dye osprey load carrier

[Tramples]

So I was in the surplus shop today and picked up an osprey load carrier and 3 pouches in desert. £30 the lot. Anyway I was thinking to dye it green. It's fine for urban or quarries but I spend most my time on mixed or woodland sites, stands out a bit. I got some Dylon olive green ready to go, anyone tried it?

 

[sp00n]

i dyed a desert ubacs shirt black a while ago ... it looked pretty cool, but it didn't go completely black (some bits were still brown), and over time the black faded ... still looked cool though B)

(i cannot remember what dye i used it might have been the washing machine with some salt stuff)

 

[Tramples]

Sounds like the Dylon dye, same instructions. I'll post pics but got to get the salt 1st

 

[Tramples]

It's in the machine on it's 1st cycle. Looks good through the door.

 

[Tramples]

Ready to Experiment



Doesn't look very green



Looking good through the door



More to come 1st cycle nearly finished

 

[Tramples]

Hmmm doesn't look very green, rinsing now so see the end result later, think I might give it a 2nd go with a darker green dye perhaps

 

[TheGrover]

its certainly an improvement, perhaps another treatment (leave the first to dry and set in first) will make it blend in better.

if its dense woodland you're in, a dark brown should be good enough to blend in between the tree trunks and earth, though each woodland site is different

 

[Tramples]

That's the finish for today, all dried. It's a little greenish and lighter after the rinse but the only bit to take the actual shade is the elastics loops on the side of the vest. Going to try the dark green shade tommorrow in the handwash and leave it soaking a bit longer. I think 2 packets at least but might go 3 to be sure (1 pack per 500g of fabric I think), it's quite heavy.

As for the washing machine it looks like there's algae growing on the rubber bits, the missus is not going to be happy. Bit of scrubbing cleared the bit off the door so hope a proper load of washing clears it up.

 

[sp00n]

hmmm looks a bit better mate B)

might have to try and black dye one off them vests

 

[Undieing_Lust]

I found this article.

https://www.ehow.com/how_7444123_dye-cordura.html

Not sure how much help it is now like but I thought I would post it on the off chance.

 

[jcheeseright]

forget dye, cordura nylon is just thin strands of plastic, it won't ever take dye well enough to make it actually green.

spray paint it instead.

 

[Tramples]

Now that tutorial should work but where will I find a pot large enough to fit a load carrier.

Ordered the RIT dye now, Dark Green £6.50 off ebay for 2 packets, i'm not going to boil it but if you start it at a high temperature it should work, just have to keep topping it up. Going to have to get a giant bucket though as I'm not paying £30 for a catering stock pot, i'm doing it on the cheap. More trials of the dye to come.

 

[n1ckh]

An old tin bath from a salvage yard will work or those large rubber buckets from a builders yard

 

[Undieing_Lust]

An old tin bath from a salvage yard will work or those large rubber buckets from a builders yard

An old bath tube should work well.

Tramples how could your not going to place it into boilding water?

i'm not going to boil it

 

[Tramples]

i'm not going to keep it on the boil. It says somewhere to keep it at 60c so I figure start hot hot hot hot and as it drops to near 60c add more boiling water, and how am I gonna fit a tin bath on a camp stove.....oh next weekend is going to be green and messy

 

[Undieing_Lust]

i'm not going to keep it on the boil. It says somewhere to keep it at 60c so I figure start hot hot hot hot and as it drops to near 60c add more boiling water, and how am I gonna fit a tin bath on a camp stove.....oh next weekend is going to be green and messy

You might end up having to do it in parts.

 

[Snowdrop]

This is never going to work unless you go industrial. Cordera and polyester are the same as they won't take Dylon etc. Save yourself a lot of hassle and just paint it.

 

[Chock]

Yup, get a can of olive drab spray paint and do it with that. It'll be fine, it is essentially no different from when you get paint on an old t-shirt when you've worn it whilst you are decorating, you know that always stays on the thing, and it will be the only way that the nylon parts and the buckles and zips will look decent with it.

I sprayed an (originally olive drab) RAF Browning Hi Power canvas holster black with a can of flat black primer for use in my CQB load out and it worked just fine. You just have to do it in several passes and let them dry in between to have it look okay.

 

[Tramples]

Update incoming. Finally got around to using the Rit Dye. My finger tips are now green. Much better result though not quite as instructions tell you. I didn't have a pot large enough to fit the vest so I used a plastic storage box which I have a stack of from moving house a while ago. The boiling water did warp it though so it's going in the bin later. Mixed 2 packets of Rit Dye as instructions, poured into mixing tub then added 5 saucepans of boiling water. Enough to fill the tub 1/2 full. Submerged vest and 3 ammo pouches then top up boiling water to make sure everything is covered. Stir or prod in my case, for 30 mins. Every 7-10 minutes take out some of the water and top up with more boiling water to maintain the higher temperature. (note don't use the missus favorite wooden spoon or you will be in the doghouse for making it green!!!) After 30mins remove pouches and rinse in warm water till water runs clear then repeat with cold water. Next I removed the vest and rinsed 3 times with warm water until running clear then a cold water rinse. Squeeze out as much water as possible and I then hung everything over the tubs in the bath until it all stops dripping. 2 hours have gone by and it's still dripping. If you have a garden/clothes line i'd hang it out there. (I have a flat no garden) So you can see it's now much closer to how I wanted it. I'm going to colour the zips with a Green or Black Permanent marker when everything is dry.

The Rit Dye colour was Dark Green powder type. Bought it off ebay.

 

[Undieing_Lust]

Wow. Seemed to work pretty well apart from the mesh and the zipper.