Experiments in Dying Muskrat (playtime)

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letumgo
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Experiments in Dying Muskrat (playtime)

Post by letumgo » Sun Jul 26, 2020 8:25 am

Yesterday morning I had I woke up bright and early, and decided today was the day to experiment with dying parts of a muskrat hide I had been given by our buddy Doug (DOUGSDEN). I took pictures along the way, in hopes of sharing them on the forum. Anyway, here is the process I used to dye a series of shades of muskrat fur using Rit liquid dyes.

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Process begins by washing each patch of hide with soap and warm water (removes oils and helps prepare the fur patches for the dye bath).

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While I was washing the fur patches, I heated a stainless steel pot of water to a boil.

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Washed fur patches.
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I then sorted the patches by shade (darkest on left/lightest on right). I decided to start the dying process with the lightest colors of fur, then work up to the darker pieces, increasing the amount of dye with each batch.

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First batch was done with 1/4 teaspoon of dye (in this case "Apricot Orange") color.
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After dying the first batch, I rinced out the fur under cold running water, squeezing out any excess dye. Once the water ran clear, I squeezed out the excess water then headed off to the bathroom to find my wifes hair dryer (shhh..don't tell her).

Checking the color of the first patch.
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The guard hair and tips of the under fur seemed to take on the color most. This first batch had the colors of a honey dun hackle (golden orange tips, fading into darker dun (gray) in the under fur. Lovely.

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I continued the dying process, increasing the amount of dye between each batch. Rince repeat....
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The patches were then all spread out on the dash of my car, to bake in the heat of the sun to finish drying. It's amazing how effective this is at drying out the leather patches. The are bone dry after an hour or two.
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Finished shades of muskrat (varying amounts of dye and blending colors)
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Darkest Shades (equal amounts of Apricot Orange/Tan/Cherry Red)
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Spectrum of finished patches:
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For comparison - The two lightest patches are undyed sections of the belly fur (really nice pale watery dun).
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I had an old Hungarian Partidge skin, which I cut up and added to the dye bath.
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Give it a try. It's a lot of fun.
Ray (letumgo)----<°))))))><
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wsbailey
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Re: Experiments in Dying Muskrat (playtime)

Post by wsbailey » Sun Jul 26, 2020 12:34 pm

That turned out well, Ray! I was thinking that you could make some awesome Casual Dress flies with that color. I'm getting ready to do some serious dyeing but right now it's too hot.
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Re: Experiments in Dying Muskrat (playtime)

Post by DUBBN » Sun Jul 26, 2020 1:53 pm

I am very impressed with your dyed Muskrat, Ray. I have a hide the size of a regulation NFL football. Let me know if you would like to trade half of it for a few small patches of your dyed fur.
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Re: Experiments in Dying Muskrat (playtime)

Post by chugbug » Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:01 pm

I've been lurking for a while... I really enjoy this forum, remarkable tying, but this one of yours on having fun dying materials got me on board... It really is very easy and fun. Here are some of my first tries, aiming for a less green bwo body color, experimenting with a variety of natural materials.

Here's the bug color I was aiming for:
BWO Under Abdomen from Troutnut.jpg
BWO Under Abdomen from Troutnut.jpg (23.58 KiB) Viewed 4150 times
Here's the commercial "bwo" color on a stripped quill body:
BWO Parachute Quill from Below with Commercial Dyed Peacock Quill.jpg
BWO Parachute Quill from Below with Commercial Dyed Peacock Quill.jpg (23.51 KiB) Viewed 4150 times
Here's my custom "bwo" color even on a substandard quality (hand stripped) quill:
BWO Parachute Quill from Below with Hand Dyed Peacock Quill from Flytire.jpg
BWO Parachute Quill from Below with Hand Dyed Peacock Quill from Flytire.jpg (32.25 KiB) Viewed 4150 times
Here's the materials:
BWO Dyed Materials.jpg
BWO Dyed Materials.jpg (47.83 KiB) Viewed 4150 times
I'm having trouble posting more than four pics in one posting, so I'll follow up with another post showing some of these up close
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Re: Experiments in Dying Muskrat (playtime)

Post by letumgo » Sun Jul 26, 2020 4:37 pm

Chugbug - Welcome to the forum. I’m delighted that you are joined the conversation and posted pictures. Those flies look extremely effective. I am new to the whole dying thing. Bill (wsbailey) is an expert. His dyed Berlin Wool yarn and Pigs wool dubbings are fantastic. I just love playing around and learning new things related to fly tying.

I look forward to seeing more of your posts and pictures in the future. Welcome.
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Re: Experiments in Dying Muskrat (playtime)

Post by hankaye » Sun Jul 26, 2020 5:43 pm

chugbug, Howdy;

Welcome to the forum. Beautiful way to cross the threshold.
Now that you've joined you can find all the stuff we've had tucked away
from the bait topics up above, chuckle.

Looking to some more of those excellent ties. Think you matched the
color you were trying for.

hank
Striving for a less complicated life since 1949...
"Every day I beat my own previous record for number
of consecutive days I've stayed alive." George Carlin
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Re: Experiments in Dying Muskrat (playtime)

Post by chugbug » Sun Jul 26, 2020 11:09 pm

Thank you all for the nice welcome. I just realized the flies I posted were not flymphs... :roll:
Either way, here are some close-ups of the materials in BWO color...

Australian possum, one dyed and another natural for comparison:
BWO Dyed Australian Possum.jpg
BWO Dyed Australian Possum.jpg (43.65 KiB) Viewed 4096 times
Stripped neck hackle:
BWO Hackle Stems Close.jpg
BWO Hackle Stems Close.jpg (89.65 KiB) Viewed 4096 times
Deer hair:
BWO Dyed Deer Hair.jpg
BWO Dyed Deer Hair.jpg (53.65 KiB) Viewed 4096 times
Saddle hackle #16-20:
BWO Hackle.jpg
BWO Hackle.jpg (45.37 KiB) Viewed 4096 times
chugbug
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Re: Experiments in Dying Muskrat (playtime)

Post by chugbug » Sun Jul 26, 2020 11:20 pm

And a few more...

Horse tail:
BWO Dyed Horse Tail.jpg
BWO Dyed Horse Tail.jpg (51.9 KiB) Viewed 4096 times
Peacock eye quill:
BWO Peacock Quill.jpg
BWO Peacock Quill.jpg (45.41 KiB) Viewed 4096 times
The last is a nice orange brown I tried for some rusty spinner bodies and threw in a patch of deer hair to use the extra dye:
Deer Hair Dyed Orange Brown.jpg
Deer Hair Dyed Orange Brown.jpg (49.64 KiB) Viewed 4096 times
At some point I'll have to post some flymphs and maybe dye some other fur for them besides the possum. Thanks again for the welcome.
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Re: Experiments in Dying Muskrat (playtime)

Post by letumgo » Mon Jul 27, 2020 6:14 am

chugbug - Thank you for sharing the additional photos. All of them are inspiring. ;)
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Re: Experiments in Dying Muskrat (playtime)

Post by ronr » Mon Jul 27, 2020 9:27 am

ray, the cherry red and tan were what i used on my norm wood specials i did for my first swap. adding the orange looks interesting. i think it might add some depth of color to my calf tails. thanks for sharing another of your secrets.
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