dyeing boots?

[malleman]

I was wondering if anyone has experience dyeing boots using Rit dye? I am thinking of dyeing some red boots a darker red and some blue boots a darker blue. I am not sure this even works. Does anyone have any advice?

Thanks

[Bizarro Amy]

I don't think I used Rit, but I've dyed red CTVT pirate boots purple before. They turned out fine. Since the boots were already red, I just soaked them in blue dye. Just don't use too much dye, because you can get a powdery residue on the plastic. It comes off, but it's easier just to watch the amount of powder. I've also heard of thin plastic melting in the boiling liquid, so you probably want to turn the heat down a little once the boots are in there and watch them carefully.
However, I tried to dye a thicker pair of boots just a few nights ago, and they wouldn't take the dye at all. They were the CTVT space boots. I don't know if it was the thickness or just something in the plastic, but there was no color change at all.

[malleman]

Thanks del.

[Captain]

If your nervous about the hot water harming the boots, you could always paint them. I use a spray bomb. most hobby shops sell paints in cans for vinyl and plastic. If you have one, an airbrush works great too. Using a regular brush tends to leave markes/streaks in the paint, and the end result isnt very satisfying.

[malleman]

Okay, I tried dyeing some cvtv lt blue superhero boots and knights boots. I used black rit dye and they came out pretty good. The lt blue came out a med blue and for some reason or another the knight boots came out blue also. Maybe I should have done them in seperate batches?

The only problem I can see is that I will have problems trying to match up gloves with the boots if I use this approach. I am thinking that even if I use blue hands and dye them the same way the colors won't match because of the different types of material being dyed. I am thinking that dyeing red boots with brown dye may look cool.

[megowgsh]

try airbrushing them and sealing

works for me and I get the exact color I want.

[thunderbolt]

The white Castaway boots would take dye a lot better than CTVT ones. I've always had problems with dye bleeding into other parts of the figure after the boots or whatever I dyed was on it for a while. So, I've tried to get away from dyeing stuff.