Favorite Dyes And Antiques

[treybecca]

So after a few years of quietly going about my business in Fantasy/Cosplay world, I have decided its time to put on my big girl pants and try breaking it out in the "Real World". I have experienced dealing with pretty much every color of the rainbow except browns. I would love to know what colors of fiebings are ya'lls favorite, both in the dye and the antique paste for those of you who use it. I have the Fiebings Medium Brown Oil Dye, which is a bit orangey for my tastes, and the medium brown antique paste...which may as well be called slightly less black. Im looking to run the whole gamut from a light saddle tan to chestnut to chocolate. All your feedback is greatly appreciated!

[DoubleC]

Hi Becca. I use waterbased dyes by fiebings, called their institutional dyes. I like them because they can be lightened with just water, and you can mix them together and also you can add acrylic paints to them to get just the color you want. Browns are tough because a lot of them will have the orange or reddish tone in them. Chocolate seems to have the least but to me looks black more than brown. I like the plain ole dark brown although it does have a reddish cast to it, but I often make my guitar straps two toned, a tan (also with that red color to it) on either the main body or the adjustment straps and then the dark brown on the other. I really like it when a customer wants something BESIDES browns but that doesn't happen a lot. I have two antiques I've tried, and use the medium brown the most. I bought a light brown to try on carved or stamped areas when I use the dark brown on the main strap, but it looks like a yellowish orange on that, so not my favorite. I have a ton yet I still want to try to get more consistent results. A friend of mine just tried to Tandy pro stains for the first time in black and loves it. Goes on, covers well, no bleeding, etc. And it's hard to get black to do that unless you use vinegaroon, which is a whole DIFFERENT topic of a home made dye. So when I reorder dyes I'm going to try the pro waterstains. I do almost all my ordering from Springfield but if you want something from Tandy they literally walk down the street and get it for you

I realized I just said a lot of nothing to help you, sorry. My point I guess is after a year I'm still looking for that magic formula of light and dark browns that works consistently every time for me. And although it is rather expensive, well not compared to all the other experimenting we do, I think you'll find you're just going to have to try these things until you find what works best for you and your projects. Cheryl

[JLSleather]

I've always used Fiebing's spirit dyes, and I probably use more of the chocolate than any other color. With the browns, I just get the dark brown and thin to the shade I want - 5 shades I use all the time and a couple of empty jars I use to mix a shade I just need that day.

It's true that the brown has a bit of a reddish tint - it's been like that since the first bottle I bought. I get the brown BECAUSE of the tint. But, if you don't like the red (ish) in it you can "neutralize" it by adding a touch of green. If you go that way, I'd suggest you mix in a separate bottle until you get the color you want, then thin as needed. Pretty tough to get a color match the other way around.

I have a couple of pics i use for just this purpose. Two belts, very similar designs, dyed in just the same way.

One in nothing but brown

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?app=galleryℑ=17847

and one in nothing but chocolate

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?app=galleryℑ=17807

No antique or stain at all. Ever.

[Samalan]

WoW ! nice belts

[SooperJake]

Picture links don't work JL

[cjdevito]

A friend of mine just tried to Tandy pro stains for the first time in black and loves it. Goes on, covers well, no bleeding, etc.

I'll second that. I used the tandy pro black for the first time a week or two ago and got really great results with that. I find the trick to getting the best results with the tandy pro dyes to be just applying them to damp leather with a damp sponge.

[NVLeatherWorx]

Back to the original topic of the Fiebing's line, the best selection for dyeing would be the oil dyes and you can mix the colors to achieve a wider range of hues. When it comes to the antique finish (the paste) you can do the same with them as with the dyes. I must admit that over the years the color depth of the antique paste has weakened but it still provides a more realistic result of antique presence than any of the water-based products.

I will admit that the Eco-Flo pro waterstains are much better than the other products in the line but there is still a higher rate of rub-off (as a result of use) than there is with a spirit/alcohol based product.

For deeper stain coverage, the Fiebing's antique stains (liquid) are a very good product and I have even done some mixing of colors between the liquid and the paste to get a custom look. With the Fiebing's products the only limit to the final look is the user's mind. This is why Fiebing's has been around as long as they have and are still considered the premium product on the market and sought out everywhere.

[meagain]

JL Sleather - Any way to get your images to work? Or anyone have any pics to compare chocolate to the dark brown?