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Anyway to dye white canvas tan?

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Turtle2

40 Cal
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For a few years now I've thought about trying to dye (or stain, I don't know..) my 12'x12' pyramid tent a tan or soft brown. I'm just wanting it to blend in a bit with surroundings instead of being stark white. Curious if anyone has done this type of thing or if it's just better left as is.
Tent12.jpg
 
I'm guessing that tent is not plain canvas but sunforger or vivatex treated, at any rate any treatment/ waterproofing flame retardant etc.. will likely inhibit dye setting. Attempting to dye it may also result in reduced life of the product.
 
lend it to me. . . . .I can't get from the house to the car wearing a white shirt without getting a stain on it that will NEVER come out.

Kidding aside, I think it will mellow with age, nearly all the Wall tents in Elk camps I have been in, pick up a grayish yellow from sun, smoke, dust and dirt. You could camp in Moab for a week and have a nice pinkish hue to your tent.
 
For a few years now I've thought about trying to dye (or stain, I don't know..) my 12'x12' pyramid tent a tan or soft brown. I'm just wanting it to blend in a bit with surroundings instead of being stark white. Curious if anyone has done this type of thing or if it's just better left as is.
View attachment 24773
Probably best to leave as-is and let nature take it's course; over time it'll dull out. Nice tent!
 
Nature won't take it's course, except perhaps to keep it just about as white as it is.

IF it's water resistant, you're done. :confused:

IF it's not...., you should look into about a dozen boxes of RIT brand brown dye, in a large machine at a laundromat, and don't get caught. The RIT won't chemically harm the fabric as walnuts might. Soaking it in a plastic 55 gallon drum would probably work better than the industrial machine at the laundromat.

LD
 
Thank you guys. All good points/great ideas and I appreciate all the input. It is sunforger canvas so maybe it is what it is. Maybe I'll try and smoke it and see what happens. I'm thinking I could set it up without the stove but open the stove flap and put a small fire inside and see what happens. If it works, set it up inside out and repeat.
 
Put it up inside out, put a small fire inside, dump wet leaves on it. Tipees smoke up even though the canvas is treated.
I inadvertently aged my wall tent when the spark arrestor on my stove pipe blocked up, and smoked the interior of the tent. I'm probably lucky that I woke up and didn't die. But, now, the interior of the tent is a pleasing tan, while the outside is still white.
So, tenngun's suggestion is quite solid.
I just noticed that the last post was in 2020. I wonder how he made out?
 
Being this thread has been resurrected;
I've read where they treated canvas with linseed oil to waterproof their tents and wagons. Furthermore, we had horse drawn wagons in the 80's thru 2010, the old timers back then told us to coat our cover with linseed oil to make it waterproof. We never did, saving the linseed oil for the wagon bed and frame.
 
Tea will turn it into a tan color and tea is pretty cheap BUT, what is historically correct? You might want to leave it as is. I think that is the color Miller painted at the Rendezvous, etc.
 

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