Dying To Get Rid Of Dye On Hands

[billybopp]

While making a test piece for an upcoming project this morning, I somehow managed to make hole in my rubber gloves without noticing and got a nice big dye mark on my hand. Off I trudged to the bathroom sink to see what I could do to remove it, muttering words that I dare not type on here. On the way I remembered that in a former life working with ink, we used to use a product called Dye Gone II to clean up, and went on a quest. There was still some Dye Gone lying around, so I tried it and it works great on leather dye too! It does leave a slightly funky smell on the hands that lasts a few hours, but takes the dye right off!

I did a little searching online to see if the stuff was still around and gladly it is. One of the places that I found it is inksupply.com at $12.55 US a tube.

Hopefully that will help with what I have no doubt is a common frustration for many of us leather folk.

Bill

[WyomingSlick]

While making a test piece for an upcoming project this morning, I somehow managed to make hole in my rubber gloves without noticing and got a nice big dye mark on my hand. Off I trudged to the bathroom sink to see what I could do to remove it, muttering words that I dare not type on here. On the way I remembered that in a former life working with ink, we used to use a product called Dye Gone II to clean up, and went on a quest. There was still some Dye Gone lying around, so I tried it and it works great on leather dye too! It does leave a slightly funky smell on the hands that lasts a few hours, but takes the dye right off!

I did a little searching online to see if the stuff was still around and gladly it is. One of the places that I found it is inksupply.com at $12.55 US a tube.

Hopefully that will help with what I have no doubt is a common frustration for many of us leather folk.

Bill

Say Bill, How about a little experimenting to see if it will remove dye mistakes from leather? Now, that would really be something useful !

[Spence]

I use the orange citrus waterless hand cleaner. Helluva lot cheaper and it works really great. Works great to clean grunge from leather furniture too.

[TexasJack]

I use the orange citrus hand cleaner too. You can get it with pumice and it will get rid of nearly any grime without being too hard on your skin. They sell it in auto parts stores or in the auto section at Walmart or similar places.

One must always be careful trying to get something like dye out of your skin. Solvents can go through your skin into your blood stream, or they can severely dry your skin or you can have a bad skin irritation (chloracne).

[DuaneBallard]

Monk wipes are amazing and aren't harmful.

[BDAZ]

Dye Gone is just a small amount of ammonia and alcohol mixed with water.I usually mix a little denatured alcohol mixed with either dish washing liquid or liquid soap, The orange cleaners containing limonene are excellent and relatively safe solvents.

Cya!

Bob

[cgleathercraft]

I've used the orange cleaner from the auto parts store for a long time. Also starting using a product called Pinerite. http://www.pinerite.com/ works just as well, more expensive though $7.95 for a 10 oz jar. One jar lasts a long time. Had it over a year and haven't used the entire thing yet. of course i'm not using it every day tho.

[KandB]

i'm bad, I use pinesol.

[BDAZ]

I have started using drum dyed veg tan. So no more stained hands, consistent color, even finish, cuts build times in half, a perfect solution for stained hands.

Cya!

Bob

[oltoot]

If I remember to put hand lotion on my hands before dying, the dye comes off much easier. Truth be told, it doesn't bother me too much to have dye stains on my hands-War paint!

[Tinkerton]

I've found nail polish remover works pretty well too

[silverbullet]

Shoot let's get toxic I use carb cleaner 2+2 by snap is the best it takes everything off . Gary

[jfdavis58]

Two days ago I had one of those 'moments'. It seemed entirely appropriate to aim my airbrush at the opposite hands palm and let fly. Full strength black dye in a pretty star pattern covering 90% of my palm. Not a paper towel or usable rag anywhere in sight.

