Dying gear (as in coloring)

[Optimist]

I've been experimenting with dying surplus gear from the camouflage pattern they came in to something more fitting to my environment (and/or just to make it look cooler to me). Instead of cluttering up the original thread on second line gear I figured it would be better to make a new one about dying gear.

Moab also has a relevant thread sowing an ACU backpack being dyed here.

I've picked up a bunch of cheap surplus gear in ACU* and some in British Desert DPM. I'm hoping to dye them green to better match my environment. Where I live (boreal forest biome) things tend to be very snowy from late October until early May. Then during the summer when things are leafed out there's tons of bright green underbrush. There are short interim periods in the spring and fall when there are more yellows and browns. I figure a dull grey-green that looks kind of like spruce in winter would be the best color for me to shoot for, with bright green or snow white 3d camo tied on as the season dictates. I have a thread about camouflage here and Moab has one here.

I've also got some M81 Woodland camo gear that I picked up back when that was the cheapest option and I wouldn't mind ending up with some stuff that worked well with that. I don't think it's necessarily the best pattern for my environment, but I'm an 80s/90s kid and if I'm honest this is more about fun for me than something I think is a critical necessity.

*Technically the pattern is named UCP but everyone calls it ACU so that's what I'm going to do.

[Optimist]

I was originally just going to do one or two test pieces then dye everything in a big batch, but I've actually been finding the process fun so I'm going to do some more tests.

So far I've just been using Dark Green Rit dye. I added some vinegar and salt to near-boiling water and mixed in different concentrations of dye and left the test pouches in for different amounts of time. I was trying to follow the instructions on the bottle in terms of amounts and times, but it turns out I was measuring out a LOT less dye than I thought.

I've been taking pictures but it's hard to get them to look in the camera how they look to my eye, especially under indoor lighting.

A - Old OD Green ALICE pack used as background for the picture
B - Undyed ACU vest
C - New M81 Woodland magazine pouches
D - Faded M81 Woodland vest (most of the pouches are also hooked to a Woodland vest but it's pretty well covered up
E - Undyed Desert DPM utility pouch
F - Desert DPM grenade pouch dyed with a light concentration of Rit Dark Green for an hour
G - Desert DPM utility pouches dyed with a heavier concentration of Rit Dark Green for an hour*
H - Desert DPM utility pouch dyed with leftover Dark Green Rit dye for two hours (very little change from original color)
I - ACU canteen pouch with lighter concentration of Rit Dark Green for half an hour
J - ACU bandolier died with lighter concentration of Rit Dark Green for an hour, then again with the leftover dye for another hour
K - new OD Green pouch
*The desert DPM I have comes in two colors of MOLLE webbing and borders. One is light tan and one is dark brown. You can see here how the light tan gets way more green than the dark brown. The grenade pouch that was dyed in the above pic stated out light tan.

I took a small number of pouches with me out into the woods the other day, and took some pictures against a spruce branch. The lighter green needles are this year's new growth. You can see the light green undergrowth in the background.
M81 Woodland pouch

The dark green part of the pouch isn't too far off the spruce needles.

Desert DPM grenade pouch dyed with a lighter concentration of Rit Dark Green


Desert DPM 40mm grenade pouch dyed with a heavier concentration of Dark Green Rit

I thought this was a little too saturated and intense green inside the house, but holding it up next to the actual needles it doesn't look bad

ACU Bandolier dyed with a lighter concentration of Rit Dark Green

I thought this one would be about right inside, but it's a lot lighter and gray-er than the spruce needles.

However, here's a picture of some spruce needles in the winter to keep in mind when looking at the above pictures

[Optimist]

My original goal was to keep the dye recipe cheap and easy, preferably following instructions on bottles of dye that are easy to find locally. This was partly to make it easy for me to remember and partly because I'm planning on giving a lot of the gear I bought away and I want to be able to give the recipients an easy recipe in case they want to add more later. The first part I don't care about as much now because I'm having fun, but the second part still applies so I don't want to get too crazy.

I think I'd like to make the green on the pouches to be dark like the Desert DPM pouches that were done at a higher concentration, but less saturated and a little more grey something like a darker version of the ACU bandolier. Halfway between those two might be pretty nice.

If my color theory from painting is applicable I think maybe a terracotta reddish-orangeish-brownish color might be good to tone down the Dark Green. A grey might also work, but it might take a lot to make a dent in the Dark Green. Black on the otherhand might be super easy to go overboard with. I'm going to town tomorrow and I might look for a terracotta orange, a medium brown and a dark grey. If they have the lichen color dye used in Moab's thread I might pick that up, but I don't remember ever seeing that brand before. I might get a lighter green of some sort. I don't want to get too much because not spending too much money is still part of the goal.

I put in a surplus order that included a bunch of ACU triple mag shingles in rough shape for only $2 a piece. I got them to use as test pieces for dying, and then to make some bandoliers out of. I should have six pieces test with.

I'm going to try to force myself to wait until winter to look at my test pieces in more conditions before actually committing to dying the bulk of the stuff. Here's a picture of an undyed ACU vest on a birch tree in winter that makes me think it might actually be a decent pattern here in the winter despite being ugly and hated by most everyone.

[Optimist]

Not much longer before the summer greens start dying back for fall colors, so I'd better get a move on if I want to test without waiting another year.

I meant to grab what I could find locally in town, but Walmart was pretty much sold out and I was so sick of town I couldn't force myself to go to Joanne's. It's usually months in between me getting to town so I';; need to order it online.

I spent some time looking at different recipes on the Rit website and picking out recurring colors from what looked good to me. I'm going to get Apple Green, Pearl Grey and Dark Brown to go with the Dark Green I already have. I'm thinking about also picking up Sage although that one is new so it isn't in any recipes.

I'm also going to try to get Dharma Lichen and maybe Moss Green.

This will probably end me up with more dye than I need, but it seems like maybe a good thing to have around. I wonder how long it will keep if I close it back up with the wax tape they wrap whiskey bottles with?