IrisLH

I'm fairly new to leathercraft and one topic that I still have so many questions on is dyeing and treating leather. There's just so much stuff out there and everyone does it all differently. Now, I understand that a lot of it comes to experience and mostly personal preference, but I'd love to hear some tips/ opinions here on a few matters: 1) I currently dye using Fiebing's Leather Dye. I diluted the stuff with spirits since I found that without diluting, the colors are too intense. Whatever type of brown I used would all turn out dark brown for example, and my blue was getting too close to black for my taste too. So, I diluted the stuff. Works kinda.. I know the alcohol makes leather stiff and I'm really considering switching to Fiebing's pro dye. I've heard that this doesn't make your leather stiff although I've also read otherwise. Anyway, in the case of leather dye.. what can I do to prevent this terrible stiffness? Should I do something after dyeing, before, or both? Tips and tricks are very much welcome. 2) I've read quite a lot on this forum about Neatsfoot oil. I've read people use it to treat leather before dyeing and maybe after, I'm not sure. However in many video's I've watched here and there I've never really seen anyone use neatsfoot oil. So I'm curious, does it really help to add this before dyeing, for example? I've owned a bottle once and all I can remember from it is that I thought it smelled really bad.. I really hope someone can share their tips/tricks/opinions/knowledge on these matters. Cheers, Iris

Those finished products look grand! They are amazing. I like them both and I love how you shaped the 'clip' (for lack of a better word) and incorporated that into the tooling pattern. Really really well done! Looks very professional!

Yeah we have shops like that, I'll check them out! If that doesn't work out I'll try IKEA maybe

Thanks, I'll just give it a try I just ordered some HDPE bottles and will bring 'spiritus' from the supermarket tonight. We'll see what happens. I'll find myself a nice tray for dipping larger 'sheets' of leather. Can't wait to give it a try!

Thank you for this very clear reply :). I will try this out! You think the purple/blue colour in spiritus won't even do anything to eg. a yellow dye? Thanks for all your answers so far, I really appreciate the help!

Oh I just realized.. we have things like 'terpentine' which is white spirit and is also used as a thinner for paint, and 'wasbenzine'. They seem to translate to the following things: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_spirit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_gas You think that works? I don't want to ruin my dye

I use Fiebings dye too.. I'm pretty sure it's not acrylic? But doesn't matter :). How do you go about the diluting and dipping? I imagine you need quite a lot for dipping (so far I've only dipped some straps, I would just pour the dye back into the container afterwards), so where do you leave the leftover after dipping? Also, what kind of product specifically do you use for diluting? Fiebings has a reducer but I imagine that is unnecessary. In the Netherlands you can buy 'spiritus' in supermarkets, it's really cheap. Mostly ethanol and methanol, but unfortunately it has a blue colour in it.. So what do I buy?

Yeah I've done some dip-dyeing, that works quite well. Does dampening the leather really work? Since the dye is alcohol-based.. Also I'm looking into diluting the dye, thought not sure how to go about it yet. I don't have a thinner though I read somewhere that you can just use spirit or something like that..? For now I find the colours really dark as well.. Like my light-brown is really dark brown if you ask me xD

Thanks :D Yeah I know it's not supposed to look like dye so with that last result I'm happy but with the clouds I wasn't ;), On another note.. my dyeing results aren't smooth as they should be either but that's for another topic sometime

Picture of medium brown coated piece to go with previous post

That actually sounds like a good idea... why did I not think of that! Also, I've tried applying to damp leather. This strap down below is in my brand new Light Brown antique paste that I just received in my mail today. Except from some black stripes, it does not look like clouds so I'm quite happy with that Then, the other piece (next post, can't get it in here due to max total file size) is in my medium brown, the one that gave me problems. I also applied this to damp leather. The result isn't flawless but much better than before! So thank you for your replies! Also, this is just flat leather of course, I think on tooled leather it will look better already. Also today I received larger daubers (I only had small ones) so that might help too

Thanks for your replies. I will try this I did try to be really fast. I've shown an example on plain leather with no tooling, but I get the same result on a tooled part. I know it is not a penetrating dye, which I also use, but I do sometimes prefer the look of this antique paste over a dye. I must say, I also find it really hard to get a smooth result with Leather dye.. I've actually tried this once, to use my fingers when wearing gloves. It didn't make a difference for me. I have tried to be quick as you explained, but still I got this result. What is weird to me is that it worked perfectly with the tan colour but I just can't get it done with this medium brown. I will try once more to be even quicker. What I find difficult there is to not cover my whole tabletop in the paste. For example, if I don't want the back side of the leather to get any of the antique on, how do you do that? If I put a lot of stuff on really quick, then I also need to get close to the sides and then especially when wiping off such amounts, some of the paste will go onto my tabletop (or what is covering it I mean of course) and then the leather moves a bit because I'm working quick wiping stuff of and then the stuff is on the back too.. Any tips here? I will also try the sponge, as well as working with damp leather, thank you. --------------------------------------- Everyone thank you for your replies. I will try your suggestions later today and will post an update!

Dear leatherworkers, I'm fairly new to leatherworking and it's a hobby to me. I love the effect of Fiebings Antique Finish and I have two small pots of it: The "tan" and "medium brown" colours. I've already learned through some trial and error and browsing online that you're supposed to put a lot of the stuff on and then wipe it off. I noticed it kind of 'seals' the leather. Once the first amount is on, you can put on as much as you want after and it doesn't make a difference. The leather won't take more of it. And so I've learned to use a dauber to put plenty on in a circular motion and then wipe it off. When I do this with the 'tan' colour, it works fine. I get a really smooth one-colour result. Some small imperfections of course, but I'm satisfied. Now with the "medium brown" I just don't seem to be able to get this result and it is driving me crazy. Every motion I made with the dauber is visible. I kind of looks like clouds, which is not what I intend. What am I doing wrong?? Please help . I've added a picture to shown the effect I'm talking about. Don't mind the dyed part around the cut-out in the piece, that's from another project ;). Kind regards, Iris