I was asked to dye a pair of goalie heads for a player at Hofstra, so we started out with their colors and tried to keep it simple. Because the scoop of the goalie head is so wide, it really makes cutting the letters out much easier. I drew the letters with a sharpie onto my electrical tape, and the cut them out using the trusty Xacto blade. Using tweezers to place them so I wouldn't touch them with my fingers, I arranged them on the scoop so they would be centered. After I pressed them firmly, I used a hair dryer to make sure that they were really on there. A couple tips with electrical tape:
1. The fresher the better. Old tape is questionable sometimes.
2. Don't use your fingers, oils from your hands weaken the adhesive.
3. Don't stretch the sticker when peeling them up.
4. Mash hard, heat evenly.
After I got all the letters down, it was pretty simple from there. Single color dyes, Royal Blue and Golden Yellow RIT. Get the water as hot as you can, and then take it off the heat. Dyeing over heat makes stickers and hot glue much less dependable in the water. When you pull them out, give them a nice warm water rinse and let them cool. I used to use cold water, but I'm afraid that rapid temperature change just makes the plastic more brittle, so avoid that. If you have any questions, or would like to keep up with everything I'm working on, come check out McCool's Dye Shop on Facebook.
