basically, i think the general rule of thumb is: if someone REALLY wants the blood that’s inside of your body, and they’re like… a vampire, or a dracula, or some sort of mansquito, then that’s probably okay. a dracula and a mansquito are made for removing things like blood and swords from inside your body.
that’s basically fine.
if something wants to get at your blood, and they’re, say, some kind of murdersaurus, or maybe a really big frog, that’s where the problems start to arise. a really frog is not made for removing blood, and your blood knows this, which is why it is so vehement about wanting to stay IN your body instead of coming out.
unfortunately this will not deter a really big frog, because a really big frog is full of things like prizes, and value, and quite a lot of hatred, and it would REALLY rather like to replace any and all of those things with your blood, and basically by any means possible.
These words scan with a fantastic degree of confidence considering that together they make no sense at all
Twitter has a 140 character limit, yet I still found a way to tell one of the longest and most obnoxious knock-knock jokes of all time within a single tweet.
I am more proud of this accomplishment than any human right has the right to be.
The dads are evolving
They have learned our technology, they control our communication
Apparently concentrated Kool-Aid can be used as a pretty effective leather dye.
I was making a drink while cutting the snaps off some new straps for my pauldrons and I got curious, so I tried it, thinking, “ok even if this works, it will just wash out.”
Nope.
It took the “dye” (undiluted) in about 3 seconds. After drying for about an hour and a half, it would not wash off in the hottest tap-water. It would not wash out after soaking for 30 minutes. It did not wash out until I BOILED it, and even then, only by a tiny bit and it gave it a weathered look that was kind of cool. Add some waterproofing and I’d wager it would survive even that.
That rich red is only one application too. Plus it smells great, lol.
So there you go, cheap, fruity smelling leather dye in all the colors Kool-Aid has to offer.
WELL THEN!
this may be important to some of my followers *and certainly not just getting reblogged because of my costuming and my boyfriends desire for leather armor*
When I was in middle school we used to use it to dye our hair. Potent stuff.
If you’re dying anything with kool-aid it’s best to use SUGAR-FREE ones otherwise the thing you’re dying might get all sticky
you know, you could just use food coloring. more concentrated color for your money and won’t leave your costume smelling like artificial grape.
it will also work on protein-based fibers like wool, silk, and human or animal hair wigs. to make sure it won’t wash out, you’ll want to set the dye with a mild acid – vinegar will do, though professionals often use powdered citric acid instead because it’s cheaper in bulk and doesn’t smell so much. of course, kool-aid already has citric acid in it, but with food coloring you’re not stuck with their color palette.
add maybe a cup of cleaning vinegar to a gallon of water, add your food coloring, and submerge your wig or socks or opera gloves or whatever. a drop of dish soap can be handy for breaking surface tension, helping the dye absorb faster.
heat will help, if it won’t damage the item; for wool, i like to use a crock pot set on low, so it gets warm enough to steam but not to boil. occasionally GENTLY agitate the item in the water until the dye is absorbed.
rinse until the water runs clear. with wool (including non-sheep wool like buffalo and goat) you have to be careful not to shock it with sudden temperature transitions or agitate it too much, or it’ll felt. smooth fibers like silk don’t have this problem.
lay it flat to dry (if it’s fabric) so it doesn’t stretch out of shape under the weight of the water, and voila, your item is permanently dyed whatever color you want.
tl;dr: cosplayers might want to look up yarn dyeing, cuz the knitters are apparently breaking trail for you on this one. :D
