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Dyed my black gimp blood red

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  • beardown
    rekoner
    • Feb 2009
    • 1418

    Dyed my black gimp blood red

    This is just a general FYI for anyone who wants to change the color of a black cotton garment to something else. Sometimes you can have too much black in your wardrobe, I've found.

    First of all, you've got to lighten the black garment in question, which means bleach (you can also get a color stripping treatment but bleach works just as well if you do it properly).

    One of the problems is that bleach will deteriorate cotton so you have to manage it right to keep damage at bay.

    Get a bucket or tub that will hold enough HOT water (2 or 3 gallons) to submerge the garment. Get 1 cup of regular bleach (not colorproof) and mix it in with the water. After it is well mixed, drop your garment in and submerge it while mixing. Keep it moving and pretty well agitated. Submerge and let it soak for 2 hours. Dump the water, check the color and then if you have to, do it again. Add another cup of bleach, more hot water and 2 more hours. You're not going to get white but you're going to get a neutral color (like a brown or orange) that will allow you to dye it a darker color.

    IMPORTANT STEP: After you have achieved a lighter color, you need to mix about 12 oz. of .3% hydrogen peroxide into yet more water and submerge the garment. Leave it there for four hours to be safe. (I left it in overnight just for convenience).
    The hydrogen peroxide will neutralize the bleach and keep it from eating away at the fabric. I did this and had absolutely no damage to the material using this method.

    I ended up with a rusty orange color after bleaching and neutralizing. Kind of ugly but perfect for a base of a deeper dye color.

    DYEING: Please refer to this post here of my experience with dying the garment after rinsing out the hydrogen peroxide.

    This is the final result. From a deep, dark black to a nice blood red color with consistent dyeing and no damage whatsoever with very little shrinking. I'm guessing about 4% shrinkage overall (a few cm each way in length, width, sleeves) even with all the washing, hot water, rinsing, etc. and it is 100% cotton.

    It was definitely a commitment when including all of the steps and time but I'm super happy with the results. Budget about 2 evenings to do this while working on something else. The majority of time involved is simply soaking or rinsing.
    Originally posted by mizzar
    Sorry for being kind of a dick to you.
  • TheThief
    Senior Member
    • Mar 2011
    • 435

    #2
    ...amazing result. Kudos, that really looks cool as hell.

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    • beardown
      rekoner
      • Feb 2009
      • 1418

      #3
      Thank you...I'll take some more photos tomorrow when the sun is up if anyone wants to see the specific color of red.

      For the final tone, I mixed 3 colors of RIT (one I already had): Deep Red (cardinal), Wine and Black.
      Originally posted by mizzar
      Sorry for being kind of a dick to you.

      Comment

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