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This was a rather simple thing to make, but I think it turned out really well, and I've actually found it to be really useful. If you want to know how to do this, click here to check out the video of me making it. Anyway, let me know what you guys think!

I'm having a problem when dyeing leashes. The edges are very dark and the center of the strap is much lighter. Also around the slots it's soaking up a lot more dye. The back of the piece doesn't seem to be affected, just the grain side. I am running the straps through a small trough as in "dip-dyeing". I run it through three times and it's better, but as you can see, still not acceptable. I had this issue once before, and this time I burnished the edges first, to harden them up a bit, but it didn't seem to help at all. Any suggestions? I'm ready to go back to using a dauber. Also, dip dyeing takes a LOT of dye! Thanks, Jeff

How do I prevent dye from rubbing off on clothes?

How do I prevent dye from rubbing off on clothes?

Hi, I have some vinegaroon that is about a year old. Its been stored in a mason jar. I tried a tester piece of leather and it worked fine and blackened the leather fairly quickly(2 minutes). I neutralized and applied neatsfoot oil while it was still damp. How long have you stored your vinegaroon. I have read a few stories on here about vinegaroon dyed pieces fading over time. I was wondering if anyone has ever applied a spirit black dye over vinegaroon. I would think it might add a deeper black to the occasional issue of the vinegaroon being a dark gray sometimes. I am guessing once the vinegaroon piece has been neutralized it should be ok to dye for the extra insurance that the piece stays a nice deep black? Thanks for any input!!

So I've just bought some pig suede for lining various veg tan leather projects (Card wallets, knife sheath, pencil case, etc) I've bought undyed natural because what colour I need will vary. I note the lil "do not use on suede" notice on both Fiebings Pro and EcoFlo leather dyes. As well that both companies do separate suede dyes. What actually happens? Do I genuinely need to restock with all suede dyes as well. I'd only just started to get over my addiction to buying my tooling leather dyes. Can I "make do" with the oil dyes for now or is it disastrous. Many thanks in advance.

I am trying to find the best dye to paint on top of. I am using fiebings dye and painting on it with Angelus paints but it always takes more coats than I would like to cover. I have seen videos of people painting over they're dyed work with ease. Is there a trick to it?

So I screwed up a piece and learned myself a lesson. I was making a fire fighters radio strap and forgot to stamp it. The dye was still wet so I wiped the area I needed to stamp with water stamped and then let dry. Polished it up after dye dried but the section I had stamped wouldn't shine was dull/flat. I figured at this point the piece was ruined anyway so I put resolene on it let it dry and tried to buff out the stamped area to no avail. So if your looking to get a flat look to your project wipe it down with water while the piece is still damp from dyeing. Happy little mistake

I tried to search for this but only found one thing that wasn't really related. I was almost complete on making a simple wallet and dyed it red on the inside where the money and cards go and mahogany on the outside and then sealed it with beeswax/NFO. I noticed that I could see some of the red had bled through to the exterior giving the mahogany a pinkish hue. I then dyed the exterior mahogany again and it has dried with that metallic green tinge to it. Does anyone know why and what causes this to avoid it for the future and also if the piece can be salvaged now? I dyed the inside mahogany too. If I could get rid of the green it'd probably be fine but rubbing/buffing it only seems to polish the green! Ha! Anyone seen this before and know why and what to do about it? Thanks!

Hello As a new member, I am not quite sure if this is the right place, but.... First off, let me start with a bit of a background info. I am by no means a professional leatherworker. My day job is prop making / replicating for films, theaters, reenactors etc. This includes doing some work on leather every now and then (wish I could do it for a living though). For past 4 years I've used the same supplier of leather and other leather working products just fine. But yesterday I ran into a problem I haven't faced ever before. As you can see from the attached picture, I was in the process of making some leather items for a project and moved on to dyeing the leather. Previously I have gotten desired results with just slapping the dye on, two layers and gotten a nice, even, smooth, reddish brown colour on the leather. This time after the first layer all my leather was looking like in the attached image. Blotchy etc., as if I had been using too much dye (which can't be the case). The thing is, like I said, for past 4 years I've gotten my leather and dye from the same supplier and I've had 0 problems with my process, so I am a bit at loss here. I've ended up wasting a good 100 euros worth of leather now and a days work so far which annoys me. Is this caused by grease or some other contaminant on the leather surface? Should I be cleaning my leather from now on before dyeing to avoid problems like this in the future? How to clean the leather? Any products to recommend or so? The leather dye I've used with great success until now is ROC Narusværte, Danish leather dye.

