Dye Testing - Rit Brand - Aldhani Soft goods

[TeaJay[TX]]

Hello all, 

I've decided to tackle dye testing while we are fleshing out the CRL for the Aldhani Imperial Army Trooper. In this thread, I will specifically focus on Rit brand dyes. I may test other dyes in the future, but for now, this will solely focus on a few different dye color formulas from Rit.

I will be using Rit's liquid dye rather than powder. The liquid is premixed and more concentrated than their powders. The formulas/recipes  to achieve their massive variety of colors will be easier to measure out the liquid by volume rather than powders. If powders are your thing, that's fine. 

Here's Rit's statement regarding their liquid vs powder: "There is no difference in terms of color or dye performance. The liquid dye is already dissolved in water and more concentrated than the powder dye. So you only need to use half as much when using the liquid dye. Also, since the liquid dye is pre-mixed, this eliminates the need to dissolve the dye in hot water as you need to do with the powder dye before adding it to the dyebath. As a guideline, one bottle of liquid dye is equivalent to two boxes of powder dye."

For example, Rit does not sell an Olive Green. You have to mix a specific amount of 3 different color dyes within a specific amount of water (along with sodium chloride [any type of table salt]) to achieve the color provided in their formula/recipe. 

Here are the colors from Rit that I will be testing:

Olive Green - https://www.ritdye.com/color-formulas/olive-green/
Green Sage - https://www.ritdye.com/color-formulas/green-sage/
Baby Turtle - https://www.ritdye.com/color-formulas/turtle-toes/
Turtle Toes - https://www.ritdye.com/color-formulas/turtle-toes-2/
Avocado - https://www.ritdye.com/color-formulas/avacado/
Rain Forest Cover - https://www.ritdye.com/color-formulas/rain-forest-cover/

As I go through each of these dyes one by one, if I notice that one is too dark or light and a dye that is yet to be made will likely be too light or dark, it will be skipped over; we will see how color selection evolves as we begin the process, but for now the dye color formulas above will be at least a starting point.

I purchased small plastic containers large enough to hold 4 cups of water which is the amount of water used in the small batch fabric formulas. The fabric being used for the test are sample pieces provided by Vincent over at Imperial Boots when you order his Aldhani Trooper set. 

I've made a brief video intro here that talks through some quick notes, but I will likely be focusing on photos rather than videos for each, unless videos become preferred.

 

 

High level notes for this first color (Olive Green), water was very hot likely close to 130-140 degrees Fahrenheit, 2 teaspoons of table salt without iodine in it, other formula details covered in my verbal description in the video above. The fabric sat in the dye bath for 30 minutes, the first 15 minutes, stirring was nearly nonstop, the last 15 minutes, stirring was about every 5 minutes. After 30 minutes were up, the fabric was removed from the dye bath and left to rest for 5 minutes before washing once with a pea sized dot of Dawn dish liquid and lukewarm water. After about 2 minutes of the fabric being under running water and occasional hand squeezing the water coming off of the fabric was clear. I let it rest for about 15 minutes, then I accelerated the drying of the fabric with a heat gun on low for 2 minutes.  

Here are the photo results of the Olive Green stages  (first four photos are warm toned ceiling lights in my utility space; the final dried product [where I'm holding it] is in "Natural Light" tone LED ceiling lights):

 

Base fabric color example before any dyes are applied:

 

Initially removed from dye bath after 30 minutes of soaking:

 

After washing off the excess dye:

 

After air drying for 15 minutes:

After air dry and 2 minutes of heat gun on low:

 

Initial conclusion: I think this color choice is extremely close to what we see on screen, but it is worth doing some more science and testing!  I've also noticed that the coloration in different lighting changes as much as we see it on screen. If you have this fabric under warm lights it looks greener, if its under more natural/neutral toned lighting it was a lighter toned green... gives me some flashbacks when we were all discussing fabric colorations from scene to scene.

 

Bear with me some as my wife is still getting over being sick. More soon!!

