Re-Dye A Purse?

[TexasJack]

A neighbor showed my wife a purse she has that is "lime green". (I have not seen it yet.) The color is fading. She wants to restore it. My wife volunteers that I might be able to help.

So it occurs to me that a person should be able to strip whatever coating is on it and re-dye the purse, and maybe I can help.

Usually when something starts out sounding simple like that, it turns out to be extremely screwed up.

First: Is that a reasonable idea?

Second: What would you strip it with?

Third: If this is totally a screwed up plan, is there a better alternative?

[BillB]

TexasJack,

It has been my experience that the only leather "coloration" that might be "stripped" would be a latex paint that sits on the surface of the leather with minimal adhesion. The dyes that I use are either Oil or Alcohol based and soak into the leather fibers, in some cases all the way through. In addition to dye on the leather there may also be a finishing coat to help protect and preserve the leather. In some types of finishing, this is a polyxxxx or plastic coat. Removal of any finishing coat will depend on its adherence to the leather fibers.

If I were to be asked by someone to Re-Dye a leather item, I would first need to know if they were willing to throw the item away if things did not go right. I would also want to know if they would be willing to have the item dyed all black, since that will tend to cover most mistakes but not all. If they answered yes to both of these questions, then I might, just might:

1. try mixing an alcohol dye to match the original color of the purse using piece of scrap leather for a test item;

2. Take a small portion of that mix and dilute it;

3. Test it on the bottom of the purse to see if there are any adverse affects;

4. If this goes well, then apply a diluted version to the areas on the purse that need to be brought back and slowly try to get them back to the same intensity and shading of the rest of the purse while feathering the coats of diluted dye into the ares of original dye.

5. If none of that works, fill a bucket with Black dye and drop the purse in for a soaking.

BillB.

[TexasJack]

Thanks!