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I'm playing around/experimenting with a technique I found in a book. These are thin veg tan (1mm) that I wetted and wrinkled, and then dyed (Fiebing's Pro Dye, dark brown), intentionally uneven. This will become the outside of a wallet. The book didn't mention sealer, unfortunately, so I'm trying to figure out what to use to prevent dye rub off. I initially tried Fiebing's Leather Balm with Atom Wax on a sample, but I noticed what appears to be wax settled into the tiny creases. It looks a bit like when you wax a car, but can't get the wax out of a trim part, whiteish residue. Also, overall blueish tint. Any suggestions for what would seal the dye without this whiteish residue issue? I prefer a matte finish that doesn't look like finish. Would an oil of some sort prevent dye rub off? I don't think waterproofing is an issue since it's a wallet, and won't be subject to weather.

Hi all! I'm new to the community here and new to leather work/restoration in general. I got a very soft old Perry Ellis lambskin black leather jacket which needed to be redyed. After some research I chose Fiebings pro dye black for the job. The re-dye went okay and I've also conditioned with Bick 4 but now I need to make sure there's no rub-off before I start wearing it. Plan A was to just buff it until there's no more rub-off but I've done a ton already and there's no end in sight, plus the leather is old and delicate and it seems like it may not hold up to much more vigorous buffing. Plan B, which may seem like the obvious choice to more experienced people, is to apply a sealing acrylic finish. I was resistant to this because the leather is super soft and seems pretty delicate and I worry that putting a layer of acrylic over it would ruin it. Also I feel like the gloss of an acrylic finish might not look too good on this surface (though I know diluting it can help on that front). I don't see any way around it so I'm planning to apply some Fiebings Resolene diluted with water to 50/50, or if it would work, I might even try diluting it further to more like 1:2 for a more matte finish. My questions are: 1. Is the acrylic topcoat the right/only way to go? Can a soft old lambskin jacket like this hold up to that? Or is there another/better option? 2. Can Resolene work at lower concentrations for a more matte finish or do I need to stick to 50/50 3. Bonus kind of unrelated question: that wrinkly collar is a little annoying, is there anything I can do about that? Thanks so much in advance! P.s. I know I may have over-applied the dye and there could be other things I could do differently in the future to avoid this problem, but I'm mainly just interested in how to proceed from where I'm at. Thank you!

Hi! I know this has been discussed a bunch so I apologize for any redundancy but I still have a question. I’m making tooled panels to go on a pair of converse, using premium veg-tan from Hide House. -Tooled, cleaned with rubbing alcohol (didn’t have deglazer and figured it was close), -Dyed the background with fiebings black water based dye. I did three coats and dried overnight. -Lightly oiled(olive oil), dried for atleast half an hour. -Applied Tankote and the dye is rubbing off-and transferring onto the undyed areas, not all of it but definitely getting splotchy if I rub it too much. I tried to delicately apply the tankote in hopes of sealing it and not disturbing it. Now that it’s dried overnight it feels sealed and doesn’t SEEM to be rubbing off, but worried it will if they get wet at all. Questions being, I was reading resolene may be more appropriate for this application? More waterproof as well(seeing as they’re going on shoes)? Also do I need to buff the leather and get off any dye that wants to run(and at that point can I even touch it up since it’s already got tankote on it) or should I just seal it with a 50/50 resolene(or tan kote if that’s more appropriate) and it will stay put? Planning to antique as well but waiting to sort out the dye issue before I go any further. Appreciate any advice, thanks so much for your time! photo attached, go easy on me it’s only like my third time tooling something

I make jewelry/accessories and am trying to optimize my process to make things more consistently etc. Starting with embossed veg tan leather. I currently am using mostly tandy black dye (I am not partial to it -- would be happy with anything affordable that I can buy in bulk). I then apply a sheen coat of a metallic angelus paint with a roller, so the black low areas show up nicely. Then I have been applying tandy ecoflo with a dauber but find it messes up the paint layer. I have read about this in other strings (thank you!) and am trying to resolve. Suggestions I read about include using an air brush, which I may consider in the future. (I already am playing with tests using a simple spray bottle for comparison and it does speed things up when I have a lot of small pieces). I also saw there was a debate between ecoflo, resolene, and a mop & glo suggestion (that I haven't yet jumped on). Specifically what I'm wondering is if I can just seal the DYE coat before I apply the paint, and then skip sealing the paint layer? Will the paint layer be safe and ok for use if it is unsealed? Angelus paints are acrylic but they sell their own acrylic sealer which they say prevents scratching. (Their target customers are mostly custom shoe painters, which is not what I'm doing, so I don't know if this issue is relevant for non-shoe products!) Anyone have experience with angelus sealers to know if they also dissolve acrylic paints? Thanks.

New here and new to leather working. Did some searches here concerning sealing leather. Still not real clear on what is a good product. Resolene has mixed "reviews." I was fooling around running my own "experiments" and even sprayed a test piece with clear gloss polyurethane. I knew that the poly would have some degree of flexibility. Seemed to work great, but it's been only a couple of days now. What we're doing is laser engraving images onto small pieces of veg tan. We need to keep the resultant black ash from smearing and getting trapped in the pores. It looks horrible. We also need some degree of flexibility as one of our products we hope to make is those leather hair ties with with a stick through it. At our current level of "expertise" (or rather lack thereof... ) we aren't doing any actual tooling, dying or painting,... yet. So, given our current projects, stick with the polyurethane? Go with the 50/50 water/resolene? or is there a product that just plain works, no screwing around? Obviously the last option would be preferred, but I do also recognize that often, as with ANYTHING in life, best results are obtained by consideration of actual desired real world end results, uses, application, appearance etc.

Anyone have issues with the eco flow sheen peeling when you try to form it? Seems like the last 3 holsters I have made no matter how little I put on when I wet the holster to form it, it starts feeling away. Any suggestions or am I doing something wrong?

Hey everyone, I've done some searching but come up with mixed results. Just wondering if anyone has suggestions for the best combo for painting and sealing on top of Fiebings Pro Oil Dye? I'm cutting, tooling, punching holes and then dying my pieces black — passing them off to a friend to do some painting on them (using a full range of color), and then she's giving them back so I can seal the paint and stitch them up. I haven't done any painting, acrylic or otherwise, on leather yet so I'm wondering if anyone had and product or combo recommendations given that I'm using the pro oil dye... Thanks in advance!

Hi guys,newbie here! I know there's a few posts about this kind of stuff,but can't seem to find the info I'm looking for specifically,so any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Sooo,here goes..... (1) Is there REALLY any difference between "leather" paints,and acrylics(say,FolkArt)? (2) Can one/does one condition/oil leather anywhere in the process? If so,before or after painting? (3) Is there a REALLY GOOD sealer available? I'd prefer satin finish rather than stark high-gloss,but.... Thanks so much in advance for any help and I would love any other info/knowledge you might have about the whole painting/finishing thing!!!