What Are The Best Coloured Dyes?

[rawr66]

I just finished up this card wallet using Tandy's Eco-flo leather dye. I do like how it turned out, but I don't like how much it rubs off. You can tell how much pigment is left behind compared to something like Fiebings professional oil dye. The same thing goes for Tandy's gel antique; it seems to rub off no matter what I do. I don't have any experience with anything other than these products so I was hoping someone could point me toward a coloured (red, blue, yellow, etc) dye that works better than eco-flo.

One more.

[cgleathercraft]

I always buff until my a clean rag won't pull any more dye off after ample drying time. What type of finish are you putting on after dying?

[papaw]

This color will take many coats 4 or more would be my guess (kind of like yellow takes many coats) dry and rub between cost.

[rawr66]

I will dye and then I'll buff, put on a coat of carnuaba cream, and then I'll buff again, and then I'll finish with 50/50 acrylic resolene. The colour is light because I diluted the dye. I think I saturated the leather fairly good because I could see the pigment laying on top.

[Bob Blea]

I use Tandy Gel Antique and have never had a problem with it rubbing off after it has dried. It's more like an acrylic and once it's dried it stays put and behaves more like paint that dye.

[rawr66]

Bob, how long do you wait for it to dry? I've let it sit for a few days and as soon as I add any liquid half the colour comes off.

[cgleathercraft]

The Eco-Flo dyes seems to sit on top of the leather. Even when diluted they seem to pool up. if its left to dry like that a lot of it will come off when finishing. I suggest wiping off the excess just after dying, let it dry, and reapplying until the desired darkness is achieved.

[Bob Blea]

Bob, how long do you wait for it to dry? I've let it sit for a few days and as soon as I add any liquid half the colour comes off.

The Gel-Antique isn't a dye. It's really just a surface treatment and it doesn't penetrate the leather at all like a dye should. I'm almost always applying it over a resistive layer, Wyosheen in my case, and I rub it on and then rub it back off before it has much chance to dry. It stays behind in the recessed areas or areas with checkering/backgrounding and makes them look darker, and the color does penetrate the resist a bit and darkens everything overall. Depending on the depth of the area and how much antique got in there, it could still be wet when I stop rubbing the excess off, but that seems to dry into a water resistant color a lot like an acrylic would. That's why I've thought the Gel-antiques were acrylic based colors.

I don't let is set too long while it's wet because it can penetrate the resist and leave streaking, especially if I didn't do an even job with applying my resist. It all seems to dry completely within a hour (I live in a dry climate) but it usually ends up sitting overnight.