Dying peacock hearl & eyes

[orca]

Can anyone help me
I've had two failed attempts at dying peacock herl.
The dye just won't take.

[screaming_reel]

Originally Posted by orca

Can anyone help me
I've had two failed attempts at dying peacock herl.
The dye just won't take.

It has worked fine for me
Rinse under water then put in to the dye and leave it in for a good length of time If your dying darker colours ie black dark claret you need to keep the pot on the heat for the dye to take
Hope this helps
Richy

[11foot5]

When you say the dye just wont take do you mean it wont take to the quill or the herl ?? It's easy to get the quill to take the dye, but the herl only takes it in a limited way.....I think that's why people bleach the herl first if they are trying to get it to come out red. black, olive etc.....

[orca]

Yes I was trying to dye it black. This might sound a stupid question how would I go about bleaching herl ????

[11foot5]

Don't know Orca, but I have read about it somewhere....maybe even on this forum...try a search and see what you come up with.....failing that someone will eventually come on here and tell you all about it I think it's a delicate job if I recall ......bleach also removes the flu from the quill, so I guess it's not straight forward

[screaming_reel]

Bleaching feathers and such like I use women's hair dye
Then wrap in clingfilm and hit with a hair dryer for a few minutes
Then rinse of in warm water put in a pillow case and put in the washing machine and wash then leave to dry

[johnfk]

If you've rinsed the natural oils off the feathers then adding an ounce of vinegar to your dye water may help cut the colour.

[Chris Reeves]

Bleaching peacock is a sure fire way to remove all the fluff from the quill, in fact it is one of the recommended ways to do just that.
I have found that there are plenty of natural white peacock feathers for sale in the states, (check out ebay for example) and these have the natural sheen that we all love. If dyed carefully this is retained.
Phil Holding at Fly tying boutique has them.

Cheers

[gaz19]

buy them already dyed safes alot of hassle

[orca]

I think u might b right Gaz.
Thanks everyone for the heads up.