: What's the best way to die polyester (Dacron) skin? I read that acid dye is
: commonly used for nylon fabric, but it specifically says that it does not
: work on polyester.

: Has anyone tried using oil-based gel wood stain on the fabric? I'm trying to
: achieve that animal-skin brown, and cherry wood stain seems to fit the
: color bill. I've tried some of the gel stain on a scrap of cloth, and the
: color looks nice and even. I'm just worried about adhesion of the finish.
: I figure if use oil based spar varnish with the oil based gel stain
: everything should work out...

It depends on your end goal...

The advantage of using a dye on the fabric is that when you coat it with clear coating the skin remains translucent like oiled rawhide. A lot of people who do it this way are using a coating like the Spirit Line 2-part goop, which can't be tinted.

Before you give up on dye, go to the Jacquard web site and either post on their user's forum or contact their tech representatives. They are the premiere dye manufacturer, at least among the fiber artists I know, and they will be able to give you the definitive answer on dyeing polyester. I'm sure they make a dye for it. After all-polyester comes in lots of colors. (Historically, some of them are quite hideous!)

The second is to consider what coating you're going to use and how you want the skin to look. If you want to end up with an opaque finish you have a few more options. If you're going to go with a consumer-grade polyurethane like Zar, the solution that most people use is to tint the finish using raw powdered pigments. All paint consists of is a pigment in a medium, so in this case the powder is the pigment, and the poly is the medium. You can get the pigments from an art supply store like Dick Blick, or from Lee Valley Tools. This will give you an opaque finish. If you want to use a poly, this is the safest and most stable option.

If you want to tint your own color for a paint, you can also go to a high-end paint store and buy liquid Universal Tinting Colors (UTCs) that will mix with pretty much any paint or polyurethane. When you go to a home center or someplace and they squirt the stuff into the paint can to make the color you want, that's what's getting squirted.

Many people use brush-on Rustoleum, which is pretty much an oil-based paint. It was originally developed as a marine application to prevent rust on commercial fishing boats, and they do also make a marine coating, but their tech reps don't recommend using any of their products on fabric like a skin boat.

If you want to go with a marine-specific paint, most companies don't recommend any of their products. However, Epifanes' tech reps recommend their monourethane topside paint, and those are o.k. to tint with the UTCs, so you can get a good range of colors there.

If you decide to go with a coating like Coelan marine coating you have a couple of options. If you decide to use it clear, you can dye the skin underneath and end up with a translucent skin. If you want to go with an opaque color they have tubes of color you put into the clear to make an opaque paint. You can't add UTCs or anything else to it or it won't work. I've experimented a little with using a touch of the color to see if it will add color without making it opaque, and it does a decent job, but I've only done it on samples and only with two coats, and the manufacturer recommends five. (A lot of people who use it have said they only use 2-3 coats, though.) The tech reps actually recommended I try this, and it works pretty well.

The LAST thing I'd try is oil stain intended for wood, even gel stain. It's gritty pigment that's intended to catch in the pores of the wood, and if it sticks in the weave of the fabric you won't get good adhesion to the fabric when you put on your poly. You're right, an oil-based poly will stick to it, but you need it to stick to the fabric, not the stain.

Whenever you use a product for a use it wasn't intended you risk a catastrophic failure, and wood stain is a failure in the making. Even when using a dye on nylon, there are cases where the Spirit-Line will delaminate because of interference from the dye. I don't mean to sound like a commercial, but Coelan Marine Coating is the only coating I'm aware of that is intended for use on fabric, like inflatable boats.

So. Pick your poison. Just not wood stain!

m