn the die in your material. I went with that method because I had access to powdered food color at work. The color doesn't hold quite as well as I'd wish but I had guestimated the proportions of vinegar and to be honest some shop bought died marabou (branded) bleeds even more than my own stuff so maybe it's just me being picky) I'd say go for it: mixing colours to get the shade you want is a whole lot of fun! If on top of it you have some free material sitting around there's clearly no reason not to!
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