[Blackwatch[CMD-DCA]]

out-standing!

[Vanedor[501st]]

I wonder if this is not a bit too olive?

I think I preferred the previous coloring. Darker, closer to what I can see from the screen caps. 



But perhaps it's the lighting?

[TeaJay[TX]]

2 hours ago, Vanedor said:

I wonder if this is not a bit too olive?

I think I preferred the previous coloring. Darker, closer to what I can see from the screen caps. 



But perhaps it's the lighting?

I agree with you 100% on this one, but guess what... it's only the lighting depending on the room I was in when I took the photo.

 

Check this out, here is original lighting from the room where you saw it air drying... here it is this morning...

 

Then I went over to the room where I took the photo where it seemed more olive/yellowish and dimmed the overhead neutral toned LED lights and turned on the warm white standing lamp:

 

That darker green. It's a trick of the lighting... I really like this olive green color, but will be doing more testing soon.

[Blackwatch[CMD-DCA]]

Any chance for pics outdoors, both in bright sunlight and on a cloudy day? 

[TeaJay[TX]]

1 hour ago, Blackwatch said:

Any chance for pics outdoors, both in bright sunlight and on a cloudy day? 

It's been pouring outside, but yes, I will definitely get some shots outdoors when the weather dries up.

[TeaJay[TX]]

Hoping to get to some more dye testing this weekend, but in the meantime, here's a photo of the Olive Green in partly cloudy weather after more morning rain.

 

Current sky:

[TeaJay[TX]]

I've completed dyeing all six of the sample swatches listed in the original post this weekend.  I plan on doing 2 more custom dyes trials tomorrow and will make a video discussing and showing all results. I'll also accompany the video with some written details and photos. The video will help the post not be a massive essay... After posting the video and recap, I'll follow up with additional photos in the coming days, outside and indoors with different lighting conditions.

Looking forward to recording the video soon! 

[TeaJay[TX]]

Had an emergency pipe leak in our bathroom that led to all day repair work and replacement of the sink. No luck on making progress on last two dye tests. Stay tuned!

[TeaJay[TX]]

Hey all, I spent some time putting together a quick comparison video and one photo of all the sample swatches in one lighting condition. More to come, take a look at the video, be sure to set the quality to 1080p on Youtube!

Keeping with the same lighting as the initial photos in the previous posts here are all colors side by side:

The video covers the summary more in depth, but the TLDR notes are:

• Lighting in the video and the single image above is only one lighting condition; we've seen different degrees of Kelvin (K) on the light scale change the color appearance of the fabric both on-screen and in my other photos.
• Olive Green and Rain Forest Cover are the closest to on-screen out of these 6 dye colors tested.
• Baby Turtle is half the dye ratio of Turtle Toes
• Avocado is half the dye ratio of Rain Forest Cover
• Green Sage is too sharp of a green in my opinion
• 2 more dye tests to perform -- custom mixture of Olive Green w/Tan and Olive Green w/Golden Yellow -- see video for more details.  

[TeaJay[TX]]

Here's another video with the custom mixture of  Olive Green w/Tan and Olive Green w/Golden Yellow:

 

 

Here's a photo of the olive green variants side by side: 

Formulas: 

OLIVE GREEN BASE:
1 Teaspoon Apple Green
1 Teaspoon Pearl Grey
1 Teaspoon Dark Green

CUSTOM ADJUSTMENTS:
1/4 Teaspoon Golden Yellow vs. 1/4 Teaspoon Tan

WATER AND SALT:
4 Cups Hot Water
2 Teaspoons Salt (no Iodine)

As I mention in the video, they are only slightly discernable in person. The video/photos from my phone barely pick up any of the little subtleties and that's okay; this test was mainly a sanity check for me to see if a slight dye color formula change would make a significant impact. If anything this shows that folks have some flexibility in nailing down the right formula for their brand and preferred on-screen color.

I saw that @fb501 mentioned that his uniform had varying colors for each piece (hat, tunic, trousers), but I really think that if the production team could have the idealized color consistency across the various parts of a single soldier's uniform they would have. 

