Dyeing Assistance

[tft]

Hello all I have a question.

Does anyone have any good tips or advice on how to saturation dye a piece without a splotchy look in the end? I have never been able to get this done to my satisfaction.

Thanks,

tft

[singteck]

Wet the leather first just before dyeing helps.

singteck

[Rawhide]

Wet the leather first just before dyeing helps.

singteck

Could you explain saturation dye a bit more? So you mean, you want the dye to penetrate all the way through to the flesh side? Or do you mean just getting an even solid color on the grain side?

Marlon

[tft]

Hi Marlon,

Sorry if I used incorrect terminology. I tried to post a reply to you earlier but not sure if it got through so here it is: As you said I am trying to get an even coating over the entire piece and NOT trying to dye the leather completely through.

Tyrone

[Rawhide]

Hi Marlon,

Sorry if I used incorrect terminology. I tried to post a reply to you earlier but not sure if it got through so here it is: As you said I am trying to get an even coating over the entire piece and NOT trying to dye the leather completely through.

Tyrone

Ok here's what you do. Get about 5 or 6 cotton balls, an old T-shirt, a rubberband, a medicine dropper and some dye. Thin your dye to a lighter color than your after. (it's better to add more than to go too dark up front). Cut out a piece of the T-shirt into a 5" or 6" square. Place the cotton balls on top and collect them in the t-shirt and gather the t-shirt like you do a garbage bag. Gather it tight and then use the rubber band to hold this together. Now you should have a "pad". Use the medicine dropper to add dye to the pad, blot it to get the excess dye off then, starting in one corner, rub the pad on your leather in circular motion until you cover the entire piece, adding dye as you go. You'll know when you need to add dye. Do this in several coats to achieve the desired color. This method is called burnish dying. I've had fantastic results using this method.

Good luck,

Marlon

[abn]

I don't know if this is the answer you're looking for, but I got rid of the splotchy look when I switched from spirit-based dyes to water-based ones, like the new Eco-Flo leather dyes. Maybe worth a try?

Alex

[Tina]

tft,

I try to make a point :-)

I do not use the water based dyes at all, stil just using spirit dyes. No, I have only dyed totally with the black color, and with very good resaults I might ad. I get the black very even without problems, just using wool daubers twices that all and without going all the way through.

This is what I'm using and where I get if from (plus posting a picture of one of the things dyed twice with these dyes)

http://www.turtlefeathers.net/text/angelus/dye.html

I do not know how it act with other colors...

Edited August 14, 2008 by Tina

[BarryKing]

If you are using Feibings Leather dye, try switching to their OIL dye. This will help a lot. The regular Leather dye seems to always turn out splotchy. Also, look for the grainy areas in the hide, it will soak up more dye than tighter grain areas, turning it darker.

[tft]

Well thats a lot of answers. I like it.

Thanks to everybody who posted for the question. Now I have some options and will try them all I think.

Thanks again,

tft

[BillB]

I have taken to using a deglaze prior to dyeing. This helps remove any body oils that have transfered from my hands while tooling the leather. Yes, I get sweaty palms 8-).

I have also gone to total submersion when I am dying the full piece one base color. This entails having a large pan that I fill with dye then soak the piece just like I would do for casing with water. Depending on the size and amount of tooling and the dye used, this can contribute to irregular shaping/warping of the leather, so I will always cut the pre-tooled piece slightly larger then my pattern. Once it is tooled and dyed, I will trim it down to the final size. This type of saturation dying helps solves problems with color differences showing up in either the punch holes if I am lacing or the needle holes if the piece is sewn.

[greg gomersall]

try giving the leather a light coat of oil before you dye it when using spirit dye, Greg