Coloring Clear Nylon Strings

Wouldn't colored nylon strings look good on a Dixie? This is my experience in an attempt to come up with pink  and purple strings for my wife's banjolele.

First I said, "Impossible! Nylon wouldn't dye." I was wrong. I found a company that custom makes colored strings -- http://www.guadalupecustomstrings.com/index.html. The prices were not outrageous. But, that convinced me that it was possible to color nylon strings.

Then I found this site -- you can use Koolaid as the dye! http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/FAQ/drinkmix.shtml

So, here's what happened:

I looked at Koolaid at the store and decided to try several types to see if pink and purple was possible.

Pink and purple strings?

I decided to try these two. I also decided not to do the microwave instructions from the link above. A boiler on the stove top seemed to be more simple to monitor.

A double boiler would insure that the strings don't touch really hot metal?

Problem with doing the double boiler was the smaller pot water never boiled. So I went to that smaller boiler directly on an eye.

The pink lemonade - this photo color is darker that actual.

I let the strings boil for at least 30 minutes. If I do this again, I'll have a lot less water so the color is concentrated. But, make sure that the water doesn't get too low or you might have burnt strings.

The "secret" to dying nylon is to have an acidic mixture. The citric acid in Koolaid is supposed to be enough, but I added some vinegar, too -- just to make sure. I don't think that was necessary.

The "pink lemonade" string.

The "grape" string.

The photos do not reflect the true colors. The pink lemonade strings are a shade lighter than the grape string, but there is not that noticeable a difference. Notice, though, that the string did take on the color -- it just isn't as brilliant a color as I'd hoped.

Side by side, there is a difference, though slight.

I also bought orange and lime Koolaid -- haven't tried that yet.

And, I noticed that if you pay attention to the colors that make up these flavors, I had one (pink lemonade) with red dye in it, and one (grape) with red and blue dye. The difference is the amount of dye. From now on, I'll go with the deepest color dye and adjust the boiling time to make shade differences.

Is there a way to get the colors darker? Maybe a second treatment (or more)?

I'll try that some time in the future. I'll also be buying some strings from Guadalupe. I've seen on at least one ukulele site where they have been discussed. Next time I find that link, I'll make sure to save it for posting here.