New Discovery- Anyone Else Experience This?

[pete]

I was dying the background of a belt for my wife last night. I had to go to a function and left about 2 tablespoons of Feibing's chocolate brown dye in a small cup. Came back this morning and dipped my brush into it. I was hesitant to use it as it had taken on the consistency of neats or evoo.

I tried it and was I surprised!!! Apparently the alcohol had evaporated a bit or something. I could load up the brush and even START in the tiny corners without the bleeding that usually comes. It went on heavily and completely and speeded up the process a great deal.

I was no longer dipping and touching the paper or side of the cup, I was just applying it.

Is this common for you that dye a lot? Is it too thin out of the bottle? I'm going to keep doing this from now on. Better coverage(one coat!) no bleed etc.

pete

[terrahyd]

Hi Pete;; do the words (paint thinner) ring a bell??????

Doc

[pete]

uh----does sarcastic ring a bell?

I was trying to make the point that I really liked the fact that the dye covered better and was much easier to apply leaving it overnight. I was wondering if anyone else let the dye "cure" before using it.

pete

[CitizenKate]

Hi Pete,

I haven't tried that, but I've often thought dyes go on too runny when applying it with a bristle brush, and was wondering if evaporating some of the alcohol would improve it. Sounds like it does.

One question, does it still absorb well into the leather?

Kate

[ClayB]

Hi Pete,

My concern would be the same as Kate, how well does it absorb into the leather. I remember reading an article in an old Make It With Leather magazine about dyes. It said you should never shake a bottle of dye before using it. The reasoning was that the solvent can only absorb so much pigment. As the solvent evaporates from a bottle, excess pigment will settle to the bottom of the bottle. Then if you shake the bottle up, excess pigment will be suspended in the liquid that wont be as easily absorbed into the leather. I figured that's where some people get the "rub off" on leather projects, excess pigment that didn't absorb into the leather. That article was over 30 years ago, and everything's changed since then, so I'm not sure if it still applies or not. If you didn't get excess pigment on your leather that easily rubs off, and it was easier to apply for you, then you've made a good discovery!

As a side note, I just read in the latest LCSJ that Fiebing's is introducing their version of low VOC leather dye. It doesn't say if it's going to replace the dyes we are used to from them, or just be another option, but we'll have one more dye to practice with and learn how they work.

[pete]

Clay and Kate,

It absorbs really well. It goes on like acrylic paint but it stays there and seems to dry immediately. My concern was that it would just coat the surface too, but I didn't wait more that a few seconds and dabbed it with a paper towel to test that very issue. It penetrated and didn't rub off!

I think that the shaking issue was more a "bubbles" issue than a pigment but I could be wrong.

Try it out- I finished the belt much quicker as I had just one coat, it was dark and even,and it didn't run so I could use a larger brush. When I brushed an area to where I had a "tip" formed on the bristles I dipped again and did the tiny corners.

Let me know what you find.

Thanks again for your responses.

stay well!

pete

ps- note that I used chocolate. I didn't try yet with a light color. It WAS noticeably darker than a FRESH "dip" but I wanted a dark rich color anyway.

Hi Pete;; do the words (paint thinner) ring a bell??????

Doc

Doc- I apologize for my response. It was rude and I realize that you were trying to help me.

pete