Dye-saster!

[celticleather]

I guess many leatherworkers will agree that occasionally upsetting a bottle of dye is one of the occupational hazards that go with the territory.

Today I can't believe that I've managed to hurl TWO bottles of dye across the workshop, with about an hour between them! Perhaps I'm getting clumsier as I get older, or maybe the 13th is just a bad day (although I'm not usually superstitious).

Either way, I now have a chocolate brown left hand and a black right hand, and multicoloured carpet and trousers . . . and there's still four hours of workshop time left!

Anyone else having a bad day?

[tashabear]

I once spilled a bottle of mahogany spirit dye on my kitchen floor.

It looked like I'd shanked someone until I got some denatured alcohol to clean it up. (Rubbing alcohol just does NOT do it.)

[celticleather]

I just wish I could get it out from under my fingernails - denatured alcohol usually works, but not today!

[TwinOaks]

go find a "dollar tree" store and buy some of their cleaner under the brand name "Awesome". The stuff lives up to it's namesake, and I've used it to pull IODINE out of a white towel. It's a little harsh on the skin if used straight, and it'll etch glass, but might work.

[Milli]

My vacation ended, and I had to go back to work today, now that's a bad day.

I spilled some black dye on the very light wood dining room table about a year ago. It sank in pretty good. Oh, and the table was my mother in laws! I have to remember to put a table cloth on it whenever she visits.

Milli

[celticleather]

go find a "dollar tree" store and buy some of their cleaner under the brand name "Awesome".

This would probably mean a trip to the US, which would make it a pretty expensive fix! Maybe I'll just wait for the dye to wear off . . .

[Bree]

I guess many leatherworkers will agree that occasionally upsetting a bottle of dye is one of the occupational hazards that go with the territory.

Today I can't believe that I've managed to hurl TWO bottles of dye across the workshop, with about an hour between them! Perhaps I'm getting clumsier as I get older, or maybe the 13th is just a bad day (although I'm not usually superstitious).

Either way, I now have a chocolate brown left hand and a black right hand, and multicoloured carpet and trousers . . . and there's still four hours of workshop time left!

Anyone else having a bad day?

LOL!! Be thankful that you didn't slpash it on your face!! That would have made a bad day much much worse!

[electrathon]

go find a "dollar tree" store and buy some of their cleaner under the brand name "Awesome". The stuff lives up to it's namesake, and I've used it to pull IODINE out of a white towel. It's a little harsh on the skin if used straight, and it'll etch glass, but might work.

I'll have to look for some of it. Any idea how much it costs?

OK, I DO know the answer.

[Johanna]

LOC (Liquid Organic Cleaner, highly concentrated) by Amway and a toothbrush does a good job on fingernails. "Area rug" is the only thing that will work on carpeting or wood floors. Muriatic acid will clean concrete, but have good ventilation. The stuff makes Neat Lac seem weak.

When you use dye, open the bottle, pour some in a cup or shotglass, and close the bottle. You aren't going to use the whole thing at once, so just get out what you need. The key is to get in the habit of putting the cap back on the dye and moving it away from the work and never in the spill zone. The worst longest string of profanity I ever heard was when a big blob of brown dye ended up on a magnificent carving Jon did and ruined it because those cardinal rules were broken.

Yesterday I polished up a black belt for a friend, and I left the cap off the quart bottle of black leather balm. All was fine until I got the sheepswool and began to buff- and I felt the bench wobble and caught the bottle just in time. I was just lucky. I knew better, and I broke the rules- I went on to the next step (buffing) without capping that bottle, and I left it in the spill zone.

Once I dropped a bottle of red dye on my foot and it looked for a month like I had suffered a terrible injury and there was fresh blood. I feel your pain.

Johanna

[kevinhopkins]

I spilled a qt of contact cement on our carpet while I was building sections of an ice house in my living room while living in Fargo ND. That was back when I was married to my 1st wife....

Kevin

[Shorts]

"Anyone else having a bad day?"

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I have to laugh or else I'd cry.

Today was working out great. Got up, had coffee, got started even 15 minutes earlier than normal. I took some photos of a finished holster, got it all packaged up and shipped out. Checked on a drying holster, it is all good and can go out tomorrow. "Wow, good day, I am on target".

I received a payment this morning, right on time from what the customer said he would and I started working on his holster. It was to be all done today and left to dry overnight so it could be dyed and finished tomorrow with plenty of days to spare.

So what happens? Stitching happened. I have no idea why stitching went haywire today, but it did. Got the mouth piece all on nice and square. I made the first pass on one side and then the bottom thread is no longer coming up. I thought I ran out of bobbin thread but that was way too fast from the last reload. Well, for some reason the thread had broken. And not torn broken, it was cut clean. <sigh> GREAT! I hate having broken stitch lines (like anyone loves them!).

I get it going again, start the row a few back and manage to cover up that area pretty clean. I go around just about to the end and I decide to try veering off course to finish the line of stitching. Don't ask! Well. It looked like poop but ehh ok. I pull the holster out, and get it all set to stitch the other side. So I get my reverse stitches started to lock in, then go forward and make the curve. I am on a roll! Well, I rolled too far. You know that corner you're suppose to make, well I didn't make it. I kept stitching straight!

klugyjhdcxujkb;j;ilurfdcf!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, I'm done. I reversed, and gassed it. You know like when you drive when you're upset and you mash the gas pedal as if your car was getting rid of our anger?? Well that was me and the machine. Although for the speeding, the rest of the stitching was absolutely beautiful.

