Tutorial On Dyeing

[Blu Falcon]

Good news. I bathed it in bleach for about 15 minutes, rinsed, and put it in the dryer and it came out a definite yellow. I will still dye it "golden" yellow but at this point I feel safe in declaring this first dyeing experiment a success. (or its the Rit dye fumes making be believe its yellow ) I will take pics and post them tomorrow.

Oh yeah and the vest feels just as thick as it ever did.

Now hurry up and get those pics up.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Good news. I bathed it in bleach for about 15 minutes, rinsed, and put it in the dryer and it came out a definite yellow. I will still dye it "golden" yellow but at this point I feel safe in declaring this first dyeing experiment a success. (or its the Rit dye fumes making be believe its yellow ) I will take pics and post them tomorrow.

Oh yeah and the vest feels just as thick as it ever did.

Great news! I figured as much, but you never really know until the job's done so thanks for being the first and risking your vest.

Now, before you dye, there's the question of the embroidery...

 

[pixletwin]

I am waiting for my bosses computer to be available so I can upload the pic and you guys can judge for yourselves.

 

[ProgMatinee]

I think Merry's vest is probably embroidered.

Embroidery in 1/6 scale will be downright impossible, but it may be possible to do something like embossing with heat to replicate texture.

 

[pixletwin]

Tell me what you think.

 

[ProgMatinee]

I think thats a major success. Even the brown thread doesn't look bad against the yellow. I'd maybe change or paint the buttons and try something to give it the right texture, but the color works well.

 

[Entropy]

It looks sharp. Paint the buttons and it will be a pretty good Merry vest.

I've looked into the embroidery and ran a couple of test pieces and it just looked too messy at this scale.

 

[ProgMatinee]

My wife does quilting and scrapbooking and a technique I think observed once was she layed a fabric over a stamp and put an iron over it. The fabric was then left with an imprint of the stamp. I don't know if it lasts or not. She may have spraid it with something at first. I'll ask her.

 

[pixletwin]

That would be awesome if it worked. I wonder what Sideshow would have done? I am inclined to think they would have left it quite plain. But if we can make it posher that would be fantastic.

 

[Blu Falcon]

A very reassuring and cost effective modification. Ladies and gentlemen, we have our vest.

 

[pixletwin]

Merry's actualy prop vest is a bit pointier at the bottom but I think this works fine.

 

[ProgMatinee]

You know what... now I recall I think the stamp thing Michele did was on suede and thats why it held the stamp. All the same, I'll check with her to see if she knows something for other fabric.

Marc, would you mind starting a Merry vest thread with a brief procedural on what you did thus far?

 

[FlyAndFight]

Pix, that came out sharp!

 

[icruise]

Looks awesome. I just wonder if the color removal step is necessary or not.

 

[pixletwin]

Give it a whirl. I am pretty sure that to achive the same color with bleach would have resulted in orange and if it got to yellow it would be after a lot of soaking and that may have damaged the vest. But I dunno. This is all new territory for me. Give it a try and let us know. The less work the better, for sure.

 

[icruise]

I'm not sure I want to be the guinea pig, since we already have a success using your method. I don't want to have to try and track down another Frodo vest at this point.

 

[pixletwin]

Frodo's are starting to become scarce.

 

[Entropy]

You know what... now I recall I think the stamp thing Michele did was on suede and thats why it held the stamp. All the same, I'll check with her to see if she knows something for other fabric.

Marc, would you mind starting a Merry vest thread with a brief procedural on what you did thus far?

Yeah, after some research, it seems you can emboss on velvet, suede and leather but that's about it.

 

[pixletwin]

........

Oh well. Honestly I am happy with what I got. I am going to take my Golden Yellow dye back to WalMart and exchange it for Dark Green... stay tuned for that!

 

[Entropy]

You didn't dye it with the golden yellow? That's just from color removal?

And I've been doubtful about the results of simply printing a design on the Frodo vest, thinking that a pre-printed fabric or embroidery would look best, but I think that printing a design in a slightly darker shade of yellow on that vest might actually work out well.

Inkjet iron on paper might be the way to go.