Angelus Purple Leather Dye

[craig h]

I am a newbie and making a belt for a friend who wants it colored light purple. I am using Angelus brand dye...but after diluting it with rubbing alcohol it remains to be dark(almost black) .

I want a light purple result...any advice would be welcomed and appreciated.

Thank You...Craig h

[dirtclod]

I use the same dye except I use denatured alcohol. You need to keep adding alcohol to get the lighter color. I don't care what anybody else says I never got rubbing alcohol to work ! You will need to keep up with how much alcohol to the amount of dye incase you need more of that color you have just made.

[craig h]

Thank you dirtclod.....

[Tina]

To get a nicer light purple/lilac color, try mixing in some light pink...drop by drop :-)

[retiredff]

what Tina said and use an airbrush if you have one or try and borrow one. I found it easier to control colors with the airbrush.

[Ember]

Less dye to alcohol ratio. Try adding drops of dye to the alcohol instead of alcohol to the dye until you get a tint you prefer. Depending on weather or not you are using oil dye or standard they make a white as well. So you can add white, and as Tina stated, a pink to change the color.

[RavenAus]

Angelus had a neutral mixer to use instead of the alcohol, I was told by the shop (Lefflers, AU) alcohol didn't work too well so you should always use the neutral to lighten

[JulieP]

I use Angelus dyes also. I used the purple on flowers and needed a light purple. I only use the Angelus Reducer. I ALWAYS use a glass dropper when mixing my dyes. I also use the method mentioned by Ember where I add drops of reducer into my paint tray and then add the dye to that. I would say if you are trying to go for a light purple you may cutting the dye by 1/2 or even 3/4's. ie.. 2 drops of dye to 4 or 6 drops of reducer or even more. You can try the alcohol. It sounds like you just may need to reduce it alot more than you have been doing to get a much lighter color. I'm not sure what other people do but I also make sure my leather is damp/cased when I dye. That may be different from person to person.

Good luck