wmcmanus

Thanks thekid77. I'm actually in a developing country 6 or 7 thousand miles from California, so it's even harder for me to get those brands you know (fiebings, etc.) than it is for you guys in CA. I tried to order some once on Amazon, but was seized by customs because it wasn't shipped with a MSDS. And after that I gave up. It's oil based. It dries to a matte finish that buffs out pretty easily. I compared that to how an acrylic paint or edge paint looks when applied in the same way and it's totally different. Although that doesn't mean that it's still not a paint. It just acts a bit differently than the paints I know, and that's why I was inclined to think it's a dye.

Great thank you for the advice. There's a chance I'm putting it on too thick. I saw some tutorial videos where people where even dipping whole pieces into the dye, so I didn't know that was possible. On a reddit forum someone suggested that the finisher I'm using is causing the plastic feel. I'm going to try a few pieces without that. Here's a few pictures to see the consistency of the dye I'm using. And also about how thick I was putting it on for the first coat. I waited until it dried and put on a second coat so it was completely covered though, so maybe that was the problem?

Hi all. Relative beginner here. I finally found some dye locally. I found a local shoemaker that was willing to sell me a babyfood jar full of dye, as well as some leather cream and sealant. He said he can't get them locally either, he imports it all from China. Here's an album of my completed dye job Anyways--I did the following: 1) applied the die on thick with a piece of cotton. I did two coats. After the second coat I let it dry for about 24 hours. I don't know what kind of dye this is, but it's very very thick and seems oil based. 2) I buffed the heck out of it until it got shiny and no color came off on the buffing cloth. 3) applied the cream, waited a few hours, applied again. waited overnight. 4) applied the spray sealant. waited a few hours then buffed. Now here are my problems: 1) The finish feels very "plasticky" it no longer really feels like natural leather. Is this because of the kind of dye I'm using? Or something wrong with my application process. 2) The leather cream seemed to dissolve the dye and make it come up (that's where there are patchy areas in my dye job. It was completely covered but the cream made it come up.) I assume I need a different type of oil because this one has some solvent in it. A new kind of oil will be next on my list. I might start with olive oil if i can't find anything more specific to leather. 3) The leather gets finger prints on it now. Any tips on what I'm doing wrong? Or things I should try differently? I'm probably 6 or 7k miles from the nearest Tandy, so looking for advice on how to work with what I've got. Thanks as always! I know there's a lot of wisdom around here.