Disguising Camouflage ?

[Silverclaws2]

Such as it is, I have to source dependable and functional outdoor gear from military surplus, of which presents a problem, a problem in that given, most of what is available comes in rather fetching DPM camouflage tones I don't particularly want to look like a cabbage, beyond any other disparaging adjective out in the sticks, to wonder, to think is there a way to camouflage camouflage ?

Or at least dull down the tones?

Here I am talking about waterproof clothing and in particular a pair of 'Gaiters GS long' of which I understand may be Gore Tex, though I am not bothered if it's not, could I just take to them with an indelible dark marker pen or is there a better way/product that might provide a more permanent covering for the brighter tones?

And yes I am aware the '' Gaiter GS Standard '' was produced in a more acceptable olive green, but so far I have not found a '' Gaiter GS long '' in olive green, to be thinking to be stuck with cabbage and the need to dull dem tones down.

And why I use these gaiters is because they're the best for the high leg combat boots I wear ( 1980's Boots- Combat High) , almost as if they were actually designed for them, unlike so many civilian options I have had.

 

[Broch]

I have had some success with vinyl fabric paint/dye; it covers well and remains flexible. You can get it in spray or brush-on. Amongst other uses it's sold to recolour car vinyl interiors.

However, I've never tried it on Gore-Tex and I suspect it wouldn't do the breathing properties any good at all.

 

[TLM]

I don't particularly want to look like a cabbage,

Slightly understandable, you might call them lettuce or "polite little green men". I could easily imagine some other descriptive words for various colours.

I have seen some results when std military camo has been coloured dark grey. The result was fairly reasonable, not cucumber salad at all.

 

[Robson Valley]

Canada geese are very sensitive to motion in their environment on the ground.
The biggest issue with disappearing, sitting out in the open, is do not move.
I have had good success using earth tones of acrylic house paint, rolled on in patches and broad bands,
on old, dull, fabrics of winter coats. Same for a simple pull-over hood & mask. Gloves of course.

Buy whatever camo you can afford. Roll a few broad bands of pale earth tone browns and grays
to break up the "cabbage" ( I love that) . Worse than Romaine lettuce.

This is cut-leaf camo sheet cut into 12" wide strips and hot-glued to a worn out jacket.
The bib fronts are Cabela's sand/sage pattern.
Up to you to decide who is the real turkey.

 

[Toddy]

You can buy dye, iDye Poly for instance.
You'll never get rid of the underlying 'camouflageness' but you can tone it down quite considerably.
TLM's idea about dark grey is very effective, especially on the green. A dark brown also works but is inclined to leave the whole thing more obvious somehow. Black, which one would think would cover it all, doesn't. It still shows through as camo and it's, well, it's often looks 'dyed', if I make myself clear.
You really want someting to look right, but not camouflage.
To some extent you're stuck with the camouflage, just find something to mitigate it enough to live with it.
The dyes, when done properly and dried and reproofed with the right proofing for the fabric, won't interfere with the breathability of the fabric. Paint will.

Best of luck with it.

Somewhere on the forum there ought to still be a couple of thread started by folks who dyed kit. I'm pretty sure one was a camouflage rucksack and at least one was on jacket and trousers.

If anyone minds something that would let us search for them, please let us know ?

M

 

[Wildgoose]

Such as it is, I have to source dependable and functional outdoor gear from military surplus, of which presents a problem, a problem in that given, most of what is available comes in rather fetching DPM camouflage tones I don't particularly want to look like a cabbage, beyond any other disparaging adjective out in the sticks, to wonder, to think is there a way to camouflage camouflage ?

Or at least dull down the tones?

Here I am talking about waterproof clothing and in particular a pair of 'Gaiters GS long' of which I understand may be Gore Tex, though I am not bothered if it's not, could I just take to them with an indelible dark marker pen or is there a better way/product that might provide a more permanent covering for the brighter tones?

And yes I am aware the '' Gaiter GS Standard '' was produced in a more acceptable olive green, but so far I have not found a '' Gaiter GS long '' in olive green, to be thinking to be stuck with cabbage and the need to dull dem tones down.

And why I use these gaiters is because they're the best for the high leg combat boots I wear ( 1980's Boots- Combat High) , almost as if they were actually designed for them, unlike so many civilian options I have had.

The Green gaiters were 90s issue with DPM, black and MTP coming in the 2000s. Long green do exist but are hard to find in decent condition.

 

[Herman30]

Canada geese are very sensitive to motion in their environment on the ground.
The biggest issue with disappearing, sitting out in the open, is do not move.
I have had good success using earth tones of acrylic house paint, rolled on in patches and broad bands,
on old, dull, fabrics of winter coats. Same for a simple pull-over hood & mask. Gloves of course.

Buy whatever camo you can afford. Roll a few broad bands of pale earth tone browns and grays
to break up the "cabbage" ( I love that) . Worse than Romaine lettuce.

This is cut-leaf camo sheet cut into 12" wide strips and hot-glued to a worn out jacket.
The bib fronts are Cabela's sand/sage pattern.
Up to you to decide who is the real turkey.

