Fur Dyeing Experiments

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How I Art Doll - Dying Fur




  As far as dyeing real fur goes, anything that works on your hair should work on fur.

RIT dye works pretty well but is pretty temperamental and test dyes are a must, even still you may end up with unexpected results. Can be watered down for pastel results.
SPLAT! hair paint, BTZ hair color, and other one part dyes make super vibrant colors. Can be watered down for pastel results.
•Two part hair dyes(chemical reaction) work fine, but may be risky on really old furs.
Some colors of Jazzing sheer hair color work, some don't, I don't recommend it.
Acrylic paint doesn't work well at all for real fur, in my experience it makes clumps that brush out so you're left with tiny bits of color here that come out.
Sharpies kind of work, but they leave a grimy feel and come off a bit on your fingers.
Alcohol based art markers on the other hand(I've used Ohuhu) work great when you give them a good 24 hours to dry fully. The art markers are an ok choice for a few markings, but definitely not economical for coloring large areas. Can be heat set. Can be rubbed off if you really grind your fingers on it.
•Alcohol inks work pretty well if you also give them a good 24 hours to fully dry. They will dry fairly quickly, but what I mean is they need a good several hours to really set. Can be heat set. Can be rubbed off if you really grind your fingers on it.

    When using dyes meant for human hair, the resulting color on white fur can be not what you expected. The hair dyes are formulated to work on human hair, which usually has a yellow or orange tint to it, white fur does not. So dye that turns my hair fire engine red, turns out hot pink on white fur.

  I do not dye my fur in a bath anymore, the leather did not take well to it one time and totally ruined it's flexibility. Perhaps it was just the mixture of dye and hair color, or something to do with my tanning chemicals? Really not sure, so now I just brush/rub it onto the fur.

 Guard hairs tend not to dye well, which may or may not be a good thing! As you can see here with my white pelt dyed red with RIT. And red dyes for hair tend to turn out pink on white fur.Sany0382 by StorybookCreatures
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BlueFlameWolf's avatar
May i ask if youv ever tried acrylic on real fur? Ill be ordering some paint soon to dye either my mink or faux fur for my art doll and iv read real fur is harder to dye.

ill be using an airbrush, and going for a nice brown color (my minks are white lol) would acrylic work?