How do I dye rabbit hides?

[Guest1]

I have tried a couple of ways to dye a rabbit hide. Kool-Aid which works great on feathers and hair if you don't have it attached to leather, and an acid dye. Kool-Aid made the leather really stiff and brittle when dry. It seems to be OK when it's wet again, but I will need to try it out on a couple of fish before I trust it's not wrecked. The acid dye made the leather hard and brittle also, but kind of ate the leather while it was in the dye bath. There has to be a way to dye rabbit hides without wrecking the leather. Anybody know what that way is?

 

[Davec921]

Dan I have never tried this but have you tried the Rit Dye that you can get at the craft stores. I have heard it work well on fabrics an other stuff as well. It will work on golf balls from what I hear.

Hope this helps
DAVE

 

[sandfly]

are they tanned hides? if they are tanned they should not get stiff. I use kool aid and rit dyes.

 

[Guest1]

are they tanned hides? if they are tanned they should not get stiff. I use kool aid and rit dyes.

Iused tanned hides. The acid dye made the leather like a thin raw hide chew toy. Hard, no flex. The Kool-Aid did the same thing but when I use Kool-Aid I micro wave it. It may have had a bad reaction to the micro wave rather than the Kool-Aid. I have never tied Kool-Aid without the micro wave. I'm not sure how it takes the dye and how permanent it is without it. Rit may be the next experiment.

 

[Jimmie]

When I've heard guys at our FF Club talk about dying most seem to use Rit and then a cold water/vinegar solution to set it. I don't know if they were talking feathers or hair/hide.
At a recent club sale (all used items) there were some dyes that one of the guys told me were very toxic but gave the best coloring. I don't remember the name but might be able to get the name of that dye.

 

[tonysav]

Great info thanks.