View attachment 62451

I made me this 3D camo hood.

sawmill restaurant menu

 

[Robson Valley]

Excellent use of free leaves to blend color with motion.
Are they the right shades of greens for where you live?

 

[Herman30]

As far as I can tell, yes. Matching colors for our woods. Colors in this photo is too pale, settings on the camera was not right.

 

[Mowmow]

I don't understand, do you want to be camouflaged or not?

Are you trying to make the camouflage more civilian looking?

Just dye it. Some camouflage is quite fashionable nowadays too, depends how and what youre wearing.

Is cabbage a dig at people who wear camouflage?
I don't understand what the issue is with camouflaged gear, in the UK at least where you won't get shot for wearing it.
Better than dressed up as some sort of country bumpkin indiana jones out on a safari in sherwood forest *cough* tilley hats *cough* waistcoat

Haha no offense to anyone i'll wear owt to be honest as long as it does it's intended job.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

 

[Mowmow]

British army desert dpm dyed dylon velvet black

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[Toddy]

You see how the threads haven't taken up any of the dye ? The iDye Poly does a better job on those.

M

 

[Tengu]

Thats a grand turkey, Robson Valley, what weight was he? Did you preserve his fan?

 

[TLM]

British army desert dpm dyed dylon velvet black

As Toddy said some material in the fabric has not taken in any of the dye. I don't find that result very worthwhile.

 

[Silverclaws2]

Slightly understandable, you might call them lettuce or "polite little green men". I could easily imagine some other descriptive words for various colours.

I have seen some results when std military camo has been coloured dark grey. The result was fairly reasonable, not cucumber salad at all.

I am ex military to be using the term 'cabbage' in a military context, as in we used to refer to battle dress uniform as 'cabbage gear' for the term to have stuck.

I am also aware there are currently serving and ex military folk here, of whom might have understood the 'joke' and there the need to not be seen as, well, a few things and besides that yellow shade is just too much.

 

[TLM]

to be using the term 'cabbage' in a military context, as in we used to refer to battle dress uniform as 'cabbage gear'

I did get that. How about "polite little green men" for people all in green? As Finland has a conscript army for my age group about 90% of men have some kind of military service behind them. That means that in one sense one might call them "ex military" but in some other sense maybe not.

But I still like not to be overly conspicuous when in the woods. Being dressed as a canary is not my favorite colour.

 

[Silverclaws2]

I don't understand, do you want to be camouflaged or not?

Are you trying to make the camouflage more civilian looking?

Just dye it. Some camouflage is quite fashionable nowadays too, depends how and what youre wearing.

Is cabbage a dig at people who wear camouflage?
I don't understand what the issue is with camouflaged gear, in the UK at least where you won't get shot for wearing it.
Better than dressed up as some sort of country bumpkin indiana jones out on a safari in sherwood forest *cough* tilley hats *cough* waistcoat

Haha no offense to anyone i'll wear owt to be honest as long as it does it's intended job.

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

Ideally I don't want camouflage, but because I exist on a low income, if I want decent dependable outdoor wear, I have to look to ex military options of which mean camouflage, where I don't suppose you have experienced the GS gaiters of which feature a wire cable under the boot that isn't easily ' gnawed through by the terrain' , nor the fact that the gaiters are actually designed for high leg combat boots, to in effect be a near perfect combination perhaps with much likeness to the civilian Scarpa/Yeti combination - of which I do have experience of, to prefer the more traditional approach.

And dye out the camouflage was my interest hence asking here and my asking here, because we're talking about impervious synthetic fabric of which to my experience doesn't really take dye per se, to in effect need to 'paint' the fibres with some kind of persistent covering, I know not of.

But cabbage, my apologies if I have offended you to say no, it's not a dig at anyone, but in fact a term used within military circles or at least was when I served to describe battle dress uniform as 'cabbage gear', to be aware there are other ex military here of whom might understand ' the joke'

But let's not go there with the concept of fashion , of which I consider to be about not only the wilful waste of resources to create an image of something of which it is not, but also a cookie cut personage.

 

[Silverclaws2]

I did get that. How about "polite little green men" for people all in green? As Finland has a conscript army for my age group about 90% of men have some kind of military service behind them. That means that in one sense one might call them "ex military" but in some other sense maybe not.

But I still like not to be overly conspicuous when in the woods. Being dressed as a canary is not my favorite colour.

The problem with 'little green men' is that not everyone that takes to the outdoors or indeed serves in the military are men and besides little green men is also a popular reference to beings from another planet, to be called 'aliens'

 

[lou1661]

@Silverclaws2 This is desert DPM that was died using a mix of idle and idle poly. Its not too bad, may be a little ghost pattern. but its the best I have seen.

Cheers
Louis

 

[Silverclaws2]

The Green gaiters were 90s issue with DPM, black and MTP coming in the 2000s. Long green do exist but are hard to find in decent condition.

Yes that was my experience of the GS gaiter, in the nineties to already know of the solid green and my preference, I shall keep looking as at least I do know, some surplus vendors don't list standard or long in their listings, to perhaps not be aware of the difference. And yes I do have the NSN numbers for both, to be able to locate that way, if need be.