Dying String

[entiendo]

Roo got me to thinking when we were taking about the purple hide. I've always wanted natural pink and light blue string and I haven't been able to get it so I thought I could try my luck with dying a bit of my own. It looks like I can't get the best dye here in California...I have to get the Eco Flow...or something like that. But I'm most concerned that the colors will come off, like I'll end up with a blue wrist.

I might as well ask what the lot of you use for conditioner? I have these pieces that need cleaned and conditioned and there is so much debate on the best way to go about that.

[8thsinner]

I have one idea for you entiendo, Tie it to the roof of the car and visit the best car wash in town, it'll come up all polished and shiny....

Sorry but that other post put me in a jokey mood.

But I look forward to the responses myself, maybe some info will stick for when I need it myself.

[entiendo]

well that's no help...

[MADMAX22]

I think its called RIT dye or something similar. Can be found at craft stores and is suppose to work pretty good for dying fabric of various sorts and will work on leather for some decent results. I think it is pretty stead fast. Worth a shot to play with.

[megabit]

Well I don't know if it would hold fast on tanned leather but with rawhide you could use crushed berries or juice. Blue berries for blue some red berry for your pink. Coffee for dark brown. Black walnut shells for black. I think KAW had a thread on it awhile back.

[8thsinner]

That RIT has been recommended for me by someone else in here who used it for chaps all the time with some very good results, I never got around to using it though due to the price over in this country.

[entiendo]

thanks all. I like the idea of using totally natural ingredients like megabit suggested...I wonder if it works as well on leather.

[rgerbitz]

Boiled onion peels make a nice red color that's color fast on rawhide, I imagine if you dilute you could come up with pink.

[entiendo]

Boiled onion peels make a nice red color that's color fast on rawhide, I imagine if you dilute you could come up with pink.

That is really cool!! Can I really use this process to dye roo?? And you do mean red onions right??? how much water to onion?

I'm going to try and just do a search. I'd love to naturally dye my hides.

[8thsinner]

Heres a quick list of natural dye ingredients, all of which have been recommended for use in INK making, not necessarily strong enough for hide but it's worth investigating

Silver fir, Mimosa, Green wattle, Sweet acacia, Blackwood, Golden wattle, Blue-leaved wattle, Amur maple, Mountain maple, Horse chestnut, Tree of heaven, Alder, Grey alder, White alder, Red alder, Sitka alder, Mountain alder, Marsh andromeda, Madrona, Strawberry tree, Bearberry, Coast banksia, Chitra, Siberian tea, Cherry birch, Silver birch, White birch, Mysore thorn, White cypress-pine, Red cypress-pine, Heather, Tea plant, Hottentot fig, Chestnut hybrids, Bush chinkapin, Japanese chestnut, American sweet chestnut, Chinese chestnut, Ozark chinkapin, Chinquapin, Sweet chetsnut, Chinese chinquapin, Chinknut, River sheoak, Carob, Spurge olive, Redoul, Cornelian cherry, Mountain dogwood, Hazel, Smoke tree, Berry-bearing, catchfly, Broom, Rimu, Native hops, Male fern, Lemon-scented gum, Ulmo, Stinkwood, Native cherry, Ash, Cut-leafed cranesbill, Spotted cranesbill, Wood avens, Chilean hazel, Honey locust, Gunnera, Witch hazel, Alpine heuchera, St. John's wort, Yellow flag, Japanese walnut, Heartseed walnut, Black walnut, Walnut, Larch, Dahurian larch, Japanese larch, Tamarack, Sub-alpine larch, Western larch, Larch, Siberian larch, Dunkeld hybrid larch, Labrador tea, Wild rosemary, Sea lavender, Tanbark oak, Oak galls.

The only thing I have tried is Oak Galls settled in rust for two days, very rich black is the result.

[rgerbitz]

I have only done this a two times. But I started with a healthy hand full of red onion peels and a 2 quart sauce pan 3/4's full. Boiled the liv'in ship out of it then strained through a wire strainer. The longer the rawhide sits in it the darker the color gets. The second time I did it and used a bigger pan with more water. I ended up having to boil off some of the water to get it as dark as I thought it should be. There are my two experiences and the extent of my knowledge on the subject. Pretty impressive, I know.

Rob

[entiendo]

Oh what fun! I haven't been able to find out how to dye with natural ingredients yet. I don't think I can just let the roo sit in the water...but I think roo would absorb the dye better than rawhide. It would seem the roo would also fade more easily. I'll keep looking though.

Thanks for list of things I can use to change the color of my roo! This also has me inspired to try it with rawhide. That would be fun. You don't see colored rawhide very often.

