Dip Dyeing

[Red Cent]

#1 was introduced to me just a few days ago. All this time and I had never read (I think) about OA.

#6 I have not done. Are you saying that after you let the leather drip a minute or so, you wipe the piece of leather, back and front with a paper towel?

I usually air brush and I work a lot with the natural leather treated with NFO and neutral shoe polish when dry.



And, I color everything before I construct. Like using drum dyed leather. A lot of my belts are colored on the main piece and the lining is usually natural.

I dip dyed two pieces of 5-6 ounce in some of the dark brown dye cut with alcohol. After they were dry, I could have hurt you bad with them. Armor hard. They were the holster lining and about three applications of NFO got them to the point that they could be used.

I am happy the customer chose black thread so that I can adjust anything to the right shade. I am sewing up the welt in a few minutes. After I get them done, I will take pictures.

[Treed]

I only let the dyed piece drip off excess dye for seconds if it is running off, then hit it with the paper towel and start my buffing. I want to get the initial soaking of dye to be uniform and do not want any excess to stay on the leather as any excess will over dye in the areas that it is left. When I buff the project it is with mostly a circular motion. I only use the blue shop towels, the white house hold towel will not hold up and will leave pieces everywhere.

The 5-6 you dyed how much was the dye cut with alcohol as this will affect the leather when dyed or it could have been the leather. I only use Herman Oak and after I dye I use a good coat of neats foot oil on the project. I bounce back and forth between dyeing before I construct and dyeing after construction depending on the look, the project or what else is on the drying rack or dyeing table at the time.

As I said earlier practice with scraps. As it have practice on scraps i make notes on the back for future reference as to the dye alcohol portions. Also I don't have much in climate control in my shop so different times of the year I have to adjust my procedures.