x2 on the Rit fabric dye. I've dyed dozens of tails for tying musky bucktails.
All the colors come out excellent except black .
The orange is very bright, the chartreuse is outstanding, brown is deeply fabulous and grey is right where I like it. Even red comes out a nice deep scarlet. Black? A putrid purplish, greenish crappy mess.
Don't ask me why, I've never found an answer. My tails are squeaky clean to start. I've done salt, vinegar and hot baths. I even cooked a batch right off the skin trying to get a nice totally jet black. For cryin' out loud, the standard for musky bucktails is black. I'll bet black outnumbers all the other colors combined and I can't get there. I finally resigned myself to either trading or selling the ones I could color for the commercial black. If you come across a secret and share it with me I'd be forever in your debt.........
That said, just a few of experience points:
- Make sure all dirt, fat and blood are cleaned from the tails you want to color.
- Salt will not have a negative effect on coloring with Rit dye. I think there's some salt right in the stuff. Some extra salt helps the tail take and hold color.
- I've used an old Dutch oven (or similar) on a camp stove outside. Heating dead animal parts in the house does not go over well......
- Don't overcook 'em. Hot water is good, boiling not so much, see above..... I have "recooked" some that either didn't turn out well the first time through with success
- Some vinegar in the solution helps set the color
That about covers it. Hope this gets you going in the right direction. Good luck with your project!
/m