To begin, let me preface this by stating a few things to clear up some confusion that may happen.
1-I am not a hair-dresser of any sort and know hardly anything about how feathers and crimp beads can affect your hair. I simply know about feathers and their specific properties.
2- People will wonder why I am telling people how to get this good of results when feathers are in such high demand in the hair industry. Why don't I just keep this to myself and let people buy them from me exclusively? My answer? The feathers themselves are in high demand, if you have suitable feathers, I want to help you get the most out of them. I have built up a large supply of feathers from fly-tying and do sell locally, but overall, I want to spread the DIY spirit to everyone and SHOW you how to do it rather than sell the product.
3- There are several factors in the feather dyeing process and if you don't get very good results, it may not be the method, but rather, the materials. Leave a comment and I can help you troubleshoot the problem.
This Instructable will show you how to dye feathers for feather hair extensions like a professional. The results I get from this process are very good, and I expect the same for you. This is the easiest method I have used to get vibrant colors to permanently stay in the feather. See the picture for a poorly photographed example of the colors I get by dyeing the feathers this way.
Dyeing the feathers this way, they can still be washed, curled, straightened, and remain durable.
The required materials are minimal, but, care must be taken to do the steps correctly.
Any confusion you have at this point will be cleared up in the following steps. A few key points are bolded for ease of finding them. Not all of them are, but, most of them.
Shall we begin?
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Signing UpStep 1: Choosing the right feathers
In order to get a perfect color, you must start with the perfect feather. See my pictures for suitable feather choices.
Personally, I use three criteria to pick out feathers for dyeing and selling. They are:
1-Use--Do you want long slender feathers or shorter, more visible "bang" feathers?
2-Comaptibility--Will these feathers work with this process? Oily feathers will need extra steps. How much time do you want to spend?
3-Appearance--Is the feather naturally undyed and free from visual defects? One has to remember that feathers come from an animal and like the stripes on a Zebra, everyone is different. If you are using a barred grizzly pattern, is it consistent?
I almost exclusively dye Natural Grizzly feathers. This is not a brand, but the term used in the fly tying community to denote that the feather is barred, typically black and white, that NATURALLY occurs on the feather. If you looked at the bird they came from, they would look the same. Only previously undyed feathers will yield optimal results. Also, the lighter and more neutral the feather color is, the better it will dye. For example, white and black grizzly means that the white bars (as seen in the picture) will take the color, and the black bars will remain black. This will be true regardless of the final color. I find that pattern to be the most desired of colors I show people. Also, light brown feathers will take a color but, standard color blending/combination rules apply.
I absolutely do not recommend craft store feathers. These are sub par quality and have almost always been previously dyed. I would use only high quality feathers marketed for fly tyers and fishermen, not art projects.
Once you have picked your feathers (making sure they have been removed from the cape or saddle skin patch if they came like that, it is time to prep the other materials needed.
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Also, I recommend wearing rubber gloves for the dying parts - never mind that its only koolaid, my fingers are now a vibrant red-orange from agitating the feathers and pulling them out of the dye. :)
Good question. I usually rinse off the feathers with tap water and let them dry on a paper towel. They will fluff out when dry so don't worry about it. You can use a hair dryer on low if you are in a big hurry, but I don't advise doing that all the time.
And yes, gloves are a good idea... I usually find that so long as I remember to not touch the solution for too long and then rinse off my hands that there isn't much color left.
I'm just about to dye my 3rd lot of feathers after following your instructions.
I think I've got the processed nailed, but I struggle to get the colours which other people seem to get with their. For example, I would like a really bright Fusica Pink and use the Pink Lemonade Kool Aid, but this tends to come out a bit 'wishy washy' more like a faint Coral Pink. Other colours like Purple and Blue are also quite faint compared to the deeper, more vibrant colours I've seen people get.
Is this down to the colour / flavour of Kool Aid I'm using, or more to do with the concentration of the solution?
I'm going to experiment with this new batch, but wondered if you can shed some light on the situation please?
Regards
Color has a lot to do with it; you could try mixing two colors of Kool-Aid, but I haven't gotten around to trying that... But the chemistry behind it says it may work... Test it on a few first.
