Brandon:  Can you do green?

Me:  Sure.  {pulls Dharma Trading up on my Droid} Which one do you like?

Brandon:  I like Bright Green.

Me:  Well…  that’s pretty bright.  It’s going to be as green as Bing’s gi is Orange.  You want it that bright?

Brandon:  Well, I want it bright.

Me:  How about one shade darker?  Let’s go with Kelly Green.

And that’s how we ended up here:

PR66 aka Kelly Green. 

Above is the gi before going into the dye vat.

Here it is after a rinse cycle in the washer.  It’s still wet and has a lot of excess dye, so it’s a little darker than it will be once it’s dry.

Washed twice, but still wet.  All of the rogue color is gone, so this is pretty close to the final color.  It will still get a little lighter once it’s dry, but I think it’s pretty close to spot on according to the color chip below.

And here’s the final product.  I hope Brandon likes it.  The color turned out close to flawless.  It’s very even, and I can’t see any imperfections.   He was very specific about wanting a really bright green, so I think he’s going to be very happy.  I put my belt on there to provide a little context, so you can see that the color is pretty accurate.

What do you think? 

And if you’re interested in doing your own projects, please take a look at my step by step guide.

Ryan picked up a Teko gi that was slightly used.  It’s in great shape, but was a little dingy.  No big deal.  I washed it with vinegar and it brightened back up very well.   If you want to know why I swear by vinegar, check out my article on Washing the Gi. 

Any discoloration came right out.  But Ryan said that I could play around with it.   I’ve really been holding off dying this gi until I had one of my own, but that hasn’t happened.  I do have a new Warrior One gi I’m going to dye, but I’m not quite ready to batik it yet, so instead of waiting any longer, I figured I’d better get Ryan his gi back.

When I ordered Bing’s orange dye (that I’m going to probably do next), I picked up another color as well: Wedgewood Blue.  I really wasn’t sure what it would look like.  My concern was that it would come out too light.  You know, not manly enough.  That’s when I remembered that Ryan didn’t care what color I dyed his gi.  I threatened to dye it pink several times and he was okay with it.  So, I figured this was my opportunity to try out this color.

Overall, I think it’s a very cool color.  It’s lighter than the standard blue, but came out very evenly colored.  As usual, the patches and dye failed to take the color, which gives it a nice, finished look.

View Full Album

Picture was taken with my iPhone, so it’s not that clear.

Dyed using Imperial Purple fiber reactive dye from Dharma Trading.