Here are some indoor photos with different forms of lighting (outdoor shots coming soon):

Low light under warm tone lamp: 

Low light under single warm ceiling light: 

Regular room lighting (ceiling Natural tone LED):

I will do a group photo of all of these outdoors, I think tomorrow's forecast is cloudy, seems to be fitting for the on-location weather. I will also do some more up close comparisons with Olive Green and Rain Forest Cover. If anyone wants me to include any of the other colors let me know.

 

---

As a side note, the custom Greenblack SW6994 spray paint came in the mail today, it is currently too cold to spray outside and I do not have a safe place to spray this without introducing spray can fumes into the house; not exactly the best idea for my 2 year old and my wife would also not be pleased with me

[neoakaj[TX]]

Did you pay the batch production fee for just one can?

[TeaJay[TX]]

3 minutes ago, neoakaj said:

Did you pay the batch production fee for just one can?

I bought 4 cans in total, yes I paid the batch fee too... It was around $120ish dollars for 4 cans of spray paint. The most money I've spent on spray paint ever... Based on seeing samples in store at a local Sherwin Williams, this color should be great. The color matching that this company does should be spot on with what I saw in-store at SW. I haven't sprayed it yet.

[fb501[TX]]

On 12/15/2022 at 5:36 AM, TeaJay said:

 

 

 

This colour here is pretty close to what my jacket colour was on set, the trousers I had were more green

[Vanedor[501st]]

Thank you so much for sharing all these tests with us TJ.

I agree with you that Rain Forest Cover and Olive Green tend to look best.

Your custom color tests are also interesting. Tan gives a slightly paler look to the green while the yellow seems to make it "greener". 

When I look at the color used for the costume in the screenshots, I tend to see it slightly more "brown-ish". 

I wonder, what's your opinion concerning "spanish olive" ? 

Spanish Olive – Rit Dye

[TeaJay[TX]]

29 minutes ago, Vanedor said:

Thank you so much for sharing all these tests with us TJ.

I agree with you that Rain Forest Cover and Olive Green tend to look best.

Your custom color tests are also interesting. Tan gives a slightly paler look to the green while the yellow seems to make it "greener". 

When I look at the color used for the costume in the screenshots, I tend to see it slightly more "brown-ish". 

I wonder, what's your opinion concerning "spanish olive" ? 

Spanish Olive – Rit Dye

I have the Charcoal Grey dye to test this out. I honestly had this color on my radar but completely forgot. The last piece of fabric that I have is the undyed sample from the recent videos... if we want to use this last piece to test out Spanish Olive, I can...

Are there any other ones we want to consider before I use the last piece of fabric?

[TeaJay[TX]]

1 hour ago, fb501 said:

This colour here is pretty close to what my jacket colour was on set, the trousers I had were more green

Believe it or not this color is from the Olive Green dye swatch. It seems that my camera wanted to change the color contrast of the Olive Green because of the blue glove that I was wearing while holding it...

I have one undyed swatch left to test with... any thoughts on the greens from this page? 

https://www.ritdye.com/color-formulas/?type=197&hue=199&collection=0&collaboration=0

We're considering the Spanish Olive that Simon mentioned in his post above. Any thoughts from you, @fb501, are welcome!

[neoakaj[TX]]

1 minute ago, TeaJay said:

Believe it or not this color is from the Olive Green dye swatch. It seems that my camera wanted to change the color contrast of the Olive Green because of the blue glove that I was wearing while holding it...

I have one undyed swatch left to test with... any thoughts on the greens from this page? 

https://www.ritdye.com/color-formulas/?type=197&hue=199&collection=0&collaboration=0

We're considering the Spanish Olive that Simon mentioned in his post above any thoughts from you, @fb501 are welcome!

I have my suit set to be delivered tomorrow, If you want, we can coordinate testing other colors with the swatches I will receive. 

