Dye Tooled Leather

[Vince]

Hi all,

I am just started enjoying tooling my leather and fed up wasting it during the dyeing process.

Let me explain... when I start dyeing using fiebings oil saddle tan, I am facing the following issues:

- First I damp my tooled leather before applying the dyeing and then during the process my design start to absorb my dye (using a brush) and the tooled part start disappearing full of dye.

- A quick answer would be to use less dye but is it really the issue? Because it will be the case when I will oil my leather to keep it flexible. Any tips?

- Second issue is the leather get dry and hard after the dyeing, do I need to oil it after, before the dyeing...

Any dyeing best practice would be appreciated.

Another point, should I use the ecoflo antique gel leather dye which seems to better suit for tooled leather?

[terrymac]

I really don't understand when you say your tooling disappears in the dye. Are you trying toa achieve a two tone affect, or are you just dying the background, and leaving the tooled natural? You will have people tell you to oil prior to dying and some will say oil after your dye. Personaly, I oil before I dye, and let it dry overnight. If you could explain a little more about your dying proble, we might be able to provide a better answer. I don't care for the Eco Flow products, just use Fiebings.

Terry

[Vince]

Hi Terry,

Thanks for your answer, basically my design does not disapear but it get statured with dye and of course my clean bevel get less marked. I hope I make sens maybe I'll attach a picture next time.

So you oil before dyeing, ok. Let's say you want to have a ligh dyeing leather (gold color...) how do you ensure that the oil does not darken your leather too much. Each time I use oil my leather darken a lot.

To sumarise my last dyeing attemps ended up with:

- My Leather become too hard (even when I strecht it during the drying)

- My tooling have been ruined

- The oil darken my light dye

I used a sponge to apply dye, maybe the wool dauber would be more suited.

I am certainly not processing it correctly or carfully enough.

Let say that when I'll be more successfull with my dyeing, is there a way to acheive the sheridan style deying without get dye ?

Vincent

[terrymac]

Vince,

I recently changed the oil I am using because of the darkening I was getting from using Neatsfoot oi. I have gone to Bee's Natural Saddle Oil, and it does not darken the leather. If anything, it gives it a golden hue. Good stuff.

If you are trying to achieve the coloring shown in alot of Sheridan work, most of that is done through the use of an antique paste. The old proven way of doing this is using a resist first, the applying the paste over. You need to get some "Clear Lac" which is the same product of Tandy's old Nealac, and rub a light over the entire piece after you have finished tooling, and oiling. Let it dry, the apply the antiques paste over the entire piece. At this time you will think you have really screwed up, but the paste will wipe off, leaving the cuts and tooling highlighted. There is a video on You Tube explaining the process, or you can get a copy of the "Sheridan Style Carving" book which goes into detail on how to do the process. I apply a couple of coats of the resist to lessen the effect of the paste. You can buy the Clearlac from Springfield Leather or Panhandle Leather in Amarillo. Word of warning, don't try to use the Clearlac with any of the Eco products, they don't mix. Use Fiebings Antique Paste

Hope this helps,

Terry

[Vince]

Terry,

Thank you very much for your advice and the oil tip, I was starting to be fed up to ruin the design at the end with the oil and/or the dyeing.

Basically, I need to get the some antique gel for the sheridan + the Bee Natural saddle oil and I should be sorted.

I tried to get sheridan dyeing with the standard dye because it is very difficult to get different dye and oil type in Europe, by the way if someone has a good European online shop address.

I'll get back to you with feedbacks as soon as I get rid of my neighbour who complains for the noise during the tooling ;-)

[Vince]

All,

I managed to get antique and resist (fiebings antique tan + fiebings lac kote), I wanted to share my first result and check couple of points with you:

- This was my first attempt and I realize that the antique dry very fast and it is not good to apply it in the sun, I ended up with antique stain when I tried to remove the excess + I used damp sponge to remove the excess but used too much water and more stain appears...

- Second attempt, I apply resit on half of the project and used antique on it

Actually , I am a bit disapointed with the result, I was expecting the antique will penetrate more in the resist part. Is it due to the tan being a light color ? Should I expect the same result with darker color ?

- I am wondering how I can get the following result for the dyeing part, do they apply dye, then resist then antique ? Or antique, then resist then antique again?

Any advice is welcoming ;-)

[BearMan]

Hi Vince,

I noticed something that may be giving you a problem. You said that you dampened the tooled leather before you started to apply the fiebings oil saddle tan. TTe problem is that the oil in the fiebings oil saddle tan,,, & the water you dampened the leather with,,, don't mix. Basically what happens is that the oil that's in the oil dye, doesn't allow the color to absorb correctly. The dampen & then dye technique only works correctly with dye that doesn't have the added oil in it.

"Oil" dye, is made to add oil during the dying process, eliminating the need to apply oil seperately.

Here is the process to get My best results:

After the tooling is done,,, let it completely dry.

Next, oil with a good oil,,, Neatsfoot,,, for darker,,, Bee's Natural for lighter color,,, or even good old Olive oil. After the oil has completely dried,,, a few hours later,,, that is the best time to "Sun Tan", if that's the color you're wanting. Be careful with "Sun Tanning",,, as you can get too much,,, & there's now way to fix it.

After that,,, after the leather is back to room temperature,,, that's when you apply the dye. If you use an "Oil" dye,,, it will darken the leather even more tan the intended color, because of the added oil. I would stay away fro "Oil" dyes!

After the dye is the color you want,,, buff the surface with a soft brush,,, or sheepskin piece. Then you are ready for a finish,,, & then Antique if desired.

I hope this helps some,,, this is the process that works best for me. Here are a couple pictures showing the results of that process.

Ed the"BearMan"

[Vince]

Hi Ed,

Thank you very much for your answer. I'll try your technic next time.

To summarize: Toolling -> Oil -> Dry -> Dye ->Dry -> Resist ->Dry -> Antique ->

To get back to my second attempt (see above), I found out that the pear shading, beveler did not keep the antique compared to your realization for exemple, Any idea why?