Since I had the stupid thing done, I sliced open the not-supposed-to-be-closed part and wet molded the gun anyway. I'm curious.

I'm going to build an entire new holster, that one is going to the discount pile. May some poor soul have mercy on my leatherworking sins and actually want it. LOL

I need a beer.

Oh, btw, I have splashing a bottle of brown dye on a good side of leather, carpet and me.

Edited July 23, 2009 by Shorts

[UKRay]

One or two of you may have heard this story already 'cos I'm getting old and apt to repeat myself. It started when I wanted a pair of turnshoes for a medieval event. Suze very kindly sent me a book that explains the whole process.

I made up the pattern as per the book instructions - I should tell you that I've been carrying that book around with me since Suze sent it. It gets read in the doctors waiting room, the dentist's waiting room, bus queues, railway stations and I'm starting to think I may be able to quote large sections of it aloud. The pattern looked great. I cut out the bits and started stitching. I soon realised that I had forgotten to flip the pattern for right and left foot - so I then cut out two more to match the odd pair I first made.

I then stitched the left top to the right bottom - well, it wasn't obvious to me.. okay?

I then unstitched the left top and stitched up to the left bottom and put it in a bucket of water to soak.

I then stitched the right top to the left bottom from the other pair...

I then unstitched the right top and sewed it to the right bottom - Hooray! Whoop Whoop Whoop! I then put it in the bucket of water to soak.

Then the phone rang and I had to drop everything to rush to the aid of a client who had apparently tried to commit commercial suicide by telling the media a load of nonsense. I sorted him out and he is (just about) still in business - but I was gone three days. The shoes were left to soak - actually I had forgotten all about them in the panic.

When I got back to my workroom I hauled one of the soggy parcels out of the water and laid it down on some clean newspaper to dry off a bit before turning it inside out as per the instructions. I then started fishing about for the other sodden lump of leather but it wasn't there any more.

Now, I'm not famous for my memory but I know I made two shoes and put them both in the bucket.

Old Mrs Brown, my ancient Border terrier, had smelled the leathery water and (possibly whilst having a drink from the bucket which was on the workroom floor) had obviously found the soggy leather. I found part of the shoe hidden in her bed and the rest appears to have been eaten but we aren't going there... okay?

I duly set about stitching up a replacement and was well into the job when I recognised that I was stitching the wrong shoe. It was the insidy outsidy bit that threw me. Honest!

I finished the shoe I was stitching and started on shoe number four. The final shoes went into the bucket and I breathed a sigh of relief. The following morning I fished out the soggy leather and started turning it inside out. Let it suffice to say that this is one of those tasks that are better left to younger, fitter men than me. It was two hours before I had anything that looked like a shoe and a whole morning, punctuated with telephone calls and external hassles before I had a pair.

Yup, you guessed it. I had two left shoes. The rest of the afternoon was spent turning the 'spare' shoe inside out and finally I was left with a completed pair and a spare left shoe.

But that isn't the end of the saga. I let the leather dry nicely and hand finished the shoes according to the instructions. Then I went to try them on. They were too darned small.

I tried to stretch them but the leather had hardened off nicely and they weren't going anywhere. In a moment of frustration I hurled them at a friend who had dropped in for a coffee and told him this story. To cut a long story short he tried them on and they fitted him perfectly.

I'm starting again tomorrow...

Ray

[celticleather]

After my disastrous day with dye spillages, I found that denatured alcohol (methylated spirit), followed by white spirit, followed by a week's holiday - snorkelling in the sea - worked quite well.

I now have pristine pinkies . . . until the next time!

[frontpost]

I busted a glass one gallon bottle of black dye once. Everything and myself was black.

Edited July 30, 2009 by frontpost

[DJ1935]

Last time I ordered some dye I received a phone call from the Courier Depot asking if I was expecting a delivery. "Yes, two, one litre bottles of leather dye". Rather grumpy guy replies "how do we remove it"? Seems the packaging was severely lacking and the black dye had spilt out in the back of the delivery van liberally covering the deck and anything on it, plus the poor driver when he opened the van. It was not a pretty sight and Leather workers were not the best people in the world that day! However it wasnt my fault and I rang the firm who sent the order to let them know, both that their packaging needed reviewing and that I had only received about a cup full of black dye in a litre bottle. They were not at all interested and I never even got an apology let alone a refund for the lost dye. Thankfully the delivery company were more understanding and it has become a bit of a joke now.

DJ

[$$hobby]

the only time i spill them is when trasnfering them from dunking container back into the bottle/jug.

what i do is to keep them in a container that if any of them spilled/broke, the contaienr would contain the spill. i got some of those rubbermaid stoarge containers for my use, but others will work fine too.

you can try making a base/holder that will hold the bottles of dye while in use. something wtih a wide base to keep it steady and with a deep hole to hold the bottle?