[8thsinner]

If you find out some good sources for colour fasting the dyes in raw or roo, let us now,

I found that the alder bark, used to be rubbed straight into the leather (dry) about half a dozen times leaving to sit over night.

[wantmorelandandcattle]

Here's a pretty good link to get you started. (http://www.pioneerthinking.com/naturaldyes.html)

I've dyed hides in coffee and onions skins quit a bit. I've used yellow and red onions and mixed them too. In stead of buying all the onions, i just ask the local store if I can bag up all the peelings that are in the bottom of the onion bin. After you tell them what its for, they stop looking at you funny and let you take what you want. No charge as it is less mess for them to clean up. You can do the same at the local coffee shop, ask them for the old coffee grounds or hit up Starbucks, they used to bag it and give it away free, I think they charge now (good fertilizer for roses).

I usually set the dye by rinsing the hide several times (until the water comes out clear) then give it a day or two soaking in vinegar and that seems to work pretty good. Some people have told me they have better luck not rinsing the hide, they go straight to the setting process. I have used some leaves and petals off of various plants that were on the ranches I worked on too. I could get the dye to set, but never got any colors that I liked, I wasted a lot of hides, so I quit experimenting.

I got a hide off a colt one time that had gotten into loco weed and beat himself up pretty bad thrashing around and throwing himself on the ground one day until he died. When I skinned him, you could see where the blood started to collect in the hide as a bruise. Those places that had the bruise had a really neat color to them. I always wanted to figure out a way to stain hides with blood, I've heard of it being done, but I can't seem to find/figure out a good process.

Like always, make sure your hides are fleshed really good, or you will end up with different hues of the same color when you dye. Some of which can be very different from each other.

Hope that helps a little bit! Good luck!

Jake Hogan

Wantmore Land and Cattle

[entiendo]

I do have one question, is it good for the leather to sit in liquid that long? What do you use to soften it back up? Oh, well I guess that's 2 questions.

thanks wantmorlandandcattle...that was all very helpful.

[wantmorelandandcattle]

Well, your right, you probably shouldn't leave leather in liquid that long, it will get really moldy and rot. I think you best bet would be to dip and dry the hide as many times as needed to get the depth of color your looking for and then condition the hide. You might try contacting someone who restores old saddles for museums and collectors, they may tell you some trade secrets on reconditioning. I guess I should have specified hat most of what I do is rawhide.

The basics of dyeing are really the same though. You need to dye and then set. I have done a little leather dyeing and figured out how to dye and set, but I never got a very thorough color, it was really spotty, like tie dye! I'll do a little research and see if I can find some good info to post.

I don't know if you've ever seen them, (they're a bit obscure) the Firefox books. They may have them at your local library. My parents had a bunch of them and I've picked up a few throughout the years. If I remember right, there was one that talked about tanning and dyeing. There was an article in that same one talking about makeing a dipper out of a gourd and I think they made a banjo too; that may help you find the right one. They're neat books anyway of you never seen them!

Take care,

Jake

[entiendo]

Thank YOU  <img class="bbc_emoticon" alt="" src="http://leatherworker.net/forum/public/style_emoticons/default/You_Rock_Emoticon.gif">    I'll see if I can find the books. You know we have a saddle maker not to far from here. He's a little grumpy in my experience but it still may be worth dropping by and seeing him. Maybe he will share.

there is something screwy with the edit option on this board, I have no idea why I keep get weird command when I use it.

Edited June 14, 2010 by entiendo

[wantmorelandandcattle]

I had a few minutes, so I thought I would send you these links. I find these books interesting, most people I know that like "the old ways" of doing things like them. The books are about older generations of people from the Appalachians and how they lived (starting in the 70's). I thought you (or others on here) might find them interesting at the least. Firefox 3 has the articles on leather tanning, I couldn't find any specifics on dyeing although I didn't read through them again. You may find some articles on dyeing and setting clothing if nothing else, but I have no idea which book that would be in, there are 12 in all. So here's the links and a short blurb on what they are:

Wikipedia page on The Firefox Books - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxfire_books

The Firefox organizations website - http://www.foxfire.org/

Book reader and download (I have never used this site). Just search "The Firefox Book" and you'll get all the books. - http://www.scribd.com/

Specifically book 3 - http://www.scribd.com/doc/8961322/Foxfire-Three

That ought to keep you busy! Enjoy.

Jake Hogan

Wantmore Land and Cattle

[entiendo]

Thanks a lot! I'll go check them all out as soon as I get a chance. I appreciate all the effort!

[Texomawhips]

I do have one question, is it good for the leather to sit in liquid that long? What do you use to soften it back up? Oh, well I guess that's 2 questions.

thanks wantmorlandandcattle...that was all very helpful.

The leather will be very stiff once it dries completely, but a good leather conditioner or plaiting soap will bring it back.