You can also put it through the microwave another time or two if you want, this helps with the darker colors like blue and purple.
Anymore questions, let me know!
Thanks for a great instructable, this method works a treat and means I no longer have to week 2-3 weeks for shipment of coloured feathers from the US.
Just one question, is the solution reusable after dying the feathers? I go through quite a lot of feathers and thought to save time and some money, I could keep the solution in a sealed container to keep until I next need to dye some feathers.
Is this practical or does the solution perish after use?
Thank you in anticipation.
Kind Regards
Nathan
I suppose you could save it, but, remember that with each dyeing cycle, some of the color is transferred to the feathers. That means the color concentration of the solution goes down use after use. Also, The dye would probably settle down and reactions may or may not occur with the vinegar sitting for a while.
Personally, I do not save and reuse the solution. With the relative inexpensiveness of Kool-Aid (at least here in the US; maybe $.68 a packet), and the guaranteed "freshness" of the solution (so that I know the dye is still very strong), I make a new batch every time. When I used to sell feathers dyed this way, I found the most time consuming aspect of the process was "de-oiling" the feathers, and that the extra few minutes to make the solution was trivial in the grand scheme of things. I just factored in $1.20 to my cost per 50 feathers and was always able to provide consistent colors to my customers.
Hope this helps, and, good luck in your feather dyeing endeavors
I've bottled up some of the last batch I mixed, just to see if it will last. The only reason being is Kool Aid is not as readily available here in the UK as it is in the US. The whole point of me dying my own feathers was to avoid the 2-3 weeks lead time they have been taking to date.
If I can establish a regular and reliable supplier of Kool Aid here, then I'll happily mix on demand.
Thanks once again for all your help. I'll send you some pics once I've made up a substantial batch of feathers.
Have a nice day :)
"...they can still be washed, curled, straightened, and remain durable."
"...making sure they have been removed from the cape or saddle skin patch if they came like that..."
The first quote hinted at what can be done (alteration?) to a feather and the second quote assumes I know more about feathers than I actually do.
What exactly is the cape or saddle skin patch? I imagine that my craft store feathers (pheasant & cock tail) don't have these parts anymore, but my next purchases will be from the hunting/fishing superstore, so I'll need to know this eventually.
Could you expand a little more on working with feathers, i.e. curl, straighten, etc.? Although I could probably google "fly tying" to find that kind of information, couldn't I?
And more thing - any helpful hints or suggestions on working with found feathers?
In regards to any alterations to a feather, there are two simple rules:
--Don't apply too much heat or they will be come brittle (curling and straightening can be done briefly; but avoid drying them with a hair dryer too directly. The quill can and will become brittle and break if overheated.)
--Cut carefully, and never from the tapered tip. Cutting sides is tricky, as each feather has a unique taper and is hard to re-size and duplicate. It can be done however. Fly tyers like myself learn how to cut feathers to correct sizes, tapers, and widths; but it takes time. Just be sure to always start cutting on the thick end of the feather (the side that has almost fluffy barbs)
You asked for other tips, and I thought of one I may have forgotten to mention in the 'ible. Buy ROOSTER capes and saddles for longer, more slender feathers like I used. Buy HEN capes and saddles if you want shorter, broader feathers.
Let me know if I can help in any other way,
If it is chicken or guinea fowl; or some other bird whose feathers do not have a sort of fibrous material connecting each individual barb to the next, you should be able to use a solution of warm water and dish soap to de-oil and clean the feathers. Swish them around in the solution and let them air dry, preferably in a single layer on a paper towel.
As far as the viruses and such, you may be able to soak the feathers in a weak solution of isopropyl alcohol or hydrogen peroxide. I have not tried this but I don't foresee any issues with it.
Just be sure to test it first on a sub-par feather.
Hope this helps,
Also, using Kool Aid is a great idea. I've done some painting with Rit Dye and suspect I could get brighter colors with Kool Aid. Another idea to try.
Thanks for this.
Also, in regards to curling, the pheasant and turkey quills are way too thick. Unfortunately, they would crimp before they bend into a curl.
Let me know if you have other questions,