Resolene Problem.

[venator]

So about half the time when I attemp to resolene a dyed piece of leather it destroys it. Streaks, mystery colour changing, it's bizarre. I'm using various tandy pro water stains and antique gels.

The pic below was from today, it was a tan dye job, now it's garbage.

I put on two coats of dye, let sit for a day, Polish with a cloth, and it looks great. Add resolene and its garbage.

Help?

[Basically Bob]

Man, that has got to be frustrating. I have never had a problem like that but don't use water based dyes.

I get really good results with the following method:

1) cut the resolene 50/50 with water

2) wet a sponge (I normally use something about 3" x 3") and squeeze the water out of it so that the sponge is just damp)

3) wrap the sponge with a soft cotton cloth

4) dip the cloth wrapped sponge into the diluted resolene and squeeze it out so that the cloth is just damp

5) wipe the item with a continual stroke, in one direction, very, very, lightly

6) wait for an hour or so, until it is dry and then repeat

I find that three coats like this is sufficient to seal the dye and yet it does not alter the feel of the leather

Once I have coated the leather to my satisfaction, I let it sit at least overnight before I flex or work with it.

Edited January 11, 2015 by Basically Bob

[BDAZ]

Like dissolves like, so resolene being a water based acrylic will tend to dissolve any of the water based dyes you have used. Use a solvent based sealer on water based dyes.

Cya!

Bob

[Sluggo001]

Bob is correct. Resolene is OK for oil dyes, not water-based dyes.

[Chief31794]

I use Resolene on Water Base and Spirit Based dyes, never had a problem, particularly not anything like the pictures here. That looks like something else all together. If Resolene caused that, I'd throw the bottle away, it's gotten contaminated or something. Resolene is water based itself.

Chief

[cgleathercraft]

Out of curiosity, which dye did you use on the pieces in the picture? Was it the pro waterstain?

[texback]

My questions would be how did you apply the resolene and how many coats did you use and how soon between coats. The way it's streaked looks like it might have been brushed on and with multiple coats . Try applying resolene cut 50/50 with an airbrush. One light coat, let sit an hour or so then another light coat and let sit for 24 hours. If you wish to build up the resolene just apply more light coats. Just give it time between coats. This method works well for me.

[Green Man Leatherworks]

HELP!!...Ok, so I had the same problem...resolen sealcoat over water based dye. I won't do that again but does anyone know how to fix it? Is there a stripper of some sort that can be used? Then Maybe I could restain properly. I hate to throw this out or leave as is. WAS turning out to be some of my best work. HELP, HELP, PLEASE!

[Green Man Leatherworks]

Ok, here's the mess...any suggested means of fixing? Stripper of some sort?

[silverwingit]

I hate Resolene for this reason! I will never use it again.

After all the positive recommendations about Resolene I made a tooled piece that I worked on for hours and then I antiqued it with Fiebing's antique paste. I made the mistake of applying 50-50 Resolene with a piece of sheep's wool. The Resolene dissolved the antiquing and the wool spread it all over the piece, including areas that it wasn't supposed to go on. The piece was totally ruined.

I was absolutely crestfallen! I actually retrieved the piece from the trash when I got an idea. I decided that "stressing" the piece might cover my mistake so I took the piece and kicked it around the pavement in the street in front of my house. Since I had made the piece for myself and actually had thrown it away once, I wasn't too worried about the outcome. To my surprise, it actually turned out quite well. It now has the appealing look of a well-worn western saddle.

But, lesson learned! (YMMV)

Michelle