Beeswax finish questions

[Jerrymi]

I making a few bracelets out of veg tan. I have textured, dried, dyed with Eco flo, dried, highlighted,dried. I am using beeswax and neatsfoot oil melted together in equal parts. The mix was rubbed in melted, dried, buffed, second applied and buffed and buffed,buffed. I am still getting red color coming off on my buffing rag.  I love the finished look and softness. But I am concerned that the color will come off when worn.  Should I be??

[NVLeatherWorx]

The oils from the wax (and of course the Neatsfoot Oil) are bleeding your colors out of the leather, this happens when you use water-based products and haven't sealed it yet.  I didn't see anywhere in your process where you sealed it.  For the future you may want to consider using spirit based dyes/stains as they have a much more permanent penetration into the leather.  You will always see some rub-off after applying dyes but that is typically the remaining residues/pigments that you are removing; water based products tend to have much more pigment solids in them and they don't quite penetrate as deep; couple that with adding more liquids (waxes, oils, etc.) and you will always have the issues that you are having.

[Jerrymi]

So if I apply a finish like tan cote cut 50/50 with water in several coats that should stop the bleed though?  In the future if I use and oil based dye I use the bees wax finish and not have to use a sealer like tan cote? 

[ConradPark]

tan cote is not water resistant at all, so even with hand sweat it can start bleeding. Make it simple by using resolene to seal the edges instead. Or buy colored edge paint. Another solution (and ignore the purists) is to use colored marker pens, the ones with big flat felt tip. They are alcohol based and hardly bleed plus it's easy to apply and to get that 'handmade' edge shine, use gum tragnah to burnish the edges (so color after sanding but before burnishing and don't use wax at all). Anyway, there is no one right or wrong way, experiment around until you find a solution that suits YOU. Good luck and remember to have fun! And may the Devil curse your enemies.