Experimental Results In Light Fastness

[Toolingaround]

Hi everyone

I thought I would share some results in light fastness of dyes and finishes. First let me say I was not making these test pieces to test light fastness but was testing for waterproof finishes with zero dye bleed on thin flexible veg tan. So far no luck on that one. When flexed all the finishes caused water spotting which often spotted the dye. So I ended up with all these tests cut from the same leather and thought heck lets hang em in the window and see what happens. Here is the result after about three weeks or so.

I kept reading about resolene having UV protector in it well sorry folks I contacted Fiebings and there is no UV protector in resolene. That said although the difference is slight it was the most protective. However I was using it 50/50 with water and where the coverage was not completely even the sun faded and marked the dye. I hate using resolene and plan to order some angelus 600 to try at some point.

I get a nicer more water resistant finish with folk art satin varnish but it is shiny and not UV protective either according to my test. So I tried ceramcoat matte varnish (interior /exterior) as it gives a nice finish but didn't pass the water test on thin leather when flexed and is it also does not have UV protection. Just like resolene, people on line say it has UV protector in it (Amazon sellers for example). So I contacted the manufactures and no it does not have added UV protection. I forgot to enquire about the folk art satin made by the same company. As an aside ceramcoat was my bullet proof go to varnish but it seems to me the formula has changed and I am out of my old supply :-(

While all the dyes faded the areas with a finish of some sort had significantly less sun darkening of the leather under the dye thus there is obviously some UV protection but not enough to protect the fugitive dyes. Where there was just kiwi shoe polish or bees wax the leather sun darkened a lot. The red dye changed the least.

I am planning to make a folding green man camp chair so I really need to solve this puzzle of both water protection, UV protection, dye bleed and flexibility. Some things I am going to try in the future (money and time withstanding) is angelus acrylic finish, silicon for shoes and car products to stop fading. Anyhow I will keep ya posted on the eventual results. Hope this is of some help to someone.

Cheers, Toolingaround

PS sorry for being so long winded