Making Natural Dyes?

[zaynexpetty]

Hello all,

I have been using fiebings pro oil dye on all of my dyed projects. I do like the way that it sits in the leather, but I am the type of person that would much rather use a more natural alternative when it comes to most methods. I have heard about using cold black coffee to darken leather, as well as multiple light coats of extra virgin olive oil left out in the sun. I am more keen to these types of methods.

I was wondering if anyone knows of, or has had any experience with, making their own plant based leather dyes?

I have heard of people using organic material such as:

onions

blueberries

cedar

walnut husks

alder

blackberries

elderberries

fern fronds

etc...

I do have access to these items, but I am unsure of the process in which to get the pigment out of the item, as well as applying the dye, and storage.

Edit: Do you think this method would work for dying leather?

http://pioneerthinking.com/crafts/natural-dyes

Thanks!

Zayne

Edited August 1, 2014 by zaynexpetty

[anhurset]

Without fail, the color extraction process is going to be boiling, toss the intended ingredients into a pot, add water and boil. Some of them will require a full rolling boil (I get the best result from walnuts by boiling the crap out of them) wile others, such as onion skins will work well by taking them to a rolling boil and then reducing to a simmer. A rolling boil will extract color faster than a simmer, but some items don't respond well to that level of heat for an extended period. Regardless of boiling or simmering you're looking at hours of heat and usualy a couple of water refreshes before you reach a useable dye. After you achieve the color and consistency/viscosity you're looking for allow it to cool and decant into containers.

You've got a couple of options when it comes to storage, you can freeze the dye which requires no preservative, but does require thawing before use, or you can add rubbing alcohol to lengthen shelf life. I use alcohol, 1 cup of 90% isopropyl per 2 quarts of dye. Others use more or less, but I've found this to be a good ratio, I've got an old (5 years old to be exact) container of walnut dye using this ratio and it has never shown a willingness to mold. I use natural dyes straight from the barrel without cooking out the alcohol and have never had any issues, other people insist that the alcohol needs to be cooked out before use, but I just don't see the point in that, it's extra work which serves no purpose. Isopropyl on leather is a lesser evil than the denatured alchohol found in factory dyes and the amount of alcohol I suggest is an infinitely smaller quantity than is found in those store bought dyes.

When it comes to dyeing you'll have to experiment, you'll get a different color depending on application, brush the dye on gives a different tone than imersing the leather, altering the number of layers applied or the amount if time the leather was immersed will also alter the resulting color. The leather itself will alter your color results too, no two hides will give the same color. The amount of oil applied after dyeing will alter the color depth too. Practice and experimentation are paramount when using natural dyes. With the black walnut dye I make I can get shades as light as a yellowish tan all the way to beep dark chocolate brown, it all depends on my method of application and the amount of dye I apply.

I definitely suggest you try natural dyes, theyre far less messy than spirit and oil dyes, cheap, easy to make and once you figure out the tricks they're easy to use.

[zaynexpetty]

Without fail, the color extraction process is going to be boiling, toss the intended ingredients into a pot, add water and boil. Some of them will require a full rolling boil (I get the best result from walnuts by boiling the crap out of them) wile others, such as onion skins will work well by taking them to a rolling boil and then reducing to a simmer. A rolling boil will extract color faster than a simmer, but some items don't respond well to that level of heat for an extended period. Regardless of boiling or simmering you're looking at hours of heat and usualy a couple of water refreshes before you reach a useable dye. After you achieve the color and consistency/viscosity you're looking for allow it to cool and decant into containers.

You've got a couple of options when it comes to storage, you can freeze the dye which requires no preservative, but does require thawing before use, or you can add rubbing alcohol to lengthen shelf life. I use alcohol, 1 cup of 90% isopropyl per 2 quarts of dye. Others use more or less, but I've found this to be a good ratio, I've got an old (5 years old to be exact) container of walnut dye using this ratio and it has never shown a willingness to mold. I use natural dyes straight from the barrel without cooking out the alcohol and have never had any issues, other people insist that the alcohol needs to be cooked out before use, but I just don't see the point in that, it's extra work which serves no purpose. Isopropyl on leather is a lesser evil than the denatured alchohol found in factory dyes and the amount of alcohol I suggest is an infinitely smaller quantity than is found in those store bought dyes.

When it comes to dyeing you'll have to experiment, you'll get a different color depending on application, brush the dye on gives a different tone than imersing the leather, altering the number of layers applied or the amount if time the leather was immersed will also alter the resulting color. The leather itself will alter your color results too, no two hides will give the same color. The amount of oil applied after dyeing will alter the color depth too. Practice and experimentation are paramount when using natural dyes. With the black walnut dye I make I can get shades as light as a yellowish tan all the way to beep dark chocolate brown, it all depends on my method of application and the amount of dye I apply.

I definitely suggest you try natural dyes, theyre far less messy than spirit and oil dyes, cheap, easy to make and once you figure out the tricks they're easy to use.

Wow! I wasn't expecting such an in depth response, thank you so much. This was EXACTLY what I was looking for!

Would it be reasonable to store the dyes in glass mason jars? Also, although I am not opposed to using isopropyl as a preservative, are their any other alternatives besides freezing? I really would like to avoid any chemicals if at al possible.

