Brown dye from household materials

[Nowandagain]

Any suggestions for dying veg tan brown or burgundy using household materials? Leather dyes are hard to find where I live (Amazon won’t ship them here), and I want to avoid exposure to VOCs for health reasons. Haven’t found neatsfoot oil here, either  

Coffee comes out much too light, no matter how strong I brew it, how long I leave it, or how many coats I use. Adding ketchup to the coffee helps, but not enough. 
 
One website claims you can use pomegranate juice. They were wrong. 

Has anyone tried diluting vinegaroon (I’ve never used it) with coffee? Or adding steel wool to strong coffee?

Any luck with strong tea?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks in advance. 

Edited August 20, 2024 by Nowandagain

[Littlef]

Something I heard of, but never experimented with is using walnuts shells or pecan shells.   I found this youtube video of a guy talking about his process:   

 

[Nowandagain]

I had seen this but I have no source for walnut skins, only shells.

[Northmount]

7 hours ago, Nowandagain said:

I had seen this but I have no source for walnut skins, only shells.

 

[1961Mike]

Hi, I live in Oklahoma, and there is a pecan orchard a few miles from home.  I purchased a 25 or 50 pound bag of Pecan Hulls, a lingerie bag to boil them in, and now I have a dark brown dye.  Walnut hulls also work very well.  If you want DARK brown, almost black leather, use dark roast coffee that's been reduced by about half.  It is HELPFUL to make some trial leather pieces to see how long to soak the leather in the dye. 

Later

 

[Nowandagain]

Mixing vinegar & steel wool into the coffee/ketchup experiment didn’t work any better than it probably tastes. It came out blotchy, uneven, black around the edges, light brown in the middle, with pin-prick black spots. Back to the drawing board. 

[Nowandagain]

“Hi, I live in Oklahoma, and there is a pecan orchard a few miles from home.  I purchased a 25 or 50 pound bag of Pecan Hulls, a lingerie bag to boil them in, and now I have a dark brown dye.  Walnut hulls also work very well. “

Unfortunately I have no source here in Israel for either type of hull. 

[AlZilla]

How about shoe polish?  It's not really dye, but who knows?

[Littlef]

another option would be to use a wood stain from a hardware store.

[Trailblazer87]

On 8/30/2024 at 6:12 AM, Nowandagain said:

“Hi, I live in Oklahoma, and there is a pecan orchard a few miles from home.  I purchased a 25 or 50 pound bag of Pecan Hulls, a lingerie bag to boil them in, and now I have a dark brown dye.  Walnut hulls also work very well. “

Unfortunately I have no source here in Israel for either type of hull. 

OK, something i might be able to help ( California pistachio grower here) with,  do you have access to pistachio hulls? They should be coming available this time of year, just let them age a bit to darken up and let the tannins release.

Do you have access to oak trees? The acorns are loaded with tannins, grind them up then soak them to make a very bitter tea.

The other thing to try might be a dark red wine, or even Balsamic vinegar, just be sure to neutralize the acid with baking soda and a good rinse.

[Nowandagain]

Trailblazer, thanks. Sadly no access to pistachio hulls or acorns either, but there’s lots of red wine here. (Sadly I had to give up alcohol this year for medical reasons, but they still sell it.)

Does it matter whether you use dry or (ugh!) sweet wine? Have you had better luck with any particular type of grape?
When you have used it, do you concentrate the wine first in anyway, or just use it straight from the bottle? Soak it, or swab it on? any tips you can give me would be great! 

[Trailblazer87]

I haven't used it on leather intentionally, but I do know it stains. Experimentation is probably in order, the grape must (the solids left over from wine making) will possibly make for a good base, though it has a strong odor.  Take those solids and make a strong tea from it.

 

If I were to use wine, I would probably want to reduce it down to remove the alcohol and some water, might darken it up as well.

 

As someone else mentioned above, a wood stain may be the most consistent way to get the color you want. Most hardware stores carry it.

[SUP]

Rust water stains clothes brown. Might work for leather as well. 

[AlZilla]

2 hours ago, Trailblazer87 said:

I haven't used it on leather intentionally, but I do know it stains. Experimentation is probably in order, the grape must (the solids left over from wine making) will possibly make for a good base, though it has a strong odor.  Take those solids and make a strong tea from it.

 

If I were to use wine, I would probably want to reduce it down to remove the alcohol and some water, might darken it up as well.

 

As someone else mentioned above, a wood stain may be the most consistent way to get the color you want. Most hardware stores carry it.

I'm not sure how you'd reduce it down, but if you're thinking to simmer it in order to evaporate the alcohol, be warned that the alcohol vapors are dangerously flammable and heavier than air. In other words, don't do it on a gas stove.