I use an expensive bar soap called "The Masters Artist Soap" which I get at Santa Fe Artisans (http://www.artisansantafeonlinestore.com). You may find small travel sized bars in some art supply departments at hobby and craft stores. The wrapper is a dark cream color but the soap isvery dark green to black, the manufacturor claims that it is non abrasive but there a little chunks of something that reveal themselves as you wear the bar down. It's expensive but the bar is very hard and lasts a long time. It removes dye, paint, finishing materials and even some glues without removing skin. Smells good too. There is also a formulation to clean and preserve brushes.

If all you need is to clean up a bit before using a different color or picking up a tool most hand sanitizers will also cut dye and paint. You do need to wipe your hands dry to actually remove both the sanitizer and what ever was on your hand to begin with--this will remove some skin and dry your skin considerably.

[billybopp]

I finally got some other stuff out of the way and got to try a little experiment on removing dyes from leather.

I made a grid on a test / practice piece of veg tan with a row of Fiebings USMC ( spirit ) splatters, a row of Eco-flo pro black ( water-based ), a row of Fiebings pro black ( spirit/Oil ), and a row for cova color black paint ( acrylic paint ).

I experimented with a citrus ( ZEP, which is Lowes' store brand), Dye Gone II, and Fiebings dye prep. Since the citrus and dye gone both have grit, I made two columns for those .. One rubbed one not.

I didn't let any of the dyes sit for long, as hopefully would happen if one were actually working and made a splatter.

All of the cleaners discolored the leather to some extent.

All of the cleaners did a respectable job of removing the paint with just a little left embedded in the grain.

Rubbing with the gritty Dye Gone and Zep didn't scratch the leather much at all, to my surprise.

All were useless on Fiebings Pro.

Dye Gone did the best on Eco Flo and Fiebings USMC. Both were noticeably diminished but not removed. Dye Gone also discolored the leather the most.

Dye Prep diminished Eco Flo and Fiebings USMC somewhat, and discolored the leather noticeably, but not as much as Dye Gone.

Zep Orange didn't work terribly well on anything other than paint, but it also did not discolor the leather very much.

I also managed to get a bit on my hands. I know from past experience that Artist soap will remove dye, but you have to scrub for several minutes. It works much better on paints. Zep works a little better, but you still need to scrub. Dye Gone works in seconds with just slight scrubbing.

Hope that helps!!

Bill

[BDAZ]

In the solvent industry we have an expression "Like dissolves like" so putting acetone on a water based dye will have little effect, and then soap and water won't work with solvent based dyes. I don't see what your test is supposed to represent since the thread is about removing dye from hands, not removing splatter from leatherr. IMHO ALL the cleaners are inappropriate for cleaning leather.

The most effective way to remove dye from leather is using the thinner or solvent it is based on.Of course you run the risk of spreading the stain, since the splatter will dissolve in the solvent. It is also the best method of removing dye from hands, but not the safest.

Another factor is dwell time. I am a partner in a soy solvent company and our soy based solvents are very slow to work, but are low VOC (met all the California requirements) but are also very slow to dry. You can paint it on an old piece of woodwork and 6-8 hours 10 or 12 layers of paint have completely peeled away, ready to be hosed off. The orange cleaners are similar and they require a long dwell time to be really effective.

Cya!

Bob

[billybopp]

Bob ..

I did the test on leather because somebody asked for it. I thought it an interesting question, so I gave it a whirl. The test / practice was done on the leather and it served no other useful purpose, so no loss but a little time for trying!

Bill

[BDAZ]

Got it.! Thanks..

Cya!

Bob

[stelmackr]

http://www.dharmatrading.com/chemicals/reduran-hand-cleaner.html

[RavenAus]

I use Cobblestone spirit dyes and find that as long as I've not left it too long normal alcohol hand sanitiser is cheap and effective. Squirt on a decent amount, rub in, wipe off. If I've just ignored it and carried on, as I sometimes do when on a roll , then it'll fade the dye considerably but leave a stain.

[Doc Reaper]

I use dawn detergent, hard cleaners are also hard on your health. Also use a soft bristle brush, but as far as

Strong solvents go, leave em alone!