How Exactly Do You "dip" Dye Your Leather?

[TheThiefPrince]

Denatured alcohol. Using a 2/1 mixture (2 parts alcohol, 1 part dye) doesn't dilute the oil dye enough in my opinion. I diluted at more of a 8/1 mixture to lighten the dye and gradually build up the color on the piece. 

[TomG]

I generally dilute around 4:1.  But, it also depends on the color of the dye and the color you want to achieve.  For example, Red.  Most of the time, I've cut it 2:1. maybe a tad more.  For Pink, it's closer to 20:1`.  Also, I've recently discovered that the Oxblood makes a better Pink than the red does.

In addition, every time I make a new batch, I do 2 things.  1) I use an empty container and measure the alcohol and dyes and mix it in that.  I then pour it into my dip tanks. I usually just mix enough to fill the tank. I don't pour the full strength dye and alcohol into the dip tank and try to mix it. You really don't know how much room you have left in the tank, unless it's totally empty or it's got graduations on it that you can still see. Say you figure that you need 15 oz to bring the level up to where you want it.  So, at 4:1 you need 12oz of DA and 3oz of dye.  If you really only needed 12oz, you've got to fiddle with how much DA you've poured and how much room you have and mess with adjustments.  Just get an empty screw lid milk jug and mix it it that...

and 2) I cut a piece of whatever side I'm currently using the most and do a test dip. As others have said, every side can dye differently.  A test dip let's you know where you are right now.

I also have some Preval glass jars I get from Tandy and some air brush jars.  I can use a syringe to make small test samples and figure out ratios without a lot of waste.  I know it's kind of anal, but I spend half my time, it seems, answering customers questions on colors. So I like to know that when I dip 50 straps, they will all look reasonably identical.

Play with it and to test strips at different dilution rations.  And for your sanities sake, write the results down. In 2 years when you need to make a duplicate of an item that you make Baby Blue, you can look up the mix.

 

 

[Iron40ny]

I punched my holes in the leather before dip dyeing and the area around the holes was darker. Should I punch the holes after dyeing?

[TheThiefPrince]

If you're looking for more uniformity, that's what I would do. When you punch the holes before dying, you're creating more surface area for the dye to penetrate (ie: the edges of the holes you've punched) So, instead of having a flat sheet of leather where the dye will penetrate in from the top and the bottom, now you have dye penetrating around the edges inside the hole you've already punched. Hopefully that makes sense? 

 

Attached is a photo that will hopefully help explain what I'm saying. The dye would only penetrate the blue area from the top and bottom of the piece whereas the red would soak in through the top and bottom and the edges of the punched hole as well.

[silverwingit]

I think we see dip dyeing a bit differently. My goal in dip dyeing is to completely saturate the leather with the dye, through and through. I make sure that no bubbles rise from the leather while it is submerged. I often have to run the workpiece through the tank of dye more than once to achieve this. 

The final shade is determined by diluting the dye, where the dilution factor is determined experimentally on a piece from the same part of the same hide as the workpiece. (This is important as sections from different parts of the same hide can take the dye differently.)

If you fully saturate the leather, it shouldn't matter if the holes are punched first or not. If the dye is struck through and through, a cut will have uniform color from the grain to the flesh sides.

At least that's the way I see it.

[Iron40ny]

Both make total sense and thanks for the responses.