Though I hear tell there's some kind of fancy cooker gadget that'll do the job.

[Trailblazer87]

Nowandagain, 

 

Would you have access to Henna? That has been used to dye leather.

[SUP]

Henna you can get at any store selling South Asian groceries. You will probably get a reddish color with that. Like Mahogany maybe?

[jcuk]

Maybe you could try Beet Root juice mixed with a weak coffee or tea might give you a burgundy tan its just a thought, and at the very least the Beet Root is a vegetable. 

Many years ago i went to a Tannery (sadly no longer with us) to pick up some Bridle backs was going to get Dark Havana and Black then i saw this burgundy tanned one had to have that too, and to this day i am convinced Beet Root play a part in the colour could be wrong though, but i will say i think its the Best Bridle leather i have ever worked with.

 

Hope this helps

JCUK

Edited September 5, 2024 by jcuk

[1961Mike]

Hi

So, my latest batch of Pecan Hull Brown Dye, was less that brown.  In fact, the color that came out after more than 10 hours was a light tan.  The leather got MUCH darker with a coat of Neets foot oil and a day on the dashboard in the sun dammit.  My new plans include a new batch of Pecan dye and a seven minute soak in strong coffee instead of a 2 to 7 hour soak in strong coffee.  What I got after 2 hours was dark dark (add more darks) brown chip of some sort.  EVOO did NOTHING to it.

Later

 

[Yellowhousejake]

Two suggestions.

To use vinegaroon (disolved iron in vinegar) you must first degrease the steel wool, 30 minutes in acetone and then completely rinsed with clear water. Once done it needs to seep in the vinegar for several weeks. When it stops reacting you need to filter it through a coffee filter. When it is done it will dye leather black almost immediately. You will not have to wait to see if it works. Degreasing is key, the oil they put on steel wool to stop it rusting will make a mess of things.

Fabric dye. In the US it is sold as Rit Dye and is available in most grocery stores. Does a fine job if you first wet the leather and then dunk it in warmed dye solution.

I hope that helps.

DAve

[1961Mike]

Hi

I have a quart of beet juice to try and make a dye from.  it MIGHT make Burgundy, I mean its sort of a dark purple in the jug.

Later

 

[Klara]

Does Amazon not ship to Israel at all, or just no leather dyes? My brown dye of choice is bister, which is a powder made from walnut skins or shells. (Full disclosure: I've used it for wood.) It should be considered safe enough to be shippable and importable, keeps indefinitely as long as kept dry, you only mix (with water) what you need (a little goes a long way) - it's a great product. 

But the easiest way would be oil (no matter which), sunlight and time. Leather will darken to brown tones...

Another idea which I am tempted to try out: A wash of watercolour paint.... Nope, washes off. What should work, however, is permanent markers. I just don't know whether they come in burgundy. I have a black silhuette on my ckeckbook cover and a Renault symbol on my keychain pendant, both still good.

Edited December 27, 2024 by Klara
Ideas added

[1961Mike]

Hi

Actually I have or at least HAD a Maroon Permanent marker.  I was BORED Xmas of 2023 and stenciled cheapo canvas bags for reusable grocery bags.

Later

[Nowandagain]

Kara, there are two levels of problems with shipping here by Amazon. Some vendors do not ship here, others do. But the second are government import regulations. I'm wondering if the government considers leather dye environmentally sensitive because of the VOCs. I've also noticed that no one will ship contact cement here via Amazon, perhaps for the same reason.

Knives are another sensitive issue. No one will ship a skiving knife here because Israel is very fussy over what knives are allowed in the country.

[Klara]

https://www.amazon.com/Powertex-Bister-Brown-Powder-24-75/dp/B014R862GQ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=JDPJXPEKOO8C&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.oOgNRHeD2jGrHbLWLEu7GrZrLvbYJB87kLHrnovL2elQFmXu5q6JHaUYGod3fUJ9oj90zujaxlZbLb3YnSm6OhqREi2pz83Zwf6VfpTBF6xnvGwzLuTN7jXdYIFTeEXKoTwz8MSIf5pkpNuXSPppO1aSTyhezocYvIoRy8jVAKy6Vmsko2kk5-X-VY9J4qzoSb3WSkwZLAcBuvieGIAQCqRCUNX2YOQEiQK0UdyA8zk.oFd22DZT0dKHiNikfF82PoU_MmfllI7e7ihg_47IIK0&dib_tag=se&keywords=Bister&qid=1739300289&sprefix=bitter%2Cspecialty-aps%2C656&sr=8-1

This was my idea (I think. As I got some from my friend, I don't know the brand). No VOCs...

 

[Nowandagain]

Thanks for the tip. Apparently they do ship to Israel. What did you mix the powder with? Does it come with instructions? How did you apply it? What were your results?