Hello, I made a few belts and i used Tandy hi-lite stain in the briar brown. The belts come out looking real good with the stamped parts darker in the creases, but when i applied tandy super sheen, the stain ran out of the creases and left black streaks across the belt. It was about 6 days between staining and putting on the top coat. I would really appreciate any help. Thank you.

Hi leathercrafters I wonder what is the correct procedure. First oiling and than dying or first dying and than oiling. I usually use Fiebings proffesional oil dye. Thanks J.

First of all, Im new to leather working. Been doing smaller things for a year or so. Recently i have interested myself into dying and finishes. Ive been trying out various spirit based dyes and right now my favorite is the Fiebings Professional Oil Dye. I get great results with this dye and it penetrates the leather well. However i recently acquired a natural colored leather side 1,5mm thickness. It seems to have a light finish applied to it. Ive tried to dye this leather but the color only penetrates a very little amount. By very little i mean that a nail scratch penetrates the color and the natural color is exposed. Ive tried removing the finish with both denatured alcohol and aceton, same result. Ive even tried sanded the leather with 240 grit still bad color penetrating. So obviously something is stopping the dye to soak in. Could the fibers on top be compressed in anyway? I want to learn why it is behaving this way regardless if it can be fixed or not. Ive tried dip dying still bad results. Color penetrates flesh side very well but stops when reaching "grain side layer" Appriciate any help!

So tonight I was working on two separate notebook covers 5oz leather, one dyed turquoise and the other was grey(heavily diluted black dye) had both to the color I wanted. I wanted to dye the interior darker black for the grey and medium brown for the turquoise. The problem was the darker dye bled through to the front on both pieces. does anyone know how to prevent this?

General Question - Anyone have any non-traditional tricks/advice on the application of the various finishes out there - Beeswax, Tan-Kote, Aussie Conditioner to share? Especially for weather-proofing? Also, I usually apply oil BEFORE staining but most videos I see don't start with oil. Pro/Con? This Link is an awesome weatherproofing comparison of various products and Fiebing's Resolene wins - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyTg_hfpNUM But of course there are many other products out there so I'm seeking your experience as well as cheaper solutions. Specific Question - My process has been - Veggie Tan Leather, Mink Oil, Antique Gel and then some sort of finish (Fiebling's Leather Balm with Atom Wax but... I haven't found my favorite finish) - This process has done okay but whatever finish I use always strips half my gel stain off with even the lightest rubbing. How long do I have to wait?! I assume dye works better and is more even, but I like the way Gel Stain rubs into my stamps and gives them definition. So... solutions/tips for applying a weatherproofing finish to gel stain?

Hello folks ! Something weird is happening.. a while ago I was making a wallet, as the newbie I am with very little experience using other products than Sheen and dyes, I decided I wanted to use antique finish, medium brown (fiebing's that comes in the little plastic jar) and so I did and after noticing that it wasn't such a good idea I tried rubbing it off with water , and somehow that worked but not quite, it brought off most of the stains but it really took some in , to the point "of no return" with water at least, and so I got frustrated, abandoned the project because it was ruined and left it for a while. A little over week ago I found it again and decided I'd dye it black and I did , it was great , the part I didn't use the paste on took the dye well but that part that did , it's sort of dye proof , water proof , everything proof , I tried dyeing it once , I left it to dry for 36 hours , I tried to buff it to add some super sheene , and the black came off several parts returning some huge spots to their natural color pretty much , and I tried dyeing it around 2 more times , same result every time , later I thought I just needed some deglazing , I read on here I could use rubbing alcohol , I don't really have access to a shop at the moment and probably won't til a week from now so is there anything I can do to replace deglazing? First I tried neatsfoot oil , it took it (from what I saw) , the dye came right off , tried rubbing alcohol 3 times , when it dried the last time , I tried wetting it (I read on here that it can help absorb dye) but still still didn't work , but it made me notice that my item is pretty much waterproof, water stays over it like nothing, does not bother to absorb What can I do ? Thank y'all in advance, good luck to anyone who's got the storm thing coming at them

Hi all Has anyone ever tried adding something to pro dye to make it thicker so it would be easier to 'paint' / apply it to carved leather designs? The reason I ask is that I hate using leather paints as they reduce the life of the leather when they crack etc. I'm surprised fiebings or someone hasn't come up with a product like this yet??

I recently bought some unglazed natural cordovan and I was wondering how can I achieve similar results to horween's finish. I googled aniline leather dyes and I came across aniline leatherworld tech dyes. I never heard of them before and I don't see much mentioned about them from smaller leather communities, but than again I am a newbie to leatherwork. Does anyone have experience with dying cordovan that is willing to lay down some wisdom? Also, what is up with leatherworld tech? Does anyone have experience using their dyes? Thanks to anyone willing to provide info!

