wet forming and dyeing

[UncleGeorge]

Am new to the forum but have been reading a lot. Great stuff!.

I am in the process of selling a little wallet holster I make and am refining my process. I can process 10 easily in a day and dye that evening and finish up next morning with buffing and packaging a such. So far I think the process works well enough to make a sufficient amount of them and have them all look the same and of the same quality.

I vat dye (total immersion) them with Fieblings Black alcohol dye. In the process I wet mold a part of the holster. Most times the dyeing goes well with good even penetration but more often than I like there is an area on the wet molded part that isn't good. Looks like penetration isn't as good with a faint color of the leather coming through. I just re-dye the area if it happens with a wool dauber. The way I do it now is assemble the holster, wet mold and then dye. Was wondering if maybe the wet molding was closing up the leather a might so that penetration isn't 100 %. The bad places I notice are only right where I put the most pressure with my fingers to mold the shape around the gun mold.

So, would it be better to dye before I wet mold as it is the effect of the wet molding that is causing the little problem.

Or, should I just dunk the holster longer. Currently it is in the dye about 4 seconds. Hate to use up all that dye dyeing the rest of the holster that doesn't need it.

Or is there something going on here I don't see. Your help would be most appreciated.

[woolfe]

I like to dye mine before wet molding for this reason.

[BOOMSTICKHolsters]

I dye my leather after the patterns are cut, but before the pieces are assembled.

[Shorts]

I do both...dye before or dye after molding. Depends on how I feel. But in a recent effort to keep my press pads clean (they're black so I don't know which sides are which) I dye after molding.

What you can do before dyeing is take a light swab of alcohol and clean/degrease the leather. This will open up the pores and remove any contaminants that may interfere with dye absorption. This will be beneficial if either method you use (dyeing before or after molding).

[dickf]

I dye my leather after the patterns are cut, but before the pieces are assembled.

Me too.

[UncleGeorge]

Thanks for the replies. Believe I'll cut, assemble, dye and then wet mold one. That shudden mess up my process. I'll give that alcohol treatment a go too. Thanks again.

[UncleGeorge]

Thanks for the replies. Believe I'll cut, assemble, dye and then wet mold one. That shudden mess up my process. I'll give that alcohol treatment a go too. Thanks again.

Okay I tried just using denatured alcohol on the leather before dyeing a piece I had wet molded. Didn't help, still got the holidays in the dye finish. Dyed the assembled holster first and then wet molded, worked, no holidays in the dye finish.

Was wondering just how long you really nead to let the dyed holster dry before wet molding. Overnight? Coulpla hours? I am vat dyeing mine so they're getting good soakin' but seem dry in a coupla hours. In about an hour they are very dry to the touch but still a might cold. Reckon it would hurt to wet mold them in that state of drying?