Help!: How Do I Avoid/fix This Dying Issue?

[TwinOaks]

Did the paper towels have any design on them or were the just plain white? If so, it may be a transferral of whatever is used as a mordant to keep the ink on the paper towel from running all over the place. After all, you were using deglazer, which is pretty potent solvent.

[LloydtownLeather]

Plain white paper towel...

[benlilly1]

Here's why I think laying anything on top of it is the reason...if it's anything like woodworking, if you stain a piece of wood and lay another piece of wood crossways on top of it, it takes the shape of that top piece and it's darker where that piece laid. WHY I don't know -but this happens with wood. I guess because it's slowing down the dry time.

[LloydtownLeather]

Well, I'm afraid oiling the leather did not work out so good. (pic attached) The leather soaked up oil like a sponge, but when it dried, it shrank so much that it ripped the pockets right off (it is a gospel cover and the pockets were for the covers of the book.) It did not disguise the stain at all either.

I was confused about the answers that suggested that the wood caused the staining because the wood was not touching the leather - I had paper between the leather and the wood. Now, a friend who used to work in the printing biz has told me it may well have caused by the bleach in the paper towel! That would make more sense, since I have never had issues with leather being affected by molding it around wood, etc., and the effect only happened where the paper was. Well, next time I will just put another piece of leather between the weight and the piece I am trying to dry flat. As you can see in the pic, I am working on gluing a different cover on top of the botched front piece, but I will still have to rewet the botched cover and see if I can get it to fit the book again. Wish me luck with that!

[TomG]

. Alas, the Feibings is a lot darker than I would like too, even though I thinned it a little with the Feibings thinner. I definately think the neatsfoot oil is worth a shot, but I am wondering, is there any way to lighten the dye, or at least to prevent going darker in the next application??

You can dilute the dye with denatured alcohol. I have few Fiebigns dyes that I don't have to dilute to some degree. they all seem to come out darker than what I feel the bottle label says.

For example, with browns....What I have done is taken a small plastic (Nalgene) bottle and put a measured amount of DA in it. Say 100 ml. than I add 10 ml of Medium Brown dye.

I took a long strap of leather and marked it off on the back with the percentage of dye. I just apply some to that section. Then add 10 ml and dye the next section.. and so on.

Of course, you will probably want to use smaller amounts... I just used the 100ml as an example. You can use 10ml of DA and 1ml of dye increments depending on how carefully you measure. But you get the idea.

Then just mark your bottles with the color anf mixture to remake it every time.

Now, I'm sure there are limits to the amount of dilution you can do and still have a durable dye job, but I have some stuff I've made for my dogs that get daily wear, and at 50/50 mix, they have held up well for years.

[LloydtownLeather]

Thanks for the tip, Tom. That sounds like an excellent way to approach it. I will give that a try!