dying natural fur dubbing

[neil26]

quick question please regarding dying dubbing- is it best to cut from skin then mix then dye loose dubbing or is it better to dye it on the skin then prepare after?
thanks

[arkle]

Depends on what you want to dye ?

[midlander]

It very much depends on the state of the skin.

If it's a good, clean skin and, by and large untanned, you're better off dyeing it on the skin. If you shave or cut fibre off the skin you lose any meaningful control of your mix of guard hair and under fur for different dubbing applications.

[neil26]

thanks for the info- i'm going to be dying hare body skin, grey squirrel , probably some rabbit . the hare and squirrel skins are all air / borax dried and pretty clean, the rabbit is still in its burrow.

sorry another question- is it possible to dye tanned fur - ie zonker strips or will it turn to mush or stiff when tried?

[stormfry]

the skin will get hard unless you use a cold dye or picric etc..

[jindra]

Originally Posted by neil26

sorry another question- is it possible to dye tanned fur - ie zonker strips or will it turn to mush or stiff when tried?

Dyeing tanned fur is the only way to get colored zonker strips; air dryed hide will never work for zonkers.

J.

[Gander]

If you dye on the skin, it is essential that you first remove any natural fats or grease. Something like Venpol is what you would need. This may sound nuts, but I would also pre-clean it with shampoo and conditioner. A supermarket own brand will do.