Don't really know but I'de think that Rit Dye would be the best first option. I wonder if Dying it would effect the Lifetime Warranty???

 

Rit dye. Black will cause it to turn an almost dark grey color. Then go to any autoparts store and purchase flat black vinyl paint. Black will give you a great two tone camo pattern.

 

Grey and navy blue are good night camouflage. Preferred to black.

Tan and greens are better for Rural cammo.

And Blood red is perfect for the Mars Clay that makes up where I live.

 

Depend on the type of fabric by the looks of it its not cotton or anything easy to dye. Your going to have to find a "polyesters dye" or a Synthetic dye. These dyes are not as easy to find you might have to order one. If you use a normal dye made for cottons it will not take and will wash out.

These Synthetic dyes also have to be heated in a pot and will destroy what ever you cook it in.

http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/dispersedye.shtml

http://www.prochemicalanddye.com/store/home.php?cat=387

 

It looks like nylon. Alice packs are made of nylon too, we would just hit them with spray paint, it would sometimes wear off, but just hit it again. The pack was only $5 right, you really cant screw it up.

 

This thread over on AR15(dot)com : http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=6&f=10&t=270564 has lots of good info on dying field gear. As mentioned, synthetics won't take the dye 100% but you can tone down the orange.

Good Luck

Mark

 

As mentioned, synthetics won't take the dye 100% but you can tone down the orange.

If you use the correct dye they will disperse dyes are nasty stuff they will color it anything you want . I wouldnt heat it in your house unless you have a really good vent fan.

 

It was only $5.00 right so you are not out any thing if you put it back for use later or you could use it now for hiking and camping. Why do you want to change the color? To make it look more military? As an experiment? I would leave it as is why mess with it if you want one a deferent color then buy one a deferent color. Keep it as is you may need one this color some day.

 

shoe polish works, the liquid kind for tennis shoes about the only thing that it will not cover are those reflective strips on book bags.
Spray paint will work improves the weather proofing also but makes the fabric stiff

 

Time and Sharpies.

 

i want to dye it so it doesnt stick out like a soar thumb post shtf

 

How do you know that everyone will not have an orange pack on when the SHTF? Leave it as is and find you another pack for $5.00. If you go hiking now you will want it to be a bright color.
I find them all the time for under $5.00, I found a green and brown G.H. Bass for $4.99 the other day.

 

instead of dyeing it why not just go get some cammo material like realtree and make a backpack cover.

but truthfully i would just wait, you will find a cammoed backpack or a military backpack for cheap sooner or later.

maybe you can look up the brand,and if its worth a bit of money sell it on craigslist at 1/2 price. you might make enough cash to buy a cammoed backpack :thumb:

 

It doesn't seem like camo is what he's after. Just to get rid of the orange. And I sure can't blame him for that. As bad as I hate jury rigging something, proper dye for that fabric sounds like a real hassle. I think I'd just go spray paint and try to make it look ratty. The less attention the better.

 

Spray paint it.

It will work just as well and you can control the color much better.

Be sure to let it air out after you are done.

 

Recently used Rit Dye on some clothing. Unless its 100% or close to it cotton, the dye won't really take well. Spray paint in earth tones may be the thing to do.

 

How about making a black cover held on by elastic or a drawstring

 

use an acid dye (most in stores are)
use the hottest water you can
double the soda ash
let it sit for a while (i did 3 times as long)
i think i doubled the dye amount

and i didn't find it a hassle at all (except it dyed the neighbor's cat good)
my bright red nylon turned a dark maroon, but looks like brown/black unless you stare and criticize it.

 

http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/dyeblog/C1536299029/E20080909080647/

this should help you understand

 

Go to your local Salvation Army store and buy a black or camo XXX Tee shirt.

 

First, Jansport was great at making packs with good repellent properties, meaning the dye isn't going to penetrate,, and its going to be a huge mess on the repellent coating inside the pack. Second, If It were mine (and I used to have one the same color) I would simply get on ebay and look for a camo rain cover to slip over it. Quick, easy, and serves multiple purposes. Those Jansports are great for tying off gear all around it, and a large cover could protect everything, and make you less visible. Just a thought.

 

how about

a trash bag as a cover. looks less threatening than camo. water proofs a little bit. low energy and cost. be safe.

n1oc

 

There are backpack covers out there that come in various subdued colors.
http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=3400441

 

scrub it real good with alcohol, then if you have them, dye with a beauty berry solution.
2 qts of beauty berries in large pot, crush them, fill with water and bring just to a boil stirring constantly and remove from heat. place pack in 5 gal bucket and pour the whole mess on top, stir, press down to submerge and let sit 24 hrs flipping it around and stirring a couple of times to get all spots. I havent seen any thing this wont dye. its a deep blueish purple.Ive done this on a # of things including a nylon windbreaker always worked.and its a great am indian skill to practice.
ps. wear old clothes to do this as it will perm dye anything it gets on!!!
pss. makes a great jellie also,thats how i learned it will dye anything...the hard way!!!

 

Also another natural way to dye is beets, not sure if that will work on the material but my clothes were never the same after canning beets.

 

let some kids play with it and tell them NOT TO GET IT DIRTY...

give them a week and it won't be orange.

 

Ebay alice pack cover. The cover can be had in woodland and desert camo. They are also sold as spare tire covers. So you can go from urban pre-SHTF to post SHTF coloring in 2 seconds. the covers are abt $5 each.

 

One more nod for spray paint, and/or a cover.

I painted one of my bags woodland with acrylic craft paint. Pain in the ass that took a long time, but I did get to make it look just how I wanted it. So, if you're really looking for a cool custom camo job go for hand painting with acryllic. Otherwise, spray paint.

As for camo covers, I have a woodland cover for another bag I made out of woodland fabric from wal-mart, some elastic, and a movie-length period of sewing.

I also have white covers for all of my bags (though I really do need to go back and touch them up for a proper winter camo).

 

I used spray paint on an old red back pack that was a Thrift Store find. It worked, the pack material was made stiffer and more water repellant. If I were to do it over though I would look for a spray paint in Grey formulated for plastics. Krylon makes one for "Giving new life to plastic lawn chairs". I once found a spray dye for plastics called "Nu-Life Color Spray". It was a 25 cent garage sale find and it worked very well on some rubberized plastic parts I wanted to color brown. Haven't seen it since though. Good Luck.

 

Easy. Take Rit Dye and heat the water to boiling and remove from heat. 200* F is the optimum temp. Do Not Boil the objects. Take the object and soak in Rit Dye for about 10 min. while keeping water hot but not boiling. Remove and plunge into cold water. This has worked many times for me with NO damage to items.