Silkspan dyeing?

My first attempt at dyeing silkspan was a flop... I mixed the dye and strained it, put it in a cookie sheet and put the silkspan in. By this time the water was about room temperature. The instructions say 140 deg. F. Oh, well. Onward through the fog. when I went to remove the silkspan from the water they had all stuck together. I ruined them trying to seperate the sheets. So now my hands are dyed, my work table is dyed, my shirt is dyed, my pants are dyed. The silkspan is not dyed.

So how do the experienced people do it? Does it matter too much if the water gets cold? How do you keep the silkspan sheets from sticking to each other and to itself? One at a time?

There must be an easier way...

The one thing no one has mentioned, and it may not be necessary, is often dyes set better if rinsed in white vinegar. This keeps the dye from fading. I believe this is on the instructions of Rit dyes, or else I am older l than I realize.

>The one thing no one has mentioned, and it may not be
>necessary, is often dyes set better if rinsed in white
>vinegar. This keeps the dye from fading. I believe this is
>on the instructions of Rit dyes, or else I am older l than
>I realize.

ACTUALLY TY
IT'S THE I TALIAN IN YOU CRAVING GINNY GAR.

The reason that I haven't seen that much fade: lots of cloudy days here in the Detroit area. Currell

>

>Next question, what are you attempting to do? If you are
>putting clear dope over the silkspan and want a died effect,
>you can put the coloring in the dope and merely spray it on
>that way. It is a nice effect, but it is not "front row".
>(Or second row or third row or...)

Light weight, easy to apply, better looking than clear dope on white silkspan...

Here is a pix of the finished product

The dye that you use for Polyspan is an anyline? dye and is better then Rit or the other home use products currently available.
This is usually mixed into your dope to the shade that you want and then sprayed on.
I had an opportunity to use an ink that we use for printing product info on metal and found this to be really great stuff. You thin it with alcohol, and also can remove it with the same. It does however seem to resist fading better and also didn't seem to 'blotch' as much as Rit.
So my question is could a commercial ink be a better deal then dye?

That's a cross between Naew Yawk and Nawth Kaolina for Vinegar. I think. Yankees transplanted in the deep south do have trouble learning to speak clearly.

>
>
>As you live in Texas ( I believe ), what is your experience
>with sun fading? My experience with RIT dyes has not been
>good in terms of resisting fading when exposed to the sun of
>the deep South. How about for yourself?
>

I was recently in Texas yaalll. and we used sunscreen 30 while fishing. Should work on planes as well.

Aren't there some UV urethane formulas that would help resist fading?

Bob Smiley
A Lancair 360 builder/pilot trying to be a modeler

Another nice thing about being a free flighter is the fact that Japanese Tissue comes in a bunch of colors.

>Another nice thing about being a free flighter is the fact
>that Japanese Tissue comes in a bunch of colors.

And I'd bet that double covering Japanese tissue over silkspan would produce a very attractive and durable result.