Feraud
Bartender
- Messages
- 17,190
- Location
- Hardlucksville, NY
Yikes! Thanks for sharing your experiences in this area.deanglen said:I wondered when this would come up. Yes, it's true, I used coffee on a campaign hat to shift it from grey to a tawny shade, but found that the coffee, when it dried it would cause "collection stains" at areas in the felt where the coffee in suspension in the water collected when it dried. Plus, rinsing removed siginificant levels of tinting, albeit a degree of tan remained. Rinsing was necessary because subsequent dampening of the coffee tinted hat caused some the tint to run unless it had been rinsed once or twice.
I used instant coffee, so I could make it "dye" strength without using up the regular coffee which would have not amused my spouse...she hates "instant" so I was safe using it, and it was a very cheap brand that only the desperate would drink, or me.
I also used the coffee to tint the grosgrain ribbon, but was dissapointed by the uneveness of the result.
Furniture "stain", not polish, worked terrifically for an even tinting on the ribbon, but did stiffen it a bit. I tried the stain on a hat for a test and found that it too caused horrific variations in shading, even going to black stains in some places, so I would not reccomend it for hat tinting.
dean
As for any inherited hat I say bring it to wearable condition then wear it. All that fussin is not my style. Wear the hat, don't let it wear you.