Timber Brown Ecoflo Dye Turning Green?!

[UniqueLeather]

Good evening,

I would be very gratdeful if anyone can help please. I'm new to leathercraft and have found a very frustrating problem. I have spent the last two days carving over 20 items! And now I'm ready to dye them, I love the colour that EcoFlo Timber Brown has and use it with nearly all my work.

However, today it is turning an oily dark green colour on this work - I'm seriously worried because I've cut all these peices from the same shoulder, so if it's the leather (veg tan) that has an ingredient that's causing it, I'm in trouble.

Please help!

Thank you

Niki :-)

[bison]

Hi Niki and welcome to the site.

I'm no expert on solving dye problems, and it sounds like you've been doing leather work for a while, but I might guess that there is a residue of some sort on the leather that could be removed by cleaning with oxcylic acid (wood bleach) or denatured alchohol. The other possibility is that you are using a bad batch of dye. A possibility if it is a newly opened bottle and you've not used it on anything else. Try it on a scrap of leather and see if it does the same thing. Remember to shake it well before applying and see if it works properly. Then try cleaning a scrap of the leather you are currently working on, then dye with that same bottle. Perhaps also try another bottle as well just to see the difference.

I hope you get a better answer that will be more helpful. Best of luck.

David

[UniqueLeather]

Hi David,

Thank you so much for your reply.

I'm novice actually - I only took it up at Christmas, but addicted already!

I noticed that the bottle had separated quite badly and there are bright orange filaments clinging to the top,(as if a neon orange cotton wall ball had set loose in there!). I'm sending it back tomorrow - so frustrating though as I booked this week off work to make these items (for a craft fair I'm exhibiting at).

Thank you again, out of interest, do you have a prefferred stain? I've played a little with oil dyes, but rather like the way you can build up the colour of the water based colours.

Best wishes

Niki

[bison]

Hi Niki,

I like Fiebings pro oil stains. I thin them with denatured alcohol about 2 parts dna to 1 part stain. I always use several coats and almost always use 2-3 colors to get the depth and complexity of color I want. Sometimes I'll go over it with Ecoflo antique after staining to add some depth as well, or I might use Fiebings antiquing paste. Also be sure to oil the leather at some point. I usually do it after cleaning and before staining. I use pure neatsfoot oil. Others do it after staining. It helps replenish the natural oils lost when it is tanned and then cased and worked by you. I oil with a sheepskin scrap, a light even coat all over, both sides then let dry overnight before proceeding. I have also oiled before and after dying when the leather seems particularly dry. You'll sense it as you get more familiar with the leather.

I hope it goes/went well for you at the craft fair. These events are always fun and a great way to meet people who will be really interested in your art.

David

[Sixer]

Ditch the Eco-Flo dye... it's garbage IMHO. I had the same issue not too long ago. I finished a holster (HO leather) and when it came time to wet mold, the dye turned to greenish tint after I soaked it. The leather was not the problem, I had already made a number of holsters with the same leather using Fiebings Pro Oil dye with no issues. No more Eco-Flo for me!

[almac]

i had the same problem with Bison Brown.:wtf:

it turned out to be my sponge i was using for an applicator. im not sure why cause it was new outta the package, and i rinsed it well before use.

i went back to using TLF dauber, and the brown dyed as it should.

[Nightwolf]

I am having the same problem. I recently bought the ecoflow book on dying leather, and was following their instructions on dying an oak leaf. I applied the base coat of Sunshine Yellow, only to find green spots on the leather (it seems the heavier tooled areas turned green) Did I miss a step or do something wrong? Its not a huge issue since this is a practice piece, and the next step is to put an actual green dye on the leaf, there a way to prevent/fix this?

In case it makes a difference, I opened a new bottle of Ecoflow sunshine yellow, it was applied to the leather using a new artists red sable brush from a local Hobby Lobby. The green patches showed up pretty much as soon as the dye was applied. I saw a note in the back of the book (under problems) where it said this could happen with Bison Brown (for the previous poster). Is this an issue with ecoflow products? I would hate to finish tooling am entire piece only to have the dye demand a last minute color change.

Here is a picture of the practice piece, so far the only thing applied to the leather has been an initial coat of ecoflow sunshine yellow.

[Dicegeek]

I am having the same issue with Eco Flo Java Brown. Oddly enough, it only happens on certain pieces of leather. One shoulder was perfectly fine while leather from another source turned an ugly shade of green. I just talked to the people at my local Tandy store, and they said they had a lot of issues with brown Eco Flo dyes and had pulled most of them off the shelf. I am going to switch to Fiebings Pro Oil, as I am hearing a lot of good things.

[uscglechief]

Greetings All,

I'm new at the leather craft and coming into this string late...but had the same exact issue as the original post....I used ECO FLO brown dye and got a very green tint. SLC told me basically that was common below is there response.

I have since moved away from ECO FLO products.

Jess

Hi Jesse,

As hard as this is to believe, there’s too much dye pigment on the leather. You should be able to take a cloth and some rubbing alcohol and wipe off the excess. Now with that being said……………….all things should be tested………………..so, if you have a piece of the same leather dye a sample when it goes “green” try the alcohol. But that should take care of you. A lot of times Royal Blue, Oxblood and a few other heavy pigmented dyes will do tha

I am having the same issue with Eco Flo Java Brown. Oddly enough, it only happens on certain pieces of leather. One shoulder was perfectly fine while leather from another source turned an ugly shade of green. I just talked to the people at my local Tandy store, and they said they had a lot of issues with brown Eco Flo dyes and had pulled most of them off the shelf. I am going to switch to Fiebings Pro Oil, as I am hearing a lot of good things.

[Dicegeek]

As hard as this is to believe, there's too much dye pigment on the leather. You should be able to take a cloth and some rubbing alcohol and wipe off the excess.

I did try just that myself, to no effect at all. Actually, I think it may be a problem of too little dye. Thinner pieces of leather came out brown, while thicker ones turned green. To me, it feels like some of the redder pigments were "sucked" away from the surface, leaving green pigment behind. Unfortunately, adding more dye did not yield any positive effects either. I have since switched to Fiebings, and am having no issues whatsoever.

[uscglechief]

Yeah it didn't work for me either.

I did try just that myself, to no effect at all. Actually, I think it may be a problem of too little dye. Thinner pieces of leather came out brown, while thicker ones turned green. To me, it feels like some of the redder pigments were "sucked" away from the surface, leaving green pigment behind. Unfortunately, adding more dye did not yield any positive effects either. I have since switched to Fiebings, and am having no issues whatsoever.

[stanly]

I might go back to the book, but I seem to recall that the advice was to give a "wash" of pink before applying. I remember the greenish color, but don't remember if it was brown they were talking about or how much precolor they suggested.

[Leerwerker]

Just take the Timber Brown back to your Tandy store - they had a recall on a bad batch and should exchange it for you ....

[ABC3]

Niki,

How long are you dipping your work ? We have found if we leave our work too long (especially light browns, saddle tans, ect) it will take too much dye and turn green.

So maybe you are just putting too much dye on your project. Just a thought......