Nowandagain

In addition to the good advice that was already posted, what weight leather are you using? Lightweight veg tan often refuses to take an impression from larger stamps such as basket weave stamps. A tip I learned from a Don Gonzales video: if your leather is under 6 ozs (that’s my suggested thickness, not his) try putting a flexible cutting board between your leather and your granite or other stamping surface. That lets your leather take a deeper impression.

I’ve seen them strung as beads to make bracelets, necklaces or earrings but I’ve never tried it myself.

Trailblazer, thanks. Sadly no access to pistachio hulls or acorns either, but there’s lots of red wine here. (Sadly I had to give up alcohol this year for medical reasons, but they still sell it.) Does it matter whether you use dry or (ugh!) sweet wine? Have you had better luck with any particular type of grape? When you have used it, do you concentrate the wine first in anyway, or just use it straight from the bottle? Soak it, or swab it on? any tips you can give me would be great!

“Hi, I live in Oklahoma, and there is a pecan orchard a few miles from home. I purchased a 25 or 50 pound bag of Pecan Hulls, a lingerie bag to boil them in, and now I have a dark brown dye. Walnut hulls also work very well. “ Unfortunately I have no source here in Israel for either type of hull.

Mixing vinegar & steel wool into the coffee/ketchup experiment didn’t work any better than it probably tastes. It came out blotchy, uneven, black around the edges, light brown in the middle, with pin-prick black spots. Back to the drawing board.

People who assume that because something is easily available in the U.S., it must be available worldwide, then, after you explain it’s unavailable in your country, respond by telling you where to find it in the U.S. I should hasten to say I haven’t encountered that at this forum.

Yeah, I remember those from the U.S. No Walmarts or other big box stores here & the fabric stores, supermarkets & sundry stores don’t seem to carry fabric die. You can sometimes find food coloring but I haven’t tried it yet.

I am not having breakfast at your house! If all it takes to scare you off is a little ketchup, I probably shouldn’t tell you I added some white vinegar & steel wool to the experiment. (Of course if it were a real experience, I would have measured, so it’s more in the nature of playing around with it.)

Don Gonzalez recommends sealing the olive oil. Tan-Kote (which he uses) and similar products are hard to find here. Would Bic 4 work as a sealant? If not, any idea what happens if I don't seal it?

I can’t seem to complete my profile. I have added what appears to be all of the mandatory information and a lot of optional information. But according to leather worker.net, my profile is still 0% complete, with no clue as to what I need to do in order to complete it. But according to leather worker.net, my profile is still 0% complete, with no clue as to what I need to do in order to complete it. The information I entered shows up when I access my profile, whether on my phone or my computer. But when I click on update my profile, I still get the same message that my profile is 0% complete. What am I doing wrong? What else do I need to do? Thanks.

I’m thinking of applying it to the both sides of some thin nubuck to see if it will add body & give the look of smooth grain, to use in some wallets.

I used to do a lot of this in the 70s. Of course, the Ecoflow and similar water based dyes were not yet available, so these techniques apply to spirit dyes. Old tshirts work fine for wrapping the block, as do other rags, but I would make sure to use 100% cotton. Synthetics or blends may not absorb the dye evenly. Of course, the background color (eg cordovan or tan)should be applied first, using whatever method you prefer for conventional dying - daubers, sponge, dipping etc. Make sure the base color is thoroughly dry and then wipe the surface briskly with a clean cloth or scrap sheepskin to remove any excess. Now apply the accent color (eg medium brown) to the rag that’s wrapped around your block. I always tried to get the rag as dry as possible before touching the accent color to the project. Blot the wrapped rag with paper towels as you described, but after that, try rubbing the block lightly but rapidly over some newspaper until the dye trails on the newspaper are barely damp. Then I block dye the project, using a light touch and rapid back and forth movement. If I wanted certain areas (eg toward the edges) to be darker, I would go over those areas again as needed until the desired affect was achieved. If there is a crease or other solid border, you can block dye that area solid brown (or whatever color you’re using) just by going back and forth over that area repeatedly. I never used any kind of resist. The stamp impressions always showed up in the background color so long as I used a light touch and avoided oversaturating the rag. Once everything is thoroughly dry, wipe briskly with a clean rag to remove any excess and apply resoline, tan kote, or other non-oil based finish of your choice. Hope this helps.

I had seen this but I have no source for walnut skins, only shells.

Thanks to everyone who answered. I have tried suntanning veg tan but never got beyond golden tan, even with several days in the sunshine - and the sun here is STRONG. But I did not try moistening the leather first, much less remoistening. I did see Don Gonzalez mention olive oil. A lot of people say that olive oil will rot leather, but if he says it's not a problem, that's good for me. Black walnut trees unfortunately aren't found anywhere that I can access. More advice is of course welcome!

Any suggestions for dying veg tan brown or burgundy using household materials? Leather dyes are hard to find where I live (Amazon won’t ship them here), and I want to avoid exposure to VOCs for health reasons. Haven’t found neatsfoot oil here, either Coffee comes out much too light, no matter how strong I brew it, how long I leave it, or how many coats I use. Adding ketchup to the coffee helps, but not enough. One website claims you can use pomegranate juice. They were wrong. Has anyone tried diluting vinegaroon (I’ve never used it) with coffee? Or adding steel wool to strong coffee? Any luck with strong tea? Any other suggestions? Thanks in advance. (I accidentally posted this in the holsters/sheathes group, and can’t figure out how to change it. I’m new here, so if that’s a rule violation please forgive me.)