info about dyes from leatherwood designs

[leatheroo]

i have been researching dyes (thanks for the replies to the other post) and have ordered peter mains book on colouring leather, but i am also a big fan of the work of Rod and Denise Stranger at "Leatherwood Designs", i thought i would send an email to rod and ask him what types of dyes he uses. He kindly replied and i thought i would share his email.

Hi Caroline,

I live on the Sunshine Coast so I get most of my dyes from Brisbane at a

place called Crispin Leather (www.crispinleather.com.au) I use Raven Oil or

what ever spirit dyes they supply, most places have their own dyes. As for

colours beside brown etc I mix my own, yellow with a touch of red=orange,

yellow with a touch of green=lime green, red and blue = purple. Now blue is

a problem, I buy some powered dye from the chemist (cloths dye), dissolve

the powder with a LITTLE bit of boiling water then dilute further with

metho. This will make about a third of a jam jar of dye, you'll have to

trial and error. Over the top of most colours I spray mica. Mica is an

metallic looking powder, you can get a variety of colours (gold, silver,

red, blue, lilac, green etc) you can get these from Melbourne (

www.goldleaf.com.au ), for colours to have a look at

(www.goldleaf.com.au/mica ). You can get about 10 small sachets for about

$30, it could be more now as I have not bought any for a while. Get a bunch

of samples as a test. I mix the mica with clear acrylic sealer from the

leather shop, to a consistency that will go through your air brush. You can

then spray red over red or over blue or yellow, wherever your mind takes

you, you can also highlight with a fine brush. I usually spray the mica

colour over the same dye colour. That's about it, good luck, let me know how

you get on.

Cheers

Rod Stanger

www.leatherwood.com.au

[leatheroo]

ooops did i click twice????

[TomSwede]

Wow, that chair is something else!

Interesting subject, dyes are always worth learning more about.

Thanks for sharing, Roo!

Tom

Edited February 28, 2008 by TomSwede

[barra]

Caroline. I have in the past used Waproo spirit dye. I would get a lot of rub off from Raven oil so was more fond of the waproo. I believe it is now owned and or made by Joseph Lyddy (Aussie version of Fiebings). I too do much the same thing as Rod and make my own dyes. Metho (Methylated spirit) is denatured alcohol.

Barra

[Tina]

Hi Roo,

I have only used Angelus spirit leather dyes but I'm really happy with them. Vivid colors and no rub of that I can discover. I have only found a few places here in the US that sells them and the cheapest is from this link:

http://www.turtlefeathers.com/text/angelus/dye.html

Their service is excellent and shipping fast and postage is what they pay.

The color chart on the web page is unfortunable very inaccurate. For example the purple looks dull and boring, compare with this link where I have used the purple and you see what I mean, and even that picture is less vivid than real life:

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?a...ost&id=5037

I have to blue colors I've used, the blue jean and the blue. The last one is equally vivid as the purple. Always get a big container of resolvent, it's super useful. I do not have a picture of the blue yet but if you are interested I can make samples and take photos of them.

Have a great day "Down under" :-)

[tazzmann]

About ten years ago, I saw an article somewhere about a guy who made his own dyes with denatured alcohol and rit dye or alcohol and kool-aid. Has anyone else heard of this or have tried it?

[bcurrier]

...then dilute further with metho

What is "metho"? Alcohol?

Bill

[barra]

Metho is short for methylated spirits. You guys call it denatured alcohol.

Barra

[Davy]

Metho and orange juice , mmmm ! Hey barra are waproo dyes still available here . They always were a stronger richer stain than Raven oil . If I could get em , I'd use em .

[tonyc1]

Caroline. I have in the past used Waproo spirit dye. I would get a lot of rub off from Raven oil so was more fond of the waproo. I believe it is now owned and or made by Joseph Lyddy (Aussie version of Fiebings). I too do much the same thing as Rod and make my own dyes. Metho (Methylated spirit) is denatured alcohol.

Barra

The spirit based dye that Birdsalls have or had is good dye, minimal rub off. I bought a gallon of black and brown app. 10 years ago and it's still good!

Tony.