Staining leather

[ludmasson]

So I have been staining some veg tan leather patterns with black pro eco flo water stain.  Staining small patterns have been easy, but large patterns have been extremely challenging. 

First problem is getting the black to be even through out the leather. I stain it with a high density sponge in a small circle motion. I have been doing close to 3 separate coats and still see the circle streaks. I've also dampen the leather as well so the leather doesn't soak it up so fast. But every time  I try , I still see streaks.  

The other day, I ended up staining it 4 separate times and every pass I see circle streaks, so I gave up on trying to get a even coat and went more for a marbled look. I ended up liking the effect. Waking up the next day, I found my leather to extremely hardened,  so I massaged Dr. Jacksons rejuvenating cream to soften it. The cream helped but much to my surprise, one if my patterns shrunk 1/2 inch!!! So now my pattern will not work since the alignment of my holes is off. I'm thinking the heat of near 100 degrees didn't help. 

 

Any feedback of the best way to go about dyeing leather streakless free. 

Oil, alcohol,  water, what's the best?

Thanks

Edited September 4, 2017 by ludmasson

[garypl]

I prefer oil dyes - either dip dye the piece or spray the dye on.  Dipping gives deeper penetration but spraying can also give you good results and you use less dye.

[Dwight]

If I dye it, . . . I dip it, . . . don't have any questions then about the coverage, . . . go over it then (or before) with a coat of neatsfoot oil, . . . use only Feibings Oil dye.

Basically no problems with my process.

The dip dye process takes more dye, . . . but when you are done, . . . you are done.  Ya don't have to question and don't have to worry about scraping it and the color scraping off.

May God bless,

Dwight

Edited September 4, 2017 by Dwight

[bikermutt07]

 

Problem located in your first sentence. Water based dyes have more problems than questions about problems using them posted here.

Use fiebings pro dye. They say the USMC black bleeds a lot (never tried it). Just use black. And if I was going black, I would dip it.

(Pro dye and pro oil dye are the exact same product according to fiebings. They have discontinued the pro oil moniker to eliminate confusion).

Good luck.

Edited September 5, 2017 by bikermutt07

[ludmasson]

Thanks for the feedback. I guess i will be buying some fiebings pro dye. Do I use neatsfoot oil, before and after I stain it?

[retiredff]

Try an airbrush! I use it for saddle tan because it lets me make it as dark or light as I want. A cheap airbrush is fine for spraying large items (wallets etc), but for fine detail you should spend some $$$$$.

[alpha2]

If you have an item that will get a LOT of wear, don't think the spray will get in deep enough to not show the raw leather. Swab or dip it. If it won't get that kind of wear, go ahead and spray it. On belts, I always put the dye on pretty heavy, so when the belt wears, it doesn't wear to the raw, lighter leather.

[TxLeather]

14 hours ago, retiredff said:

Try an airbrush! I use it for saddle tan because it lets me make it as dark or light as I want. A cheap airbrush is fine for spraying large items (wallets etc), but for fine detail you should spend some $$$$$.

Same here. Particularly for saddle tan.

[bikermutt07]

15 hours ago, ludmasson said:

Thanks for the feedback. I guess i will be buying some fiebings pro dye. Do I use neatsfoot oil, before and after I stain it?

I only use it after.

 

I know some people here say it's best before and after. These people know more than I do and claim that it helps the dye penetrate more evenly.

I haven't had any luck testing that procedure with scraps, myself.

[Fire88]

I will add my experience with dying using the pro dye, like you I had some issues with streaking and problems with color control with brown, purple, turquoise( all that I've used so far). so I on a hunch used some dye diluter with a little bit of dye and applied multiple coats to get the color/darkness I wanted and evenness of the dye job. 

Takes some experimenting but I've had success with it.

[retiredff]

On 9/4/2017 at 6:14 PM, Dwight said:

If I dye it, . . . I dip it, . . . don't have any questions then about the coverage, . . . go over it then (or before) with a coat of neatsfoot oil, . . . use only Feibings Oil dye.

Basically no problems with my process.

The dip dye process takes more dye, . . . but when you are done, . . . you are done.  Ya don't have to question and don't have to worry about scraping it and the color scraping off.

May God bless,

Dwight

I may try this but what type of containers do you store the dye or do you put it back in the bottle when done? If you leave it in a covered plastic container does it dry out?

Tony

 

[Dwight]

Down thru the years I've accumulated the quart bottles that originally had dye or reducer or something similar.

They are all Feibing's bottles, . . . and after I dye a belt or holster or whatever, . . . I just pour it back in the bottle.

Bottles are labeled and kept on the shelf in a certain order, . . . so it works out well for me.

Hope this helps.

May God bless,

Dwight

[retiredff]

Thanks Dwight.

 

[SmashySkins]

I'm just moving away from Eco Flow to Fiebings. What a difference, my word. I did a test piece of Eco Flow black dye on one side and Fiebings black dye on the other. Eco Flow side is extremely dull, grey and blotchy. The Fiebings goes on completely uniform as a deep, shiny black. I used  one of those cheap sponge brushes with the wooden handles.

 

I wish I'd known in the first place before buying all that Eco FLow stuff. Though I still like the stains and antiques for now. I also worry the chemical stink of the Feibings dye now that it's too cold to have my windows open at night.

 

[retiredff]

The smell bothered me at first but I close the door to the room, put a small fan in the window just before starting to dye. The smell goes away quickly. Sometimes I use a cheap mask for airbrushing/dying/glueing.

[alpha2]

6 hours ago, SmashySkins said:

I'm just moving away from Eco Flow to Fiebings. What a difference, my word. I did a test piece of Eco Flow black dye on one side and Fiebings black dye on the other. Eco Flow side is extremely dull, grey and blotchy. The Fiebings goes on completely uniform as a deep, shiny black. I used  one of those cheap sponge brushes with the wooden handles.

 

I wish I'd known in the first place before buying all that Eco FLow stuff. Though I still like the stains and antiques for now. I also worry the chemical stink of the Feibings dye now that it's too cold to have my windows open at night.

 

If you applied one to the flesh side and the other to the grain side, you have described exactly what one would expect. Take a piece of leather, cut in half, apply the two dyes to the same side of the leather, I think you'll find that they are much closer, if not the same. Same thing if you apply the Fiebings to both sides of one piece. The flesh side will always be more gray and splotchy. Having said all that, I also prefer Fiebings. 

[SmashySkins]

I wasn't referring to the flesh side.

However maybe those water stains are better. I only have the turquoise but it is completely unpredictable. Sometimes it goes on as a horrid brown, other times it looks the colour of a glacier fed lake!

Edited September 29, 2017 by SmashySkins