JackWack

Hello my friends, we've made some deer skin gloves, but we're having a difficult time colorfasting the leather. We've always had a hard time colorfasting our hand dyed projects, so lately we've begun working with predyed and finished leathers. But we can't hide from this monster anymore. So we've turned to you? Is there a general guide or source of information on color fasting, or could you share what you know, and more specifically, do you know how to lock down the dye in this deer skin? Our customer loves the gloves, but his his hands were rather colorful after a night's use, I think he has sweaty hands. As background, this is soft supple deer tan hide, used a water based eco flo dye, willing to try anything to color fast them. We have buffed, and I mean buffed (we do everything by hand, sans electricity, but in this case, we BUFFED these gloves, they still give off their color). Normally we have formed a very uneasy relationship with Resolene. Truth be told, we hate the stuff, why go the trouble of working and making things out of leather if they're just going to look like plastic when you're done? We didn't use the Resolene because I can imagine that cracked flakey surface, after the supple gloves have been put on and taken off even once. But also, we'd like a better colorfasting method for regular vegtan work. All help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm sorry, but someone is going to have to take responsibility for this puddle of drool, and it is not going to be me, Pavlov and all.

bushcraftbeats at gmail dot com

I hope you get a response, cause I'd like to know too!

Hey Crowe lemme tell you something: Gussets SUCK! Haha! There are a lot of different techniques, they all have their pluses and minuses, tradeoffs if you get me. Being an experienced leather crafter is knowing when to use each technique to maximize a benefit, and limit a liability, but end of day, gussets are a pain in the butt, no way around it. What ever you do, I'd suggest cut the gussets larger, score the flesh side where they should line up, and work to that position, but understand that when the rubber hits the road, or the leather hits contact cement, things are going to get a little squirrely, and you'll likely have to adjust. Sorry I don't have the time, or the depth of experience to explain each technique, but I'd do as Stetson told you, find some printed resources and study them, try test projects, away from actual finished pieces, so you can gain some experience on the little details that make all the difference. Also, there are seemingly endless ways to skin a cat (or a cow for that matter), no single resource will contain every technique, so just keep learning. Leather work is very simple and very complex, you can have five tools that do the same thing, but are slightly better at an aspect of that thing so find use in particular cases, and you'll have one tool that will be used in five completely different applications! It is madness in the leatherworld, I'm finding. I really wish there was a solid, structured, and free leatherworking class/series on YouTube. But I haven't found it, but I have learned a lot from tutorials, but also promotional brand videos you can catch little details, little tricks and hacks that a particular house/shop has employed to solve little issues. For example, was just watching a promo video for a high end bag maker, and noticed in the back of this shot, the walking foot of the sewing machine had a fine calf wrap to diminish the footprint on softer leathers. I've never seen anyone talk about that as a solution, but just caught it in the background. As I learn more, tutorials and other leather based vids on youtube will open up, I'll catch more details because I've confronted similar issues. I've watch certain videos literally 10+ times over a year, and learned new things from each watching, catching things that I missed because I hadn't experienced a particular issue. And one more time, don't neglect those print resources. Some things have changed totally in the leather world, like cnc robo leather cutters, but in many ways, tools that were made and designed 200 years ago are the most elegant and perfect solution to achieving an effect in leather, so the printed material about those tools and the application of those tools to leather work is still very much relevant. Sorry couldn't be more helpful, but I'm literally speed typing and I'm searching for info on a problem I'm facing! And don't forget, gussets suck!