......and now it's a pocket NAAFI canteen 😆

... and if you get thirsty you can dunk it in hot water and make a cup of coffee or beef soup! 😋

If you want it to look older and a bit used you could spray it with water and sprinkle some instant coffee granules on and spray again then let it soak for a while.
You could also sprinkle bits of OXO stock cubes on it.
I know it is starting to sound more like a restaurant than a fender.LOL!
But you will get the different variations in colour.

Martin.

Thanks for all your 'tea staining tips' (PG Tips ?...HaHa) I did take the advice given and dunked the bow fender in a cup of hot water a tea bag and left it for 20 minutes.
I hung it to dry on the washing line (I won't tell you what my wife commented 😳).
When dry it's clearly taken a nice shade of light brown and I'm happy with the result.
The photo is the one on the bow of my crash tender and the the 'stained' one for comparison.
I'll probably stain the crash tender one too.
Thanks all.
Robbob.

The 'Tea' method should work well, I used to use it to die white tissue-covering on model aircraft so the it looked more antique linen.

Time for a brew methinks.
Thanks chaps👍😀

If the trails are too long and will be trimmed, try some tea on the end and see what happens. I’ve used teabags for staining, giving them a good soaking and ringing them out and using that liquid as the dye rather than water that would have been in the pot so to speak, I’ve also rubbed the teabag into the surface (taking care not to split the bag and end up with soggy tea leaves everywhere!).

If it is synthetic then you will have to mix up some enamel paint.
Then airbrush it on.

Martin.

I could not of explained that better.

Martin.

Good advice.
OK, What I'll do is put a flame 🔥 to the end of one of the tails and if it 'melts' rather than burns it will be synthetic, if not it'll be cotton (as I suspect).
Or if it's gun cotton it will take my eyebrows off 💥!! Haha

Hi Rob
The success will depend on the material the item is made of, if it’s 100% cotton it will absorb the colour far quicker and more successfully than if it contains nylon or similar. If it is pure nylon or synthetic material it’s unlikely the colour would be absorbed or change very much

Hi Martin.
For as long as a week!
I was imagining that 30 minutes might be sufficient 😲.
Perhaps this calls for some experimentation with a substitute material 🤔

Hi Robbob,
In the past I have used Tea.
I soaked them in Tea for about a week then left them out to dry, before they dry out to much I then sprinkled some instant Coffee granules on them.
That way you have the light and dark staining making them look more realistic.

Martin.