How To: Dying Silicone

    OK first off I don't know how many people this will affect BUT it was something that plagues me and I finally found a solution. If you have a clear skirt on your mask (for whatever reason) it can be dyed and made any color you want. Here's how I did mine: 1) go to the store and find RIT brand clothing dye, preferably the liquid form. 2) you'll want to disassemble your mask(unless you want the entire thing colored). For me I just wanted the skirt dyed. 3) get a pyrex bowl or big pot (big enough to hold enough water to cover the mask). 4)boil water 5)remove from heat and add all parts to be dyed and entire bottle of dye(not sure this much is necessary but I can vouch that this much will work). 6) place bowl with dye and mask parts in oven at 200 degrees F and bake for 2-10 hours(the longer the darker). 7) remove from dye solution and scrub under cold water.


    BE CAREFUL disposing of dye solution!


    I will post before/after pictures later and a report after I get to use it.

    ok here is the skirt in the pyrex bowl(bottle of dye on left hand side)

    after adding boiling water and dye to bowl, I placed it in the oven @200 degrees

    and here it is today after I removed it and scrubbed it under cold running water


    just fyi I baked mine for 2 hours but I forgot all about it until about 6pm today so total soak time was about 18 hours although my dad said he checked it at about 4am before going to work and it was the same color. I put it in at 10pm the previous night so in 6 hours it was fully dyed. I think the next one I do will be my g/f's, she wants a pink mask.

    That looks really good. Very well done Mike. This is one to keep in the bag of tricks. I wondered for a while already what can be dyed, pvc, other plastics etc.


    Does the baking in the oven not weaken the material in any way? No part of it became brittle?


    Will the powder stuff from Publix work the same?

    Very nice mike.


    My only thought would be about any changes to the rubber as dan said. As in uv resistance or something?


    I doubt it. Those are low temperatures.



    Dan, RIT dye is available at public and Winn Dixie. It is quite good and cheap

    i like to spear fish

    I heard from Don Paul this also works for latex bands and that it does help with UV resistance of amber bands. He did not mention the part about the oven so I dont know how that will affect the rubber (latex or silicon).

    Davie showed my how to dye monofilament similarly. You can buy Momoi mono from Bass Pro (or whatever) and put it in a bucket with RIT dye (laundry section of supermarket) and wait 24 hours or whatever, bingo. I used the powdered stuff as it was all I found.

    the heat doesn't seem to have changed the silicone in any way, 200 degrees is very low for silicone. I don't know te science behind it but I know its used to make intake and exhaust components on cars so Im sure it sees temps upwards of 400 degrees regularly. I used heat only because the bottle says to use hot water(200 degrees because water boils at 212 F) The powdered stuff should work I just have no experience with it.

    mrmike, es correcto los grados Fahrenheit cambiados a grados Centígrados, 200 Fahrenheit, equivalen a 93.3º Centígrados
    el agua hierve al nivel del mar a 100º C, es decir es correcto esa aplicación.


    Principales características de la Silicona


    Resistente a temperaturas extremas (-60° a 250°C)
    Resistente a la intemperie, Ozono, Radiación y Humedad
    Excelentes propiedades eléctricas como aislador
    Larga vida útil
    Gran resistencia a la deformación por compresión
    Apto para uso alimenticio y sanitario.


    <º))))><


    correct the changed Fahrenheit to Celsius, 200 Fahrenheit, equivalent to 93.3 ° Celsius
    water boils at sea level to 100 º C, the application is correct.


    Main features Silicone


    Resistant to extreme temperatures (-60 ° to 250 ° C)
    Weatherproof, Ozone, Radiation and Moisture
    Excellent electrical properties as an insulator
    Long life
    High resistance to compression set
    Suitable for food and health.

    Took the mask out for 2.5 hours today and love it. Certainly no stiffening of the silicone. Only downside I noticed and it wasn't in performance was that when I got to shore my face had been dyed where the skirt touched( ie my entire nose a ring across my cheeks around my eyes and across my forehead). I was a bit frustrated at first but when I got home I washed my face and it was gone. Also, I can not see any lightening of the skirt even though some of the dye was on my skin. Im thinking my 22 hour soak could be to blame for the excess.

    Girlfriend..... '' You been out divin today''? '' Gee honey ....why do you ask?'':laughing3:


    Cheers, Don

    "Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home'' Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


    Spearfishing Store the freediving and spearfishing equipment specialists.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member to leave a comment.

Register a new account
Sign in now