Food coloring as leather dye

[impulse]

I have recently been experimenting with using food coloring as a leather dye. It comes in 50ml bottles at any supermarket at a cost of around $1.25 ea. There are basic colors of pink, red, blue, green, yellow and black from which you can mix any color imaginable. It is water soluble and a few drops give strong color. I have found it to penetrate well and not rub off when dry.

I advise prepping the leather with oxalic acid (1tspn in a cup of warm water) to give a clean start for an even finish. The dye can be painted on, rubbed on, dipped or sprayed. Strength of color is dependent on how many drops used. 

 

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

Good idea, I would never have though of that. I tend to get locked in to not looking beyond what's available to the leather trade as a leather preparation. Thanks for that! Any great ideas for leather finish? I'm not pleased with ANYTHIING I've tried. I hate the acrylics, Neat Lac is too impermeable and I think it makes the leather hard, I like the look of Tan Kote as well as anything, but any exposure to water and the nice look is gone, so it's not good for saddles.

[Reegesc]

Oddly enough I've been thinking about this very thing while researching making my own dyes.   I love "cross-purpose discoveries."  The discovery alone is worth the effort but you're also rewarded with significant cost saving most times and the feel good aspect of sharing your find as you have done here.  Thank you.

[impulse]

Hey Big Sioux

I make my own "Bushmans Leather Dressing" by melting 1 part beeswax, 1 part parafin wax, 2 parts neatsfoot oil and 1tspn eucalyptus oil. The eucalyptus prevents mould. Because beeswax varies in hardness, sometimes I need to add pure gum turpentine to make the mix creamier.

Use the dressing sparingly and after rubbing in well, leave for 30mins or so and it will leave the leather supple but can be buffed up to a satin shine which repells water. I never use straight oils on leather as too much oil can weaken the fibres and also makes it impossible to get a sheen.

I have saddles and harness that are still good after 40yrs of service using this dressing.

Cheers

Lois

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

2 minutes ago, impulse said:

Hey Big Sioux

I make my own "Bushmans Leather Dressing" by melting 1 part beeswax, 1 part parafin wax, 2 parts neatsfoot oil and 1tspn eucalyptus oil. The eucalyptus prevents mould. Because beeswax varies in hardness, sometimes I need to add pure gum turpentine to make the mix creamier.

Use the dressing sparingly and after rubbing in well, leave for 30mins or so and it will leave the leather supple but can be buffed up to a satin shine which repells water. I never use straight oils on leather as too much oil can weaken the fibres and also makes it impossible to get a sheen.

I have saddles and harness that are still good after 40yrs of service using this dressing.

Cheers

Lois

Thank you, Lois. Do you use this as a final finish on new equipment or just as a conditioner?

[impulse]

Both! I do a lot of embossing where the leather hardens due to casing and this dressing restores the natural oils. Saddlery I like to be very supple, and this is easily controlled by the amount used.

Before discovering this recipe, I used warm olive oil to break in my gear, but found it impossible then to get a shine. Over the years I have tried almost all the commercially produced leather cleaners and dressings - NOTHING is as good or versatile as the "Bushmans".

I hope that you try this out.

Lois

[bikermutt07]

I have been experimenting with diluting spirit dyes with water.

As far as a finish goes I just use Aussie with beeswax. It gives a decent shine and is supposed to somewhat waterproof the item. Sounds like finish to me. Here are a few examples.

I think the colors turned out nice. 50/50 fiebings spirit dye and tap water.

[Reegesc]

1 hour ago, impulse said:

Hey Big Sioux

I make my own "Bushmans Leather Dressing" by melting 1 part beeswax, 1 part parafin wax, 2 parts neatsfoot oil and 1tspn eucalyptus oil. The eucalyptus prevents mould. Because beeswax varies in hardness, sometimes I need to add pure gum turpentine to make the mix creamier.

Use the dressing sparingly and after rubbing in well, leave for 30mins or so and it will leave the leather supple but can be buffed up to a satin shine which repells water. I never use straight oils on leather as too much oil can weaken the fibres and also makes it impossible to get a sheen.

I have saddles and harness that are still good after 40yrs of service using this dressing.

Cheers

Lois

 

Now this is uncanny. I'm on my way to the store to get, among other things, food coloring and Lard.  The Lard was going to be an add to my my first batch of homemade leather dressing which is giving me fits because  (a) it's too hard and (b) it won't shine. Lois, you have made my month with the food coloring tip and now the triple top secret recipe for the perfect leather dressing.   Thank you thank you thank you!

