I did these two dye jobs on the brand new STX Revolver. They are similar, in that they both use the pre-cut revolver stickers, but I put a little extra work into the second one.
You’ll need Black and Pearl Grey RIT dye, RIT Color Remover, and your stickers. You might also want an Xacto knife to work with your stickers, a bucket to dye your heads in, and a hair dryer to seal your stickers.
You can do both heads at once in one bucket of grey. I did one darker than the other, but you’ll see why as we go along.
For the black head with silver stickers, it’s pretty straightforward. Dye your head the shade of silver that you want, dry it, and then carefully place your stickers on there.
Use the Xacto knife instead of your fingers to keep from weakening the adhesive, and place them however you want them. When they are placed, use a hair dryer to heat them up and mash them straight down with your thumb. Now, dip it in the black using the hottest water you can use. This will ensure that you get a true black and not a purple. Once this is done, let your stick dry and peel off the stickers. Dye job #1 = done.
For the second job I decided that I would spice things up a bit. I began the same way, except that I made the grey much darker on this head. When you’re doing this, be careful not to leave it in so long that it starts to get purple. Now, after you go grey, apply your stickers like I did on the first head. Next, we’re going to add a black fade to the bottom of the stick.
Again, keep the water as hot as possible. It really does help if you can keep it over heat so if you have an outdoor boiler (or really understanding parents) try and add the fade while the water is still boiling and over the fire. Keep bobbing the head up and down to get your fade. Don’t put it in too deep too many times. Watch the video and I’ll show you how I do my fades.
When you have your fade done, boil another pot of water. To this water you’ll add your RIT color remover. Try to ventilate your area while doing this, because this stuff smells pretty strong and I’m not trying to put anyone in the ER.
Basically what you want to do with the color remover is to do another fade that meets the black. You should have done your black fade about half of the way up, and now we’re going to do a color-remove fade 2/3 of the way down. This will result in a much lighter grey up top, and a still-black at the bottom.
When you have done this, (and make sure to remove as much of the grey as you can), take your stick out and rinse it. You’ll want to get all of that stuff off of your head, and then let it dry. When it is dry, began to carefully peel off your stickers. On my head, some of my stickers bled. I think it gives it a ghostly look to it, but that’s just me trying to explain away imperfection. Give your heads a nice rub down with some Goo Gone and a paper towel, and you’ll be ready to go.
Take some pictures and throw them up on here! I’d like to thank STX for the Revolvers, they’re awesome! Keep it tuned right here to the Playground for the string jobs that will follow.
