One such method at which I tried my hand was to re-dye it to a blacker hue. I purchased some of the ultra-concentrated liquid dye and found a big, black, plastic tub to brew the concoction. I didn't want to foul up any decently elegant portion of the house or stain the great outdoors, so I opted for the bathtub as my center of operation and got quickly to dyeing.
I had originally intended to snap some before and after shots, but I only got halfway through - you'll find out why later. Meanwhile, here's the before with my kilt and a black shirt for comparison to see what I had and what I wanted:
Forgive the flash, it washes things out a bit. Anyway, kilt's on the left, shirt's on the right - you can see the difference. Now on to the fun part: I will warn anyone who wants to try dyeing their own clothes that it takes forever and a day to rinse dyed garments, and even longer to get the stain out of your bathtub. Lesson learned. Here's the boiling cauldron:
Eeeeewgrooossssss yeah suck it up. It was pretty nasty, but the smell wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It took up a fairly big chunk of my day, and if I remember correctly I had a test to study for or something like that, which I probably should have taken into consideration given that the solution needed constant motion, poking, and prodding. Being the man that I am, I stuck it out and sticked it in (can I say that here?)
Yes, I use Garnier hair products. Gotta take care of these naturally gorgeous locks. (Plus there's a bottle of Axe right next to it - that's manly, right?) And if you haven't noticed, the proper attire in which to dye a kilt is, of course, another kilt, in this case my olive original. Which brings us to the money shot:
Just beautiful. So I'm gonna say this whole process took me about three hours from start to finish, which is a bit ridiculous in retrospect. Not to mention the second half of the before and after equation: as much as I hate to say it, dyeing the kilt didn't make just a huge difference. I could tell immediately that the color held better than before, but after a few washes and wearings it returned to something less than obsidian, not quite ebony, just short of the black void of space. So I decided an after shot wasn't really necessary - besides, you'll be seeing the black original in more photos to come!
Oh, and after the dyeing comes the drying, which is an excellent opportunity to show just how well-hung a Utilikilt is:
I am reading your blog it's very helpful the tactical kilt gives a brand new collection an affordable rate.
ReplyDelete