I have been trying to get to this test for a long time, but last night I finally tried to dye some eyeglass lenses using RIT dye. The procedure was an utter failure. The lenses came out looking orange rather than the scarlet dye I had used. Also, the lens I took out at 50 minutes was the same color as the one I took out at 20 minutes. However, I did learn several things.
1) When buying a kettle from a thrift store, make sure the bottom is flat. It is hard to boil water in a kettle that doesn't stay on the burner.
2) Boiling plastic lenses in dye causes all kinds of crud to come to the top of the kettle. I have no idea if this was normal for this procedure or not.
3) Read and follow instructions. I was supposed to use the distilled water I had purchased. Instead, I went by memory and used regular water.
4) It is hard to grab lenses you can't see, because they are covered with dye, using silicone hotdog tongs. I am going to buy a mesh basket for the second test.
5) As mentioned above, there was no difference in color from 20 minutes to 50 minutes. I am going to increase the ratio of dye to water. Two other websites recommend larger ratios as well. There are also other recommendations I am going to incorporate into the second test, including monitoring temperature.
6) I don't know the difference between glass and plastic lenses. I accidentally purchased a pair of glasses with glass lenses in spite of my testing at the thrift store. I need to figure out a better way to determine this.
7) Wear an apron when working with dye. I splashed red dye on my turquoise shirt. Bummer. Oh, well. The dryer had already torn a hole in it, so it had to be replaced anyway.
8) Don't expect instructions found on the Internet to yield the desired result the first time. In spite of all the information available and research that can be done, this does not guarantee results. One still has to test and experiment.
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