Leather Warping, Need Some Help Please

[toasty1435]

Hi all, I'm still a bit of a beginner at this but I'm passionate for learning the right way.

Right now I'm having an issue where when I'm dying some vegetable calf and goat leather and the edges are curling and the piece is warping significantly.

I'm using Fiebing's oil dye mixed with denatured alcohol to get the shade I want. My process is dyeing with wool daubers and then leaving the piece to dry. When I come back in the morning the piece is very dry and warped.

Any help would be much appreciated, thanks!

[TwinOaks]

It's an inconvenience, but not really too much of a problem.....and it has a pretty easy fix. It sounds like you're saturating the leather with the alcohol you're using to dilute the oil dye. That saturation is driving out all the natural oils and tallow that keep the leather pliable. The solution is to not apply so much solvent (alcohol), and to condition the leather well.

If you can, look into spraying the dye onto the leather. Several of us have found that an airbrush is just fantastic for this because you can vary the intensity of the hue without having to dilute the dye very much. Or, conversely, you can really soak it in with little additional work.

If spraying isn't an option, also look at 'dip dyeing', which should also give you an even and consistent coverage.

[toasty1435]

Thanks for the help!

Do you ever condition before dyeing? I just fixed the warping by wetting the leather, forming it back into shape and then liberally applying some lexol. Seems to have worked well for now.

I can't afford a whole airbrush kit yet but I've always wanted to try dip dying, it seems much more fool-proof than daubers. My only problem is I do a lot of small projects with different tones and I hate wasting excess dye.

Do you guys make small containers to dip dye in or do you just make large batches and use that color repeatedly?

Thanks again.