Problems With Book Cover

[Rylas]

Hi Guys,

I'm making some book covers and have run into a few problems. I had cut, tooled, dyed, waxed, stitched and formed them in that order, but after running some water over the spine to form it, it left a very distinct darkened area where the water had been despite being completely dry. What am I doing wrong here? I tried to submerge it completely and drying it again thinking that maybe I could at least make it consistent, but not only did it not work, but the dye ran like crazy. Is there a step I'm missing for getting the ye to stay in?

My apologies for my ignorance, but thanks for your help.

[TwinOaks]

A lot depends on the type dye you're using. If it's Eco-flow, that explains why it ran. It sounds like you had some dirt/oil/whatever on the leather. Since the dye ran you probably have two choices: Re-dye a darker color, or redo the piece. Can you post pics of it? That will give us a better idea of what we're dealing with.

[King's X]

For me it is hard to say why it happened, but I have experienced something like this before and something else with super sheen spray.

I now, form after tooling before I dye, wax? or finish my project. I like to have it the way I need it after tooling. Now, I have to agree that Eco Flo can cause something like this to happen, but it has been way to too long since I used EcoFlo again since I wiped it off of my shelves. Sorry!

[pete]

a picture would be helpful, but when you say form the spine were you trying to get it to "bend" properly around the book? Did you groove the fold lines first? Did you gouge out the center a bit? Did you make ANY preparations or did you figure that it would bend and fit if the dimentions were right?

When and if you have to make a "fold" wet the flesh side only. Not enough to seep through.

pete