Dying Leather White

[Wanderinstar]

I would like to dye some leather white in order to make a pair of duotone shone. Any recommendations?

[shtoink]

There isn't a white dye. You need to have something that is an opaque coating to put a while color on. The only other alternative is to start out with a leather that has all the coloring bleached from it to make it white and go from there.

As for making it white, you can use an acrylic or some other opaque paint. Maybe something that can be airbrushed or applied in layers so that you can have your color scheme the way you like.

I know it's not exactly the news you wanted to hear, but with white, there aren't many ways around it.

[treybecca]

If you just need white leather you will have to buy white leather. Unfortunately there is no such thing as white leather that will tool properly. If you want to do any type of tooling you need to color the leather by hand. I recommend Angelus Acrylic paint as it is specially made for leather and cost less per ounce then Tandys Cova.

[RubyK]

I read that you use oxalic acid to bleach leather white. Is this incorrect?

[Handstitched]

This has come up before: 

 

I do have a white dye, but its from the 80's.... It was given to me ....by...someone. People often give me stuff .   Its a small bottle, but I use it  very sparingly  because once its gone....it gone. I also have a turquoise of the same stuff.  Its sorta like a white wash, dries quickly. I'll take a pic of it when I can . 

I also found this: https://www.ebay.com/p/1129803792

As for oxalic acid, I've mainly used it  to clean any grease stains etc.  from leather, on rare occasions . Its toxic  stuff. It was originally made from rhubarb leaves, amongst other green leafy thingys .  I have  a  ' skull & X bones'  on my bottle  

Hope this helps,

HS 

[maxdaddy]

I apply 3 or 4 coats of shoe polish on the flesh side of veg tanned leather and then seal it with with liquid floor wax or Resolene to get white leather. I've made white top hats, straps, and other projects this way and it looks and holds up pretty well.

The flesh side is typically the 'back' side of a piece since does not have the smooth finish on it that the grain side does. That smooth finish is what makes the grain side so difficult to apply an opaque finish to, because brush strokes are impossible to avoid (at least for me). Spraying a white acrylic paint on might work, but I still think there'd be adhesion issues and the white might flake off if the piece is flexed.  The backside of the leather is more 'porous' and so the white has lots of teeny-tiny surfaces to adhere to. 

Give it a try on some scrap... shoe polish is cheap and it comes with a built-in applicator!  

.

Edited October 24, 2020 by maxdaddy

[Handstitched]

I did take a few pics of those dyes. 

One is white, and the other is green , not turquoise as I thought. 

Made by ' Hidemaster' ' Western Leathercraft' (  Western Australia) back in the 80's....late 70's ?   

The price was $2.95 a bottle .  Once they're gone, .........they're gone. 

HS