During the build of the Cutty, I came into the possession of my first wooden kit, the Nordkap. I couldn't wait to get my hands on it........I had to find the fitting's kit for it, and once I did, I began working on the two in tandem. A while after that, I entered into an agreement to build another wooden ship, called the Cux. this also had a hand in tabling the Cutty, because of the re-direction as to what I was going to do with the hemp thread.
I found that with these two wooden kit, the threads were not dyed to the colors needed, in order to designate the role of each line......whether standing, or running rigging. this question was brought up and was answered.....which was the fact that in some areas, these different color threads are not available where these kits are manufactured. another reason, is that as these kits are developed {generically}, to get them in the stores and to the public quickly, some short-cuts are taken.......hence the white thread. it can be dyed {stained} to the builder's specifications, to any color that he {or she} would like to portray the rigging. some can even be painted silver, to resemble cable, or the like.......the ideas are endless!
There are many ways to dye the thread. the use of regular dye {for cloth}...is one. then there is using a stain, and spraying it with a flat sealer afterwards, is another. when all I could find was the "tan" hemp thread, my wife told me that I could get some black dye and do some of the thread in black to resemble the standing rigging. that settled me for a while.......she was probably tired of watching me obsess over thread colors, and thought of it in order to get me out of the stores. "I'm" usually the one who is trying to think of way to get "her" out of the stores...........LOL!!!! to make a long story short......the dye was never bought. I am now at the point of rigging the Cux, and I am hard-pressed. I need standing rigging thread.....the black thread that I was going to use {that I found} is too shiny......it should be flat. not only that, but I only have one size....the size for the anchor. I bought two sizes of the "tan" hemp thread. I need to color some of this thread black.... and in a big hurry!
I was doing something that required a sharpie marker one day, and this gave me the idea. first, the pen is broken into, in order to get the ink refill inside. I laid a plastic wrap film on my desk, in order to control the mess factor.
