Dying raffia

B

bob Petritsch

Active member
When I bought my Higbie boat it had a custom fit mesh and elastic cover. The cover had die cut camo cloth and fist dulls of raffla stuck in the mesh.
I didn't like it so I used it open water only and took all the raffia off the cover.
I now spent hours replacing the raffia, thatching it onto the cover....but I ran out of raffia.
Went to the hobby store and bought a few bags of raffia, much easier to thatch with the new material but it is the wrong color.
The old stuff looks great, like dead spartina. The new stuff is much whiter. I was thinking coffee might make it look better......it works good on tee shirts.
Does anyone have a recommendation on what kind and color dye to use on the new raw raffia.
I plan to use it off the beach this year and maybe shoot some puddle ducks beside shooting open water. Don't see any divers here in NC at this time. Need some weather!!!!!!!
 
Bob, I've used RIT dye on raffia, and it usually holds good color for several years. Brown/a little orange, green/ a little black or green/brown combo seem to work well for me. The hotter the water the better. And the raffia has really held up well, even after being trailered many miles.


take care,
Bill
 
Do you mix the colors together, or color each area separately. I already have the white raffia on the boat so I can't dye separately and mix the individual pieces.
Thanks for the reply........Bob.
 
Some guys will just use a mist coat of spay paint to tone down and add color. Especially on grass that is already installed.
 
I've used the RIT dye with some success. I assign my lack of total success to not having equipment that could keep the water hot enough.

However, I did get good base coats.

Deepening and toning with spray paint seems to be effective over these base coats. Particularly if you have seasonal changes in the color of local cover. Here, rushes and cattails start out pretty green at beginning of season and fade to various shades of brown by the end.....
 
Bob,

I initially was using all raffia, but did not like how it looked when wet... so I am experimenting with Thatch Grass to see how well it hides/holds up, and will be attaching natural Spartina to the grass rolls, and in the rails. But for both the Raffia and the grass I painted both with several passes of green, then brown, then shook it so that the blades all faced different directions and blended.
View attachment grass.jpg
 
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Bob, I made 3 different color groups based off a post by Steve Sutton. Brown/orange, green/black (kind of subdued, so it would not be bright green), and a darkened dyed grass. Took the 3 strands, wrapped around my hand to form a loop, and zip tied to a 1" hole size nylon fish/sports net. Then cut the "loop" with scissors. Repeat hundreds of times (a few dozen after each hunting trip). Result looks like this:


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It has held up well for over 6 season, but could use a little sprucing up now.


Happy hunting!
-Bill


P.S. Sorry for the pic of the scoter, don't have a lot of camo pics....
 
I had half a can of flat brown spray paint. I had used it to paint my metal gas can. I sprayed the new white raffia and a little on the older darker next to it. It came out better than it was but looks a bit funky. Used it very lightly from a distance away.
Thanks all for the replys. Spent 3 hours on the river today and never once saw a bird? What was my hurry? Saturday is the second season opening, I might go fishing!
 
Well after seeing the Trout caught in your neck of the woods last weekend in the Shriners Tourney I don't half blame you! All on the Neuse, from a Kayak non the less. 6lb+ fish.......
 
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