Anyway to dye white canvas tan?

[Buckskinquin]

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.
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If you can get some dried husks from black walnuts, mixed with water it makes a nice stain for wood. Gotta believe it would work with cloth also. Just not sure how to treat it for rain or heavy dew.

 

[griffiga]

Tea works -- but I would strongly recommend you try it on a little corner first and see if it's what you want.

I've used tea for my white shirts that works well, but you might have to use a lot of tea bags.

 

[sheriff john]

Daughter used black walnut hulls - boiled the hulls down a bit, then added the thickened "dye" to water in a kid's plastic swimming pool. Result was so-so. Tent may have had some sort of waterproofing on it. Don't know.

On "virgin" cotton canvas, results may well be different.

 

[griffiga]

If you can get some dried husks from black walnuts, mixed with water it makes a nice stain for wood. Gotta believe it would work with cloth also. Just not sure how to treat it for rain or heavy dew.

I actually bought a few cans of that weather/water proofing spray you use for shoes (Wally world). It seemed to work fairly well and was fast and easy. I spray a fresh coat on it every time I use it.

 

[DuncNZ]

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.

Canvas + linseed oil may work, the only trouble is that the linseed can cause spontaneous combustion and the whole thing can and will catch fire when folded up for storage in your garage or vehicle . I was at shoot once when a guy pulled up and started to unpack his new linseed proofed tent and it started to burn as he unwrapped it . Be warned .

 

[sturmkatze]

In Roman reenacting, we just painted them with stain. Made them more waterproof too

 

[Snowhawk jockey]

I work in canvas and Sherwin William's woodscapes exterior house stain with a tinted color makes an excellent canvas color application. UV life is about 3 years of constant exposure.

An example of how it looks when done in multiple colors of stain, all on white canvas:

 

[Bighorserider]

My teepee turned tan from having fires in it.

 

[Brazos John]

My teepee turned tan from having fires in it.

My wall tent did the same thing on the inside from the wood stove. It remained white on the outside.

I know!
Turn the tent inside out, burn a fire (SAFELY!) in it, and let the smoke color it.
I don't guarantee acceptable results, but try it, and let us know if it worked!
As they say,
YMMV!

 

[stephenprops1]

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.

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

I would never recommend dying anything in a laundromat. They post signs there for a reason. That is being inconsiderate to an unsuspecting person that washes their clothes after you. Their cloths get ruined because of something another inconsiderate person does.