Diluting Dye For Dipping

[TomG]

I have been dip dying some of my straps and belts for a while now, but just ran into a problem.

I usually use Fiebings Dark Brown and dilute is anywhere from 1:1 to 4:1 Denatured Alcohol to dye for different shades.

I just made a new batch from a new bottle of dye for my medium brown, but when I dipped the latest strap, it came out blotchy and uneven. I could swear that I diluted this batch about 3:1 for a medium brown.

A second strap in a different batch for medium came out OK.

Has anyone every heard of bad dye out of the bottle? It's all I can think of since the other batches used other dyes.

Could I have somehow gotten it too thin? Would this cause the blotchy look?

Any ideas?

Thanks

[Dwight]

When I get this, . . . it is 9 tiimes out of 10 the leather, . . . or something on/in the leather.

Good luck, . . .

This is one of the few things I detest about leather work, . . . just every now and then you get a piece all done, . . . anticipating a beautiful finished product, . . . and the leather itself lets you down.

May God bless,

Dwight

[TomG]

Hi Dwight. That was my first thought as well... until I took a second piece of the same leather and dipped it in the other vat of dye and no splotching.

I'm going to have to do some tests tomorrow and try to isolate it. 2 different pieces in 2 or 3 different tubs of dye and see.

I may try to take a picture and post.. But it's almost like the dyestuffs on it are just sitting on top and not absorbing.. But no ruboff.

Puzzling...