Dye Over Resolene? Or Is It Ruined?

[stingray4540]

Well, I have a piece that I dyed(eco-flo, I know...) brown for the background, and left the carving pattern natural. I was going to apply resolene as a resist, then apply and wipe off black antique just to make it pop.

So, instead of spraying the resolene like I know I should have, I applied it with a sponge brush. Needless to say, I think it lifted some of the stain from the background and added it to the unstained pattern. Now the whole thing looks nearly the same color. I'm so pissed right now I could jump off a bridge. I feel like I just threw away several days of my life. My only thought to save it, is to dye the pattern red, leaving the background the original brown.

So my question is: Can I use red dye over the resolene? Or did I just completely ruin several days of work?

[Spinner]

Dye won't work as it needs to penetrate to work correctly. With the resolene having pretty much sealed the project your best bet is likely going to be acrylics on top of the resolene once it has dried completely. It will be a little sketchy though as the resolene will have smothed over some of the pores & natural texture that paints & stains use to adhere to so be sure to use a good top coat over the acrylics to help keep them in place. FYI - resolene does not work well over acrylics, it has a minor solvent to it that likes to lift them. try Super Sheen or a similar water based acrylic finish instead.

[stingray4540]

Well, that's pretty much what I figured. I don't much care for the look of acrylics, so it looks like I'm just going to have to start from scratch. **Sigh**

That being said, is there any way of stripping resolene from leather? If I could do that, I could re-stain it maybe?

[Spinner]

Well, that's pretty much what I figured. I don't much care for the look of acrylics, so it looks like I'm just going to have to start from scratch. **Sigh**

That being said, is there any way of stripping resolene from leather? If I could do that, I could re-stain it maybe?

denatured alcohol will pull most of the resolene off the piece but not 100% so you'll have patches where the dye won't penetrate. if you go that route through, after removing the resolene & letting the whole thing dry for a bit you should be able to apply the new professional waterstains as they don't penetrate much if at all but provide a pretty even coverage. I haven't tested them on top of resolene but I suspect they won't adhere well. Careful on the alcohol application though, it's possible that if it gets to the dyed area too heavily it could pull or push the color through the leather.

All in all, my best suggestion is to enjoy the brown one as is and make a new one for the two tone version. You mentioned having "just lost 3 days of my life" over this one if you had to redo it but in reality, you're a more educated person than you were yesterday because of the mistake and discussing it.

[stingray4540]

Ok, Mr. cup is half full...

The thing is, this piece is actually trim for a quiver, so in order to "enjoy the brown one as is" I'd have to make a whole quiver to go with it. I'll probably try the denatured alcohol route and if it works, it works. If not, then I'll just start over. Just not looking forward to doing all that cutting and beveling over again. Neither is my wife...

[Spinner]

Ok, Mr. cup is half full...

The thing is, this piece is actually trim for a quiver, so in order to "enjoy the brown one as is" I'd have to make a whole quiver to go with it. I'll probably try the denatured alcohol route and if it works, it works. If not, then I'll just start over. Just not looking forward to doing all that cutting and beveling over again. Neither is my wife...

See, the cup is half full...you could have made the mistake on the quiver itself instead of just the trim piece! An extra quiver wouldn't be a bad thing either, worst case put it on etsy and/or ebay and make some $. I can sympathize though, awhile back I made a mistake on a tooling of a piece near the end of the tooling after I had spent close to 4 hours on just that part, not to mention the time and materials leading up to that. it was a total loss and I had to start over, didn't have a choice.

[Northmount]

Why not try a few things on some scrap and see what it turns out like? Spirit based dyes often penetrate the finish, not deep into the leather, but at least into the finish. I've purposely dyed over a finish to stop the leather wicking the dye beyond where it is supposed to be. Then applied another coat or two of the finish. Worth a little experimentation to see what the best recovery method is.

CTG

[SimonJester753]

Why not try a few things on some scrap and see what it turns out like? Spirit based dyes often penetrate the finish, not deep into the leather, but at least into the finish. I've purposely dyed over a finish to stop the leather wicking the dye beyond where it is supposed to be. Then applied another coat or two of the finish. Worth a little experimentation to see what the best recovery method is.

CTG

I started a dog collar made from harness leather, had a few too many things go wrong and started again. Before starting the first one, I did a test strip to experiment with edge treatments and leather conditioning.

I did another small test strip before edging the 2nd collar. The thing that gets me is the test strips look nothing like the final pieces, even though I followed the same steps.

I feel like test strips or not, it's hit or miss.

[Sylvia]

I think you should take up tie dying. It teaches you to learn to love the accidental and random things that result from the art form.

Chances are your client will LOVE the odd nature of the piece the way it is. Just pretend you did it on purpose. If he likes it, you are golden. If not, well make it again and market this one as a "Simulated Relic Finish" and watch people pay $20 more.

[tenabrae]

I think you should take up tie dying. It teaches you to learn to love the accidental and random things that result from the art form.

Chances are your client will LOVE the odd nature of the piece the way it is. Just pretend you did it on purpose. If he likes it, you are golden. If not, well make it again and market this one as a "Simulated Relic Finish" and watch people pay $20 more.

I support this statement. Hand-crafted comes with oddities, it's why hand-crafted furniture is nicer than machine made furniture, it's the 'mistakes' that give it character. There's obviously a limit (such as if its structurally unsound or you've clearly just spilled a bottle of dye on it :D ) but little errors are just character.

[Sylvia]

I support this statement. Hand-crafted comes with oddities, it's why hand-crafted furniture is nicer than machine made furniture, it's the 'mistakes' that give it character. There's obviously a limit (such as if its structurally unsound or you've clearly just spilled a bottle of dye on it :D ) but little errors are just character.

Oh no! If you spill a bottle of "stain" or dye.... just go with it and get all "Jackson Pollack" and have a grand old time "spatter painting"

https://www.google.com/search?q=jackson+pollock&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=27v&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&prmd=imvnso&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=WTGbT_iZLcGQ2gXcqvz7Dg&ved=0CEIQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=639