Click on the bordered images to enlarge

As you can see in the pictures above, the paint did bond well to the plastic and to the shaft and looked beautiful. But, as you can see in the pictures below, after a few days of drying the paint was chipped off with just a few serious checks to the surface of each. The paint does not peel and flake like the last great "plastic paint" shown on the gold head at the bottom but it will get on your opponents' equipment as shown on the pictures of the shafts we used.

Our Final recommendation: Keep waiting. There still is not a paint that is acceptable for lacrosse sticks, but we expect that will change in the future. These technologically advanced paints are getting better and better and we will see an epoxy based spray paint sometime down the line that really will bond permanently with the surface of heads and shafts. Notice on the right that the claim of drying in 15 minutes is not altogether correct either. By the way, if you have some old nasty looking plastic patio furniture, this paint is awesome for that because we don't lay big hits and checks on lawnchairs.

I tried to dye my stick navy blue, with Rit dye, but it came back purple. How do I get it back to white?

This is the most frequently asked question of E-Lacrosse. Just because it's October try telling it a very scary story for Halloween and it may turn white. The sad truth is that it cannot happen without degrading and weakening the head. You can only dye a stick darker that it is. You can still achieve dark blue or black though. Just read below.

I want to dye my Matrix gold and navy blue confetti style, for my school colors. I've known that colors can fade and blue turns to purple so I would like to ask what colors you would recommend for my stick to turn out navy blue and gold. My steps will be: dye gold first, then glue gun, then dye over with blue. Thank you for your site. It has been the only one that has given me full advice. - Tom

Tom, your steps are correct. The best way to get a dark blue is to use a dark blue dye packet with a black dye packet and still use one portion of water. Also, I have found that re-dying is the key. In other words, heat the water, add the dye, dye the head, remove the head, heat the blue water again (be careful not to stain the kitchen) and repeat a few times. This will ensure against a purple result and a sunfade later. The next question/tip is from a guy who made the mistake you are trying to avoid.

I dyed by Evolution blue. After about a week and a half the blue faded into purple from the sun. By this time I had a perfect pocket in the stick. I then had to remove the pocket, re-tape the head (for my dying design), and dye it again. I then had to re-string my head. If you are going to dye a head a dark color, follow these steps:

While dying the head, leave it in the dye for about 20 minutes.

After you dye the head, don't string it, but rather, leave it out in the sun for about 2 weeks.

If it fades, re-dye it.

If you don't want to wait that long, just simply dye it, then when it dries, dye it again!

From Canadian big stick - Joe

Joe, You got it. Re-dying before stringing is the key. Don't even wait for the sun to fade it. Sometimes I re-heat the dye water and re-dye 5 and 6 times to get a dark rich blue.

I am planning on dyeing my stick with a blue and yellow splatter, and was wondering if when I dye the blue over the yellow if it will come out green?

Just follow the advise above and re-dye until it is even a darker blue than desired if worried about a delayed fade from the sun. Don't remove the glue or whatever is covering the yellow parts until you are completely satisfied with the blue color.

I have been seeing a lot of dye jobs lately like the one you did at e-lacrosse called the "Corvette Summer" and the ones in the dye contest where the inside of the sidewall is one color, but its like perfectly done - no sketchy lines, but perfect like a machine did it or something. Can I please get some help and advice on how to do this and any tips.

First we want to make sure that you are not talking about the new STX fuse, pictured on the right, which actually features different materials and colors on the insets. If that is not it, I have to say that the only way to do it is a GREAT glue gun job, and the truth is that the Corvette Summer did have small imperfections that may not have been apparent in the small pictures. It was the hardest dye I ever tried and after a few tries myself, I gave it up. I'd like to challenge a pro shop like Lacrosse Unlimited on Long Island to try it just to see if we are wasting our time. Maybe I will or maybe they will read this and just take it as a challenge. They are the best and if they cannot do it perfectly, no one can. Be prepared for that dye to cost over 60 bucks though, if they did it professionally. They did an 11 color job for us once that retailed at 85 dollars - just for the dye! Perfection IS NOT cheap. It's also not required on a dye job. I always say it's like glass work. The imperfections make each dye "an original".

If you dye a new STX fuse will the gray "stuff" stay gray?

Not really. But it dyes as a different color than the white so you still get a cool two-color effect. We dyed a Fuse using dark blue and black Rit mix and heated the water 5 times to dye the head on the right. We liked the look achieved. The gray turned into a silvery light blue on a dark blue head.

I live in Arlington Virginia and I am a midfielder. My friend John and I want to dye our heads our team colors, but we have one problem: where do we get the dye? Since E-Lacrosse is near D.C. (soooo close to Arlington) could you do me a huge favor and give me a name of a store that I can go to and get the dye? If you can that would be just great because I can't find a store that sells dye!

Dude, The CVS drug store, Home Depot or Hechingers will all have it. To convert this information to those further outside the "beltway" as we say in the nation's capital, just go to a drug store or hardware store. If all else fails, call a fabric store from the yellow pages and ask them where to buy it. We've never gotten this question from a girl because girls and women tend to dye clothing more than men for some reason so you might just also swallow some male pride and ask any woman over 30. I'd bet they will know. I tested this theory once and 100 percent of maybe ten women asked knew just where to buy it.

Jon, Happy Thanksgiving! We say that because, especially around the thanksgiving season, all grocery stores stock various sizes of aluminum foil cooking pans. You want the largest "turkey pan" they have. These can be molded to conform to different shapes like a goalie head. The tip below suggests using them for any dye job. We can't think of a better container for this unless you happen to have a huge stainless steel pot, which will not stain and can be re-heated many times without transferring the dye water between containers.