HI guys, I am a bit fancy of golden color and antique green color, but It looks like i could not buy those colors straight from shop. Just wondering can anybody shed some light on how to produce these two colors and what do you think of those colors applied on leather? cheers, Kurt

Hello! I've only done a little bit of work here and there, mainly just some basic repair and improvement, and have always found the forums here a great resource. But I've run into a problem I haven't been able to figure out a good solution for, even searching through here! I have a good cowhide black leather jacket that's about 17-18 years old and have worn the hell out of, year in and year out. I've replaced the lining at least twice. I love it. Last year, however, I started noticing that it was leaving black smudges on my shirt collars. I mentioned it to the cobbler I take my dress shoes to here in NYC, and he asked to take a shot at it, did some "re-painting" of the collar and seams. That seemed to do the trick... for a few months. But slowly it started rubbing off on clothes again, now accompanied by smudges coming off from the cuffs and the bottom of the jacket on my pants as well as the collar! My sweat IS highly toxic to clothes, but whose isn't? And it managed to survive for a decade and a half at that point. I cleaned it once or twice a year, and re-applied some water protectant. What was going on? I tried using Resolene on the collar (sponge application), drying it thoroughly, re-applying, drying, and then applying fiebling's water & stain protector. It looked fine... But almost immediately started rubbing off again, especially near the seams. So, dear friends, is there anything I might be able to do to salvage this jacket, that won't wind up costing me as much as a brand new one (or, more likely, a brand new used one )? Or am I better off just saying it's had a good life, and bid it a fond farewell? Would be happy to post some pics later from home if there's anything that would be of help in diagnosing & finding a solution! Thanks everyone!

I'm completely new to the leather world so excuse my naiveness. I'm thinking I want to use veg tan leather for my first project. I'm a portrait photographer and I would like to create a pouch for photos to gift to my clients. I have marked three shades in the attached photo that I would like to achieve. 1. Is it possible to purchase veg tan leather already dyed? If so where would l find that? 2. If not do you know of a company that makes a grey dye or would I need to use black with a dye reducer? 3. If I wanted the "natural" look what would be best to finish the leather with? Do I need to finish it at all or could I just leave it as is? 4. I'm somewhat worried that the dyes would be toxic to photos. I would like to present the pouches as a long term storage solution for photographs but I'm unsure as to whether or not that would be considered archival. I have spammed my photography groups with the question and no one has any idea. Any insight about this would be appreciated.

I'm currently gearing up for building a custom suit of veg-tan leather armor to go over another costume. However, I am new to the process of dyeing leather having previously only used paints for coloring projects. So I'm looking for advice on the what materials I should purchase and tips to use them best. The most important part is I need a dye and a sealent that will guarantee that there will be NO bleeding of the dye. The costume underneath is very expensive and difficult to clean and will likely be be rubbing against other equally expensive and difficult to clean costumes and many use white materials including faux fur. Thank you so much.

Hi everyone! Long time lurker, first time poster (or so I thought -- apparently 7 total posts) I was asked to make a black belt, and bought a black veg tan strap from Tandy. I rubbed some dubbin on it (mink oil/beeswax mixture) and the black still rubs off a bit. Can I apply Tan Kote on top of the dubbin? Thank you in advance! Jack

Hi everyone. I picked up a bottle of Eco-Flo 32oz coal black leather dye. It is a water based dye. I normally go for oil dye but it is expensive. I am trying to give this a shot but I am frustrated with it. It seems like to get any decent coverage I need to put a bajillion coats on and even then it doesn't penetrate very far into the skin. Has anyone used this before? Does anyone have an tips to get better penetration/coverage? Thanks for the help! Teo

Hey All!! I posted this a while ago and got no feedback. Maybe I didn't do it right? Anyway, still need some guidance.... I'm working on a custom wallet project with a splattered dye job on the leather and I need to know the best black dye to use that will stay put on the leather (and not run over time) as well as the best sealant to protect the splatters from running together and/or rubbing off. Since this leather will be used for a wallet, it'll get a lot of use and needs to be well sealed. FYI, the dyes I've tried so far are: 1)Fiebings Black Leather Dye 2) Even tried Fiebings Edge Kote for a more opaque look. The sealants I've tried are: 1) Fiebings Acrylic Resolene (I've tried rubbing this on gently but it makes the splatter spots run) 2) Bowling Alley Wax (I've used this for years on belts and such but it's not protecting the splatter spots over time. They all blend into the leather making it look dirty...) Thank for your help!!