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The Rit Dye Experiment

Started by mreasyguy, 18 March, 2013, 18:13:24

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mreasyguy

The thought of dyeing my own Kendama only recently came into mind. I dye alot of products in my place of work, and we work alot with rit dye for dyeing wheels and also skates when we need them so i thought i would dabble in doing my own ken. I know Sweets do dyed kendama's but this way i could just buy plain ones and dye them to the colour i like as i have easy access to rit dye.

Here are my results:



What is needed:
1 Satchet of rit dye
1 Container big enough to fit the kendama
1 kettle (or boil water using a saucepan)
1 Plain Ken.

Step 1: While boiling the kettle I setup the container in the sink and added about a 1/3 of the sachet. Remember, it is better to put less in than more as you can always leave the product in for longer, or add more later if needed. We usually use 1 packet in a giant saucepan and that's enough to do 100's of wheels over time.



Step 2: Add boiling water into container as to fully submerge the ken. As you can see, with any wood, it will float, you can put something on top to weigh it down but i just rotated it every minute (just make sure you use gloves as i now have orange fingers, i should have known better). Leave in until desired colour is reached. Mine literally took 4 minutes max.



Step 4: Wash all remaining dye off ken under cold water, This to stop it taking on anymore colour and also to cool it down to dry quicker. Id advise leaving it to dry for at least 24 hours before use just so the dye settles properly and doesn't rub off on your hands.



As you can see from the end result it came out a dark orange, i could have put less dye in to get a much brighter colour. Thinking about it you could also make the dye and paint it on with a paintbrush, i went with the soak method to make sure it penetrated the wood quite deeply.

You can also use the dye while it's still hot to dye up some strings too!

We sell rit dye on our ebay store and website but it is cheaper off our ebay store found HERE

Hope this helps anyone who fancies adding a bit of colour to their kens.

JamesFM


The Void

If you don't want to BUY MY BOOKS 😉, then why not ask your local library to order them in, and read them for free? That would help too. Cheers!

Waylon

I'm pretty sure this is happening to my Tribute. It's got an orange tama. Maybe I should give it a purple or green ken.

Dimensions

Nicely done
Does it feel e same as before???
Shameless Self-Promotion:
http://www.youtube.com/user/escapees6

mreasyguy

UPDATE:

I have left the ken for 24 hours now and the colour has gone really nice, a much brighter orange than before, i have strung a spare Tama onto it and will be playing with this baby tonight to see how it's affected how it plays.

Here's the finished Kendama


BKA

Were those photos taken under artificial light? They look like they may have a slight yellowish tinge to them. I suspect the ken looks even nicer in the flesh wood?

mreasyguy

yeah they're my shelves spotlights. does tint the photo's a bit. She is a beauty and plays nice so far  :D

Waylon



My results. The left is some junk kendama I bought my son without knowing how crappy it would be. The right is my Tribute with wood grain tama. I chose green and blue because that's what my girlfriend had lying around after dying some clothes last Halloween.

RodDama

how do the kens feel? same kind of texture? i hate painted kens because they stick... lol
-RodDama!

www.terrakendama.com

Waylon

It isn't sticky at all. More like a matte finish type feeling. I imagine it will feel normal again over time as it wears in. Having dyed both the tama and ken on mine, lighthouses are much easier. 

RodDama

interesting...cool! thanks for the info!
-RodDama!

www.terrakendama.com

PikWik

#12
thanks for the tutorial and suggestions, heres a few ive done since reading this!


starter kendama i sanded down and dyed/painted


natural ozora rit-dyed


i like the rit dye compared to wood stain and paint. the stain and paint seem to give a different feel/texture to the ken. the rit dye feels like colored beechwood

RodDama

that all blue oozo is pretty tight
-RodDama!

www.terrakendama.com

Peat

#14
Thanks, will be sure to use this method once I have all my materials for dyeing. This has brought up another question though, does submerging the ken in water cause any damage?