[KeySmash]

For two of my cosplays there is a gradient dye in the kimonos. So my question is, what type of dye would you recommend for medium weight cotton? The colors will be going from orange to red.

It also seems like I will be dying in making scales so painting them on seems like the only option. Is there a certain brand of fabric paint you would recommend?

Scale

[Tokoz]

For cotton, plain old RIT dye will work. Otherwise, look for a fiber-reactive dye (as opposed to an acid dye, though they would also work probably). You can pick up RIT dyes just about anywhere, grocery store or craft store. I like Dharma Trading for more specific dyes and paints and such -- www.dharmatrading.com

For fabric paint, it depends more on what you want to spend. On the high end are Jacquard brand paints (http://www.jacquardp....com/paints.php), on the low end would be any kind of acrylic art paint, probably. I've used dedicated fabric paint, artist's oil paints, ink, acrylic paint, sharpies, glue tinted with paint, acrylic paint with textile medium added and ballpoint pens to decorate fabric before, and all were more-or-less permanent. I'd pick something with good flow for those scales, and maybe make a template you can trace, so you don't have to freehand them all.

[KeySmash]

Thank you for the suggestions. I think I will go with the RIT dyes. I am creating a template and it's just painting on the scales that trouble me. Do you recommend any ways to paint on the scales? I was just going to use a sponge and slowly dab it into place.