[TeaJay[TX]]

18 minutes ago, neoakaj said:

I have my suit set to be delivered tomorrow, If you want, we can coordinate testing other colors with the swatches I will receive. 

Sounds great! As mentioned in my videos, I've been testing Rit's small batch formulas; you can change their calculator by selecting "socks" or any of the other small batch items to get the formula needs (assuming you plan to test Rit). 

I would like us to test something a tad more of the blue/teal end of the color spectrum; this one caught my eye, but not sure how strongly I feel about it (Triple Axel): https://www.ritdye.com/color-formulas/triple-axel/

And this one, too yellow? (Granny Smith)-- https://www.ritdye.com/color-formulas/granny-smith/

----

Still feeling strongly about Olive Green, especially as it fades after a few washes.

[Vanedor[501st]]

45 minutes ago, TeaJay said:

I have the Charcoal Grey dye to test this out. I honestly had this color on my radar but completely forgot. The last piece of fabric that I have is the undyed sample from the recent videos... if we want to use this last piece to test out Spanish Olive, I can...

Are there any other ones we want to consider before I use the last piece of fabric?

I can also do some testing. I already have the pieces of fabrics. Just waiting for some of my dye to be delivered. Local stores didn't have all the colors I needed, such as the very useful Apple Green.

[neoakaj[TX]]

13 minutes ago, TeaJay said:

Sounds great! As mentioned in my videos, I've been testing Rit's small batch formulas; you can change their calculator by selecting "socks" or any of the other small batch items to get the formula needs (assuming you plan to test Rit). 

I would like us to test something a tad more of the blue/teal end of the color spectrum; this one caught my eye, but not sure how strongly I feel about it (Triple Axel): https://www.ritdye.com/color-formulas/triple-axel/

And this one, too yellow? (Granny Smith)-- https://www.ritdye.com/color-formulas/granny-smith/

----

Still feeling strongly about Olive Green, especially as it fades after a few washes.

I can run Spanish Olive, Granny Smith as I will have the dyes on hand for them when the suit gets here. I am not sure if I have the Teal for Triple Axle. Ill have to ask my wife if she does when she gets home tonight

[Vanedor[501st]]

16 minutes ago, TeaJay said:

I would like us to test something a tad more of the blue/teal end of the color spectrum; this one caught my eye, but not sure how strongly I feel about it (Triple Axel): https://www.ritdye.com/color-formulas/triple-axel/

And this one, too yellow? (Granny Smith)-- https://www.ritdye.com/color-formulas/granny-smith/

Triple Axel isn't green enough, imo.

For Granny Smith, it looks too pale to me. 

[TeaJay[TX]]

4 minutes ago, Vanedor said:

I can also do some testing. I already have the pieces of fabrics. Just waiting for some of my dye to be delivered. Local stores didn't have all the colors I needed, such as the very useful Apple Green.

Sounds great! Since you and Jason are able to do some testing as well, I'll go ahead and use my last piece for the Spanish Olive, I'd like to see that one in person as well.

4 minutes ago, neoakaj said:

I can run Spanish Olive, Granny Smith as I will have the dyes on hand for them when the suit gets here. I am not sure if I have the Teal for Triple Axle. Ill have to ask my wife if she does when she gets home tonight

Triple Axel is likely too blue and not green enough, probably okay to pass on. Granny Smith is a bit pale but curious how it turns out on the fabric.

2 minutes ago, Vanedor said:

Triple Axel isn't green enough, imo.

For Granny Smith, it looks too pale to me. 

Agreed on these two statements. I think Granny Smith may still be worth testing. Neoakaj mentioned testing it for us. I'm curious how that pale color translates onto the fabric.

[neoakaj[TX]]

I will dye Granny Smith once I have the fabric in hand

 

[Blackwatch[CMD-DCA]]

wow guys, just wow.  I dont believe we have ever delved into dye batches at anything approaching this in Spec Ops. Face it SO is mostly black. This is some outstanding effort overall!!

That should be enough paint to completely paint two full sets of armor, maybe more.