Anyone know how to dye canvas?

[Carpe_Diem]

I picked up a new pack yesterday which is a polycotton canvas. Unfortunately, being an Alpine design, its bright RED.

i've tried using a clothing dye but the colour wont stick to the polyster. Anyone got any ideas as to what i can do??? i basically want to get it to black as olive green is probably out of the question.

any ideas would be appreciated

regards
Jeelan

[tenbears10]

No idea sorry, but I will be interested if anyone else does. Mainly because I own a nice Karrimor alpiniste 45+10 but it is electric blue.

I don't even see how it would work because the fabric itself is waterproof and therefore dye wouldn't soak in would it?

Bill

[Carpe_Diem]

yep thats right ten bears...in this case the pack manufacturers are locally based and i rang them and they said that a) the dye wont stick to the polyster and b) part of manufacture process is to impregnate the canvas with resins and wax under heat to make it water resistant so those chemicals wont allow the dye to soak into the fibres of the canvas.

I've just tried writing ink and that works somewhat, and i've also tried heating kiwi shoe polish and rubbing it into a small patch and that seems to have taken on quite well.

I'll allow the patch to dry overnite and see how it is tomorrow morning.

The karrimor wouldn't be canvas would it???? if it's a cordura type nylon i wouldnt have any suggestions on how to change that....with canvas i figured it was just a tougher version of normal cotton that you wear etc.

regards
Jeelan

[leon-1]

No idea sorry, but I will be interested if anyone else does. Mainly because I own a nice Karrimor alpiniste 45+10 but it is electric blue.

You and me both Bill, great pack even though the colour is not overly Bushcrafty, it is good for what it was intended for though :wink:

There have been a couple of threads on dying poly cottons on here before, but from what I can recall there never has been any suitable conclusion.

This is only a suggestion, but give Pointnorth a call, ask them if they know of any way to dye poly mixed materials. I wish you luck in your search :-)

[tenbears10]

D'oh of course you guys are right I wasn't thinking, it isn't canvas at all. I just don't think you can change the colour of that kind of material. Good luck with the canvas though.

[bambodoggy]

The only way I can think of is soooo slow and tedious as to be prohibative....

You can write your name on them in permanent marker pen (We used to do this with our PLCE Bergans in the TA to find one DPM one in the middle of a Troops worth! lol) so it figures that you could colour the whole rucksac in the same way....just very slow and boring to do!!!

This is for the poly-cotton..... Canvas should just dye normally.

[Moine]

If you don't mind your pack stinking for a few days, you might consider spray painting it. I did this with an old Jack Wolskin pack (which was blue). I painted it brown, khaki, olive green and black

I expected the paint to fall off pretty soon, but it help up well.

Cheers,

David

[woodrat]

silk sceening inks would be the only thing I can think of that would work.

[ChrisKavanaugh]

Are we concerned with simple aesthetics or a need for subued colour? I would suggest finding a commercial or service surplus pack cover. Simple solution and you just weatherproofed your kit.

[Carpe_Diem]

Hi Chris

Packs covers tend to get shredded in the parrot bush in WA very quickly.

WINTER in the Pilbara or Kimberley region of WA is usually 30C and summer in the low to mid 40C so no need to worry about it getting wet. I'm not worried about aesthetics but rather a subdued colour.

I think the bright alpine colours tend to stick out like dogs b*lls. HAving said that most gear tends to pick up the reddish bulldust that's every where here. doesn't matter what colour your pack starts of as, it inevitable ends up with a reddish tinge

[Bob Hurley]

If you don't mind your pack stinking for a few days, you might consider spray painting it. I did this with an old Jack Wolskin pack (which was blue). I painted it brown, khaki, olive green and black

I expected the paint to fall off pretty soon, but it help up well.

Cheers,

David

I did the same thing to an orange daypack in cordura I got from LL Bean, and after about 15 years the paint is still on it, just not as new-looking as it was.

[leon-1]

Jeelan, seeing as you are where you are Have you thought about soaking it and letting the sun bleach it, probably not the best idea as UV will probably degrade the material as well, but it is a thought and it would bring the tone down, maybe then it would be easier to colour.

As I said earlier we have talked about these things before and never really got anywhere, also as stated earlier get in touch with pointnorth and go through the contact us link, you never know they may have a solution for you and are normally very helpfull.

If they do let us know :-)

[Carpe_Diem]

i've rung around locally and spoken to a few canvas manufacturers. They said my best bet would be try talking to Signwriters and screen printers who deal with heavier canvas fabrics for promotion banners etc.

I've left my query with one such company and he said they do have an ink that they use for canvas that has been treated in finished in such a manner. Apparently its a thick paste like ink that is air dried. I'd have to brush it on with a paint brush and actually rub it into the canvas and let it dry overnite. The excess just flakes and powders off.

I'll be picking it up on the weekend so will let u know the name of the product and whether its worked or not.

Thanks for all the help and input in the meantime

regards
Jeelan

[Gary]

I made myself some moosehide choppers with white canvas gaiters and decided to prettify these with a splash of colour what I did was mix a little red model paint with white spirit and painted this onto the gaiters. I allowed the spirit to evapourate and then washed the canvas in warm soupy water. Colour faded a little but it took well enough.

You might try that but you will need a darker colour. Another thing to try is using salt as your fixing agent.

Good luck.

[Moonraker]

Check this site out:

Dyeing Polyester with Disperse Dye

Beginning of a very informative article with useful links. Read the link for full details:

Polyester requires the use of disperse dyes. Other types of dyes leave the color of polyester almost entirely unchanged. While novices happily charge into dyeing with acid dyes (for wool or nylon) and fiber reactive dyes (for cotton and rayon), often with excellent results, the immersion dyeing of polyester is a different story.

However, disperse dye can be used by even young children to make designs on paper, which can then be transferred to polyester fabric, or other synthetics, with a hot iron. The possibilities are endless, using fabric crayons, rubber stamps, painting, an

The source of disperse dyes in the UK they mention is:

Raindow Silks

Check right at bottom of this page or word search the page for "disperse"

I have not done this myself and read it was not easy but there is a lot more info on this site which gives hope.

Why not try a tie-dye effect ):