I found this: http://www.naturalcosmeticnews.com/new-ingredients/the-most-popular-natural-preservatives-2/

Would any of those ingredients be a good substitute for alcohol/freezing?

I read that potassium sorbate is a fairly good natural preservative, although I wouldn't know if I would need to use it in combination with anything else.

Edited August 3, 2014 by zaynexpetty

[anhurset]

Storage would depend mainly on the acidity of the dye, I would expect mason jars would be fine, I would suggest inspection acting the lids from time to time for rust. Vinegaroon is the only thing I have dealt with that was seriously damaging to metal. I tend to use plastic containers, most of my dying is done via immersion, so for me it's more sensible to use buckets, so I use six gallon buckets with lids with air tight gaskets. I do keep a small amount of each dye I use in smaller containers for when I do a brushed on finish, for those I tend to recycle whatever I've got laying around, mostly gallon vinegar jugs left over from making vinegaroon and empty liquor bottles.

If you're not going to freeze the dye then you'll have to add something to retard mold growth and the least dangerous thing you're likely to find will be isopropyl alcohol. With walnut dye, one cup of alcohol to seven and a half cups of dye is just enough to keep mold at bay without being noticeable odor wise, the tannin odor is infinitely stronger. I've heard of people using no preservatives and just dealing with the mold, either scraping it off with each use or simply ignoring it, but then you'll be dealing with possibly dangerous mold. I'll take the minor alcohol contact from fishing items out of the vat, usually less than 20 seconds on the skin, over dealing with mold any day.

[DavidL]

glass will shatter if you freeze it btw.

I've had a hard time with dyes being consistent on the flesh side the dye is splotchy. It could be that the leather is bad quality and my technique is a little off. I hear that vinegaroon

actually dyes better and the colour is more even. Is there a way to add blue indigo dye or add blue berries to change the colour of vinegaroon or will it turn out a huge mess?

[camano ridge]

Go over to cascity.com to the leather shop forum click on the FAQs how to and you will find indepth information for making vinegaroon, coffee and tea dyes and others. Tell them waht you want to make dye from and people like Chuck Burrows and others will probably have a reciepe for you. With walnut dye what you really want are the husks not the walnuts them selves. You will want to mass or chop the husks in a garage sale blender ( do not use your wifes blender, you may be thrown out with the blender). You will boil the mash.

Edited August 3, 2014 by camano ridge

[DavidL]

The website is still processing my account so it may be a while. So far I tried turmeric with olive oil and I gotten a caramel coloured piece, with water and turmeric it came out transparent yellow. I like how the colour is nearly consistent throughout. Im thinking mixing anything thats in powder form with olive oil or some sort of transparent oil (rubbing alcohol?mineral oil? baby oil?) will soak into the leather and create a permanent bond.

Edited August 4, 2014 by DavidL

[anhurset]

With walnut dye what you really want are the husks not the walnuts them selves. You will want to mass or chop the husks in a garage sale blender ( do not use your wifes blender, you may be thrown out with the blender). You will boil the mash.

I have found this step to be completely unnecessary. I used to husk the nuts and blend until I came across a Native American recipe from the 18th century which suggested soaking the whole nuts in water until they fermented and the husk started sliding off (usually takes about two weeks). You can boil with or without the nut itself, it really doesn't make a difference, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't, it really depends on how much husk material I have after peeling.

I most definitely agree that you should check the natural dyes thread at CAS City, there's a lot of good information there, make sure you go through the entire discussion though, a lot of the recipes evolve through the thread. There's also a recipe in The Book of Buckskinning vol. VI.

I've tried coffee and tea dyes a few times and have never been happy with them, they tend to require a lot of soaking, 12-24 hours, to achieve at most a very light brown color. A 1:1 mix of walnut dye and water, brushed on, gives essentially the same color in far less time and gives the option of darkening by adding multiple coats.

Don't overlook fiber dyeing recipes (ignore the mordants and boiling/soaking times), they're good guides for determining if an ingredient will work, what color it will givegive and how light fast it is. Generally speaking, if it works for fabric, it will work for leather.

Edited August 5, 2014 by anhurset

[mlapaglia]

Vinegroon is not a dye its a chemical reaction so adding different colors to it will not change the black. The Iron in the vinegaroon reacts with the tannins in the leather and turns black (simple explanation of the chemical process). it makes a great black but wont work to try to change it to a different color.

[anhurset]

I meant to say something about that, but completely forgot. As stated above you can't really change the color vinegaroon imparts, you can, however, use the oxidization process to alter the color of other natural dyes. Small amounts of iron (de greased steel wool) added to the dye will both darken the resulting dye and cause color changes in the dye. Adding it during the boiling process is easiest, though it can be added afterwards. When I say a small amount I'm talking less than a 1/4 of a pad of OOOO steel wool to 5 gallons of dye. More can be added, but I've noticed that it tends to mute the untertones and causes the color to look a bit lifeless.

Natural fiber dyeing guides will give an idea of the resulting colors caused by adding iron, but the end result will likely be different due to the iron/tannin reaction within the leather.