I have some hats that I want to dye black. I've worn pakols for years. Pakols, also known as Pakuls or Khapols, Kapols, Kapors, chitrali topis and Mujahideen caps, are available in black: no problem. My latest acquisitions, however, are not. These Chitrali titfers are made of...? Wool, wool-like or whatever (see below for pictures).
http://www.simplyislam.com/images/products/62432.jpg
http://www.simplyislam.com/images/products/62437.jpg
http://www.simplyislam.com/images/products/57298.jpg
http://www.simplyislam.com/images/products/57988.jpg
In a nut: I thought it would be a doddle to dye hats in the twenty-first century. I was wrong.
Not knowing exactly the stuff they're made out of isn't much use, but wool seems like the best bet to me; however, dying wool, acrylics and such and such has turned out to be a seemingly insurmountable Everest of a problem.
I visited 'Hobby Craft' in Northampton. The staff, after I'd found out that Dylon, et al, couldn't dye woolly stuff, were as clueless as I, and didn't have any interest in advising me whatsoever, "Try the internet?"...
I contacted an on-line place that could dye 'em black, but they said that I'd have to wait for 'a batch' of stuff they were going to dye black to pile up (or else the 'cost of dye alone would be approx. eighty-five quid...). They would then charge me twenty-quid (sans P&P) for three hats. The cost of living and the cost of dying, eh?
I'd be mega-grateful for any advice. I must admit that I'd rather send 'em off brick red (AKA salmon pink...), green and grey, and receive nice black ones back (I have grim memories of dying stuff black, back in the punk days, late 70s, and managing to dye the lino, work surfaces and most other things black in my mother's kitchen). But I'm willing to do it myself, if needs be.
I wasn't sure where to post this. If this is the wrong section, I'd be grateful for any advice, also.
Paul Gammage.