Removing Dye From Leather

[Guest Sharoon]

Is there anyway to remove dye from leather....I just dyed some leather and it turned out much darker than my test piece?? I have not sealed it in anyway. Appreciate any help you can offer.

[Rawhide]

I think you're cooked. I don't think that you can remove it.

[The Major]

You can try using a good solvent to lighten the color a little. You wont be able to completely remove it, but it should lighten it a little. A chlorinated brake cleaner should do the trick. Just be advised the solvent WILL remove the natural oils so you will need to recondition it after using a non-darkening leather dressing like Pecards.

[DoubleC]

You could try going over it with a lighter dye in the same family of colors. I don't know if that will work but it's worth a shot. Cheryl

[Cyberthrasher]

I've had MILD luck using isopropyl or denatured alcohol to lighten it up in the past - just enough to possibly add another coat over the top. Takes LOTS of rubbing if it will ever work. Since the dye penetrates the leather, you're pretty much stuck. So, if you try removing it, go into it with the assumption that you have to start over anyway and if you're successful you just saved yourself the work.

As a note, I usually find this happens to me when I was really light and careful on my test piece and then I ended up applying too much dye to the real piece. I'd say find a way to incorporate the darker color if at all possible. I just messed one up the other night - dyed a spot black that was supposed to be yellow. Absolutely NO way to fix that one so I ended up re-working the design to make it work the way I had it.

[Charke]

I have used plain old accrylic (water based) paints straight onto leather to fix color problems. It will soak into the leather and it will cover the previous color. You can wax over it and it won't wash off. I've never had any trouble with this comming off in the rain or scratching off but I've never soaked or really gouged an accylic project either. I'm sure it isn't as resiliant as dye. I've done a lot of masks with accrylics. The finish is different than with dye so it really depends what kind of project you are doing. I wouldn't touch accrylics for a saddle or straps but I might consider it for the right type of bag or masquerade masks. I've combined dye coloring and accrylic coloring for some really strong coloring jobs.

Mark Charke