[Reegesc]

50 minutes ago, bikermutt07 said:

I have been experimenting with diluting spirit dyes with water.   I think the colors turned out nice. 50/50 fiebings spirit dye and tap water.

I do the same, and yes the colors can be very nice.  Just recently I had a request for a pink dog collar.  I experimented with diluting Fiebings Red to see if I could get a pink dye  The mix was approximately 1 part red dye 10 parts water.  It worked.  Depending on the leather I tried it on (various scrap chrome whites) I got light pink, hot pink and even a lovely shade of lavender.  Those were the successes.  The failures were ugly oranges and weird peach colors.   

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

1 hour ago, impulse said:

Both! I do a lot of embossing where the leather hardens due to casing and this dressing restores the natural oils. Saddlery I like to be very supple, and this is easily controlled by the amount used.

Before discovering this recipe, I used warm olive oil to break in my gear, but found it impossible then to get a shine. Over the years I have tried almost all the commercially produced leather cleaners and dressings - NOTHING is as good or versatile as the "Bushmans".

I hope that you try this out.

Lois

I will be sure to try this!  I have everything on hand except the Eucalyptus. I was a little concerned that it might be difficult to find in my area, but a google search revealed that is readily available in drug stores.  I am looking forward to seeing the results. Many thanks!!

[MADMAX22]

On 11/9/2016 at 5:55 PM, Big Sioux Saddlery said:

I will be sure to try this!  I have everything on hand except the Eucalyptus. I was a little concerned that it might be difficult to find in my area, but a google search revealed that is readily available in drug stores.  I am looking forward to seeing the results. Many thanks!!

I make a very similar recipe for my finish/conditioner and dont use the Eucalyptus and the same jar for the past few years hasnt developed any issues. Not saying its a bad idea but you can get by without it. 

Be sure to use pure neatsfoot oil (incase you use the compound stuff). 

I have been finishing my projects depending on leather thickness and if dyed I will do a very very light coat of neatsfoot oil (helps to even out the dye), let dry, buff real quick, then I do a tan kote wiped on thinly and quick buff once dry - usually with the tan kote I use sherling and wipe on a decent amount then go back over it before it drys completely with fresh sherling and rub a tad which gets rid of any possible streaks and leaves a nice matt finish. 

After that drys I use the "Bushmans" recipe rubbing in by hand. Let sit required time to absorb and dry a bit then buff it out to get the nice sheen talked about above. Really like how it all comes out. 

[impulse]

MADMAX

The addition of eucalyptus oil is not to preserve the dressing, but to help stop mould growing on the leather!

[Reegesc]

Lois,

On November 9, 2016 at 5:53 PM, impulse said:

1 part beeswax, 1 part parafin wax, 2 parts neatsfoot oil and 1tspn eucalyptus oil.

 I bought some eucalyptus oil but I'm unsure of the amount to use.  1 tsp per what?  Since it's a concentrate, I'm assuming it's 1 teaspoon per a sizable qty like a pound each of beeswax and paraffin and that you just size down from there.  Is that correct?

 

[Tob]

On 11/9/2016 at 7:42 AM, impulse said:

I have recently been experimenting with using food coloring as a leather dye. It comes in 50ml bottles at any supermarket at a cost of around $1.25 ea. There are basic colors of pink, red, blue, green, yellow and black from which you can mix any color imaginable. It is water soluble and a few drops give strong color. I have found it to penetrate well and not rub off when dry.

I advise prepping the leather with oxalic acid (1tspn in a cup of warm water) to give a clean start for an even finish. The dye can be painted on, rubbed on, dipped or sprayed. Strength of color is dependent on how many drops used. 

 

From what I have tried, blue will leave a greenish tint, could be the food coloring brand.  The green worked good on the less than stellar leather that I put it on.  Might have been stained with oil or something.  The Eco-Flow that I also put on it didn't want to work right either.  After it dried, there was no rub off and with good techniques, will work great.  On some of the bad areas, I tried thinning it with alcohol and got better penetration, still wasn't as good as well prepped, but enough to color it a little.

Something else I remember from the black Army boot days, was using sharpies on areas of the boot that was scuffed to plain leather.  We could get "free" markers and tended to work better than the Kiwi brand leather dye.  

Thank you for this idea.  Better than spending $8-9 for a small project.