I've never dyed one, but I have painted them with acrylic fabric paints. And the results were good.

Hi Monablair,

Thanks for the idea! Did you have any trouble getting the paint to go on evenly?
Did you spray it on?

Also, how was the light transmission through the shades after you painted them?

The lamp is for my dining room, so I don't need bright light, just a background light.

You can do either. A dye will soak into the fabric and paint will sit on top. Painting is easier, though.
So, make sure you do an opaque finish, multiple coats. And you should be fine as far as *see thru*.
I've only ever used a brush, but I suppose you could spray.
The ones I've done, I used a good latex and a brush.

Maybe buy a cheap shade to do some samples?

Hey, what about this product for painting the lampshade?

I was looking for a spray paint color online and this popped up in my search.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fabric Spray Paint

Thank you paintergirl and dawnp.

Yes, I think a few trial samples on a cheap shade is a very good idea. And that fabric spray does come in black. I wonder if doing one light coat would give me a gray.

My guess is you'd get a light coat of black. Best to buy a gray. IMO.
Then again, if you don't try, ya never know!

I sponge painted the outside of the lampshade with the 3 colors I wanted and then painted the inside of the shade a bronze color. I ended up with an opaque coverage with a marbelized exterior.
But brushing on several coats of paint would have given me the same coverage.

I agree, practice on a cheap shade first.

I did as mona did, used fabric paint on my white shades. The paint comes in
small containers at Michaels arts & crafts. I wanted
a bronze color so I mixed two colors together until I achieved the desired color.

It is a chandlier, so I did the inside of the shades
gold. It looks spiffy. :)

I spray painted my shades and it worked well...the outsides are black and the insides are gold.