Hey guys,
Who are my dyeing experts out there? I just got a cream/white luftverk Fulvia with the idea of dyeing it. I want it to be the most neon orange possible. I watched Dylan Kowalski’s video on dyeing plastics, so I bought some Apricot Orange RIT Dyemore.
I’m just wondering if anyone else has any general advice. Ratios of water to acetone to dye? Temperature? Any other dyes that might work better on the Fulvia?
I dyed this using rit dymore and acetone. No water. This is like a 2 parts dye to 1 part acetone. It is a harsh mix so only dip for a short time, like 5-10 minutes. This was dipped multiple times to get layered resist colors. It has some chips because i went long on time and it eats the surface, making it more brittle. This is also diferent plastic compared to the fulvia. I am working up to doing a 000.
Back in the “old days” I’d usually do 50/50 acetone + water and rit or dylon (dry powder). Now days with the concentrated liquid dye and the dye more synthetic solution it’s about the same ratio with dye and no water. If you want super dark colors no water is the way to go BUT water is also beneficial to dilute it a bit so it’s not too dark. I know it’s not really answering your question. It’s one of those things where you have to experiment a bit to get the ratio you like.
My main tip is to use heat. Heat is your friend. I don’t care what anyone says. Warm it up, you’ll get killer results this way. Just be careful though. Acetone’s boiling point is MUCH lower than water (56c / 133f). Too hot and you’ll boil off all your acetone or even hit the flash point and ignite it. Which is no good! Mixing the two (water and acetone) the acetone will start to bubble and boil off before the water gets going, but keep it hot enough that it just starts to bubble and you’ll get much better penetration.
Typically, now days with the liquid stuff I’ll do pure acetone with the liquid dye and maybe a cup or two of water depending on how strong I want the dye concentration to be. You can use just water and dye, or heck, even just dye and heat it up, but the acetone is going to act like a catalyst and open up the plastic to help the dye penetrate better. It’s not 100% needed but it helps immensely. I’d also suggest using distilled water if/when you can. It’s guaranteed to give you good results. You never know what impurities are in your tap water. They could possibly interact with the dye and give you different results than you’re expecting.
I don’t know how it would work on a Yoyo, but melted wax is another method used historically in other crafts for that kind of effect. I don’t know how that works vs hot glue which seems like a good option as well
Elmers glue might have to go on really thick, its also water soluable so its meant to wash off with water. I didn’t get good results trying to paint it on.