My First Stain Attempt Is A Disaster

[leathervan]

I'm a newbee when it comes to staining leather. I used Eco Floe that I bought at Tandy to stain a piece of leather and it just streaked and was uneven. What did I do wrong? Maybe a different stain or dye would work better. I wish I had a pic but don't have the tools to download one. I got a cellphone but don't know if I can download a pic onto a web site via a cell phone. I suppose most people that show pics use a camera to load it onto a web site. Anyway I see some of the pics of work done here on this site and it is amazing how nice some of that work is.

[Northmount]

Often takes several applications to build up the color and cover the streaks. Make sure the leather is clean first, might need a deglazer if the leather has any contaminants on the surface. Oxalic acid or lemon juice will bleach the leather and remove some contaminants.

Use overlapping circular motion whether you are using a dauber, sponge, or what ever. If you want a very light color change, dilute the dye first. Build up in layers, let it dry for a couple hours between applications. Some dampen the leather slightly before applying dye. Takes lots of experimentation to develop what works best for you, then practise and be consistent.

There are lots of threads here about dyes and stains, take a few hours to see what others are doing, as well as reviewing questions asked and problems.

Tom

[billybopp]

What Tom said!

Most cell phones and services will allow you to text or email a picture to yourself, which you can then download onto your PC to upload here. Some will even offer to reduce the file size which is usually a good idea. Most cell phones will also let you copy pictures onto your computer via a USB cable. Still others use a removable memory card (NOT the SIM card) for which you can get a USB adapter.

Hope that helps!

Bill

[meagain]

I'm pretty much in the same boat. Northmount - I swear everyone has their own opinion and there seem to be thousands

I personally would love to be able to mottle or use other colors of dye to be able to create areas that blend/fade into each other and damned if I can pull that off even remotely.