We just got a new dog! She's a wonderful boxer we adopted from a family that just didn't have time to devote to her anymore. We couldn't be happier and she came with all kinds of goodies. The downside to these goodies is that the previous owners were not concerned with color choices when mix n'matching leashes, collars and whatnot. BUT, that is what dye is for!! My new girlie came with a bubblegum pink harness and a pale pink and brown back pack. They are the same items as pictures below:
Supplies:
- Fabric/item to be dyed
- Fabric dye (I used 2 boxes Rit powder dye in Pearl Grey)
- A bucket or top loading washer
- Some pots for boiling water and mixing the dye
- Lots of water
- Something to stir the items and dye
- 1C Vinegar
- 1T Laundry detergent
- Rubber/latex gloves
My hope for this project was to turn the pink area of the pack a nice grey, leaving the black as is and perhaps tinting the brown to a greyish/brown. The harness I could really care less about since I do not use them on my dogs. I prefer a regular collar. But, again, since it was free I figured I'd toss it in the mix and see how it comes out.
I washed both items in the washer to make sure the dye job would come out as even as possible. I then mixed both packages of dye into 4 cups hot water and added a tablespoon of laundry detergent. As this was dissolving I had another pot of clean water boiling. The clean hot water was then poured into a 10Qt plastic bucket and the dye mix then added and mixed into the plastic bucket as well. I kept my dye bucket in my bathtub to contain any spill over.
I rinsed both the pack and harness with hot water before adding to the dye bucket. Once in I stirred them around a minute and then rinsed out the pot I used to dissolve the dye in. No damage had been done to the pot. The plastic spoon I was using to stir had already taken on quite a bit of grey, which I expected to happen. I continued to stir the items in the dye for 5 more minutes and then added a cup of white distilled vinegar. I stirred for the recommended 30 minutes as according to the dye instructions. At this point the bright pink harness was now a deep purple/black. The pink of the pack was a lavendar/grey and the brown pockets looked unchanged. So I left them sitting in the bucket and jumped on google to investigate. The Rit website says you may leave items in the dye for up to an hour in order to achieve the correct color wanted. So I let them both continue to soak, stirring every few minutes.
After the hour had passed I dumped the bucket and rinsed it out. It came out undamaged as well. It didn't take much rinsing of the items before the water ran clear and I stopped to check out the progress.
Here are the items rinsed out after the hour soak, but not dry:
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| The pink area it now a grey/lavendar (hard to see by the pictures). The black and brown portions appear unchanged. |
The harness took the dye extremely well and is almost black. The stitching turned purple, but the nylon itself is a dark purple, almost black.
Here are the items after a run through the wash on cold and line drying in the sun:
All the plastic buckles were left unchanged, but were black to begin with.
The outcome is better than what I started with. The harness is a very nice deep purple that looks great on her. But since I don't use them I will be donating it to a shelter. The pack is definitely more grey than pink, but the two colors combine to make a silver-grey when dry. I'm thinking if I had used a third box of dye, but not added more water it would have been more concentrated color and done a better job. I'm going to use the pack as is and see if the silver grows on me, but may attempt a second go at the pack and use a combination of black and grey dye in hopes of getting a charcoal grey finish. I will update if I go down that route. If you are interested in combining colors to get a specific shade, then Rit has a great formula guide on their site for doing just that. You can find it here.
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| Char and Dyna |
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| Dyna wearing her improved (in my opinion) pack |
Also-The little bit of over spill that happened in the tub easily rinsed away. Though I didn't let it sit for more than a minute before washing it away. The only item used that was ruined in this project was my mixing spoon. I had planned to throw it when this was complete, but will hold on to it for use with the next dye job. If you don't want to ruin anything I would suggest using a paint mixing stick or something stainless steel.
Total money spent on this was $5. The dye cost $2.50 each from my local craft store and I had all the other items on hand already.
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