Light Brown Dye Too Dark

[dickf]

My experience with light brown is a very long and crappy road. Getting the perfect even shade of brown WITHOUT an airbrush was like chasing the dragon for me.

This is Feibings Saddle Tan Pro Dye on Hermann Oak leather. This was a test holster, so nevermind the wonky outer stitch line

This holster was dip-dyed and before molding, was the perfect shade of brown and was nice and even. Then I got it wet...

It was at this point that I swore off of Feibings dye forever and switched (almost) exclusively to Angelus products. I've never been happier. The only way I use saddle tan anymore, and I still do, is to get the very light tan color like this:

To get this shade, I dilute the hell out of saddle tan dye and give it a soak. I forget the ratio off the top of my head, but I think it's something like 15:1 (yes, really).

As of late, I broke down and bought some drum dyed brown and I tell you, I'll never go back. You can dye the brown leather black or keep it brown and bypass a whole step in the process.

Good luck!

[Eaglestroker]

Most everything I dip dye now, but the only way I can consistently get nice light colors is with an airbrush. This piece was dip dyed but don't ask me how I did it! Each piece takes the dye differently is all I can say.