I spent a considerable amount of time seeking out reliable dye sources for  fly tying purposes. Most of the companies listed below have color charts, however, when viewing them either in printed form or on a web page the individual colors they depict are not always accurate. Most suppliers will provide samples so you can verify the color you want for a specific material before making a purchase.

    Should you attempt to seek out new sources for dyes on the Internet you will discover, internationally, there are more than 5,000 companies that offer dyes. What I offer is just a very small part of what is available in North America, but it is more than enough for either the casual fly tier or for commercial purposes.

    RIT is probably the most available source for dyes. I have found that most all of the more subtle shades are possible using these products. For instance, through experimentation I was able to prefect a lemon wood duck shade that worked perfectly when overdyeing barred mallard. When compared with a real wood duck feather, the only visible difference was the lack of a real distinct barring―the lemon shade is there. All of the olive and dun shades are also easy to obtain.

http://www.ritdye.com

    Keystone has been a source for dye house internationally for a number of years and they literally have dyes for any material used in fly tying, both natural protein and synthetic materials. All of the more vibrant shades are possible, including fluorescent shades.

http://www.dyes.com

    Those in the home spinning craft have come up with the use of Kool Aid to dye natural protein fibers. I believe all of us have had experience with this, unwittingly of course. I can remember catching the dickens for spilling Kool Aid on a new white t-shirt. With respect to fly tying materials, I have seen a few dye jobs done by others and I felt they lacked the standard that I tried to maintain and their color fastness was also questionable, especially when used on dry fly hackle or some of the harder hairs like a squirrel tail. I simply haven’t been adequately motivated to where I want to spend any time with this process. Here is some further information so you can decide if this is for you:

http://www.bivens.ca/koolaid.htm

http://www.thepiper.com/fiberart/koolaid

    These dyes are “kosher” and would be my choice any day over Kool Aid. Good information for food dyes:

http://www.americolorcorp.com

http://www.handspinning.com/lollipops/dye.htm

    Every so often in fly-fishing someone happens along and they are able to mix their vocation with their avocation. FlyDye™ is an example of this and the Organic Dyestuffs Corporation makes these dyes. I believe it is only fair to note that most dye pigments are either synthetic or organic. From an ecological stand point you shouldn’t be overly excited about using dyes that are organic. There are food dyes, for example, that are synthetic and I don’t believe any of these have harmed man or the environment. However, there are varying chemical dyes, but none are needed for fly tying purposes.

http://www.organicdye.com/fphotos.asp

Very good source for dying protein fibers.

http://www.pburch.net/dyeing/proteindyes.shtml

Information on acid dying.

http://www.straw.com/sig/kiton.html

Source for acetic acid.

http://www.newcomersupply.com/reagents.html

Sources for dyes and technical guides for various types of dyeing.

http://www.dharmatrading.com/info

http://www.earthguild.com/products/dyes/dyehub.htm

http://www.prochemical.com

Sources for waterproof marking pens.

http://www.misterart.com/store/view.cfm?store=001&group_id=1345

http://www.dickblick.com/zz213/42/products.asp?param=0&ig_id=1130