dyeing snake skin?

[osage outlaw]

Can you dye snake skin black?  I need a couple of solid black snake skins for a bow.  I thought I had two, but I only have one.  I have a few black rat snakes that are dark but still have a pattern.  I was planning on dyeing the back of the limbs black and then applying the skins.  After they are dry could I take some black dye and go over the skins?  Would that work? 

[missilemaster]

I dont know about dying the skin itself, but I dyed the wood underneath black and it definitely gave it a darker hue. You can pretty much put any color you want under it and have it show through somewhat.

[Will H]

I'd say black the back of the bow then see what ya think. I seen pappy dye some copperheads after they were applied to a bow just the other day. So it works...

[osage outlaw]

OK.  Thanks guys.  I won't be finishing this bow until graduation time so maybe I'll get lucky and find another all black one before then.

[Pat B]

Clint, you should be able to dye snake skins with black leather dye. Try it on a sample first but I don't know why it wouldn't work.

[ionicmuffin]

if snakeskin is anything similar to rawhide then it will work, although you may need several coats to make it black in broad daylight. Bryce used black leather dye on rawhide with my friends bow and it became a dark green with like one or two coats so maybe a few more and its black? try it out see what happens!

[spyder1958]

Outlaw, I think I'd treat it just like leather. I'd dye it and let it dry then glue on over your black back.