Coloring a Tyvek Suit

Not sure if that suit has a waterproof zipper — if not, you could always glue on a storm flap (inside or outside).

Also, I suspect that diluted acrylic hobby paint (the type used for painting pictures) would also work like the acrylic ink, and it can be bought in any local Michael's/Jo-Ann's, etc.. Diluted hobby paint is permanent on most wool, cotton, and poly fabrics.

A storm flap. Great idea. What kind of glue would you use?

I will make a trip to Michael's and try out the acrylic hobby paint too. Maybe I'll do a camouflage suit too. Thanks for the tips.

Folks on this site have recommended 3M Super 77 glue for tyvek. I haven't tried it myself, but it seems to be the most often mentioned product…

I like Super 77, just be careful on the overspray, it gets everywhere.

I'm not sure that kind of tyvek fabric could be considered waterproof by any means, perhaps moderately to highly water resistant.

Yes, i did the same thing, but i cut off the lower leg parts. Haven't used it too much because it needs to be pretty cold for me to use it and unfortunately VA doesn't get too cold much of the time.

I also don't mind the color, i like white, so haven't tried to dye it. Good for blending in the snow. Cool that you found a way to dye it though.

It's fairly fragile material, so any kind of bushwacking is kind of a no no.

I have played around with coloring tyvek using acrylic ink. I found that Speedball brand burnt umber produces a very nice color, more natural than any of the greens or blues I tried.

The only problem with the acrylic ink that I found was that it can tint what it is rubbing up against (e.g. skin or a white shirt). This is another benefit of the burnt umber color – it doesn't make you look like a Smurf. And while I didn't test it for a long period of time, it seemed to hold up fairly well to abrasion, unlike some of the other coloring methods I played with.

>" I look like the Michelin Man or the Pillsbury Doughboy"

Claim to be from the 101st Airborne in winter-camo gear.

"Claim to be from the 101st Airborne in winter-camo gear."

I like it. I just need to cover up the DuPont label on the left breast. Maybe if I stitch on a piece of material with my name on it…

"The only problem with the acrylic ink that I found was that it can tint what it is rubbing up against (e.g. skin or a white shirt)"

William, did you try washing the tyvek suit? It would be interesting to know if the color survived and whether it reduced or eliminated the color rubbing off. I'm planning to hand-wash mine when I'm done coloring it, to see how colorfast it is and to hopefully eliminate the rub-off issue.

Instead of glueing storm flap, I used tyvek tape to seam seal and creat a two sided storm flap on my tyvek jacket, also, packaging tape would probably work fine

For the inside seams, I cut 2" tape in half lengthwise to create 1" strips, then applied them to all seams

For the flap I took 2" tape and folded it in on itself 1/3 of the way, then taped in down the zipper line, repeated process on the opposite side so the flap closes both directions.

I also recommend a zip tie to elongate the zipper pull .

I made mine into a pullover jacket with 1/2 zip weighs about 3.5 ounces

edit: uploaded image.

I should have specified I was playing with homewrap, not one of the suits. I did not wash it in a washing machine, but I soaked it in water and used wet paper towels to intentionally try to scrub off the color. The first couple of times I tried, moderate amount of bleeding of the color was evident. But afterwards the tyvek still held color and only very small amounts of color bleeding was evident.

I have not tried it in a real world environment, though. I did start to color a tyvek bivy but due to stupidity on my part, I ended up abandoning that particular project.

"I'm not sure that kind of tyvek fabric could be considered waterproof by any means, perhaps moderately to highly water resistant."

Put the suit on and got in the shower this morning. Definitely not waterproof. Just ordered some silicone fabric spray to try. We'll see how that works with another shower test.

Unfortunately the water resistance of soft tyvek is about 50 inches compared to normal Gortex with hydrostatic head of 1100 inches. There are many different types of tyvek and lots of good (yet confusing) info in the old posts.

Finished coloring the suit. 2 applications of acrylic ink producing a dark charcoal…er…graphite gray. Next I'll try the silicone spray waterproofing, then give it the shower test again.

Wow that looks great David!

Thanks! $8 worth of ink and 3 hours of labor.

Looks very nice.

Interested in if the silicone spray will stick to the tyvek or not.

Dupont does make them in colors other than white.

Tyvek® chemical suits are available depending on the design in the colours white, blue and green.

Blue

http://www.safetysourcenortheast.com/products/PROTECTIVE%20CLOTHING%20AND%20FOOTWEAR/BLUE%20TYVEK%20COVERALLS.aspx

That looks so much better than the bright white. What brand of acrylic ink did you end up using?

Nice job on colors but like Ken said colors have been available for a while in the chemical sector.

As for silicone spray sticking , it will. I have sprayed my tyvek ground sheet until saturated with sil spray.
Let it set in the sun for a few hours and it is good to go!

The ink brand is "Liquitex". Ordered from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Liquitex-Professional-Acrylic-5-1-oz-Carbon/dp/B004RGINNE/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1383504145&sr=8-4&keywords=liquitex+acrylic+ink

It's also available in other colors: Dioxazine Purple, Naphthol Crimson, Phthalocyanine Green, Prussian Blue, Burnt Umber, Raw Umber, and yellow/medium azo. And they can be mixed to get particular shades or hues. I may try making a camo suit next.

Good to know the silicone spray will work. I guess the last thing will be to seal the seams.

I wanted to have a black suit, and haven't been able to find that color ready-made. Although I am thinking now that my black may have turned out blacker if I had started with a blue suit. I'm also guessing that the colored "Tychem" suits may be more water resistant, since they are advertised as having "splash resistance".

Any dye I've ever applied to clothing has a nasty habit of bleeding forever more onto under and outer garments .

A legitimate concern.

The Liquitex ink is advertised as permanent and water-resitant, but we'll see how that goes. I plan to give the suit a wash in cold water on gentle cycle with a swatch of white cotton in the load, to see how much ink washes and bleeds out, before I apply the silicone. Then after the silicone is applied I will give it the shower test wearing a white tee shirt, and see what happens.