Retaining Veg-Tan Color

[DV8DUG]

I am making a harness/blouse and I have a 1/4" strip of leather between two grooves as a border on the pieces. I wish to retain the pale look of the veg tan on this strip and dye the rest to a dark brown. What is the best way of doing this. If I need to post a picture or two to clarify please just ask.

[DV8DUG]

Here's the two grooves on either side of the raw veg tan strip...

[Rockoboy]

I am hoping "those who know more" will be along soon, because I am also interested in this idea.

What about using your finish topcoat (whichever finish you prefer) over the top of the whole item after dye has been applied?

[billybopp]

This relatively straightforward.  Once you've got the grooves that demarcate the lighter colored lines, you use a relatively good quality smallish artist brush that is lightly loaded with dye and paint the border areas.  If there is too much dye on the brush it can bleed through the leather to areas where you do not want it.  There's a recent video by Serge Volken that covers background dying and brushes - what you're looking to do is similar.  Al Stohlman suggests loading your brush and then dying a bit away from the border to use up some of the dye and then going for the edges after some dye is depleted.

-Bill

[DV8DUG]

Yeah Billybopp I got that part. What I was asking was how to preserve that pale pink of the veg-tan that is undyed or painted in an effort to keep the pinkish veg-tan color.

[Rockoboy]

12 hours ago, DV8DUG said:

I was asking was how to preserve that pale pink of the veg-tan

I think people are looking at this post from two different sides. Some people are considering how to dye a section, but leave an adjoining section undyed. That's where the suggestion comes from, to use a small paint brush, depleted of some dye etc from billybop, which sounds like a good idea IMHO. On the other hand, I believe the OP is looking for suggestions on how to maintain the lighter and/or pinkish colour of undyed vegtan. Whether or not an adjoining section is dyed or undyed is immaterial. 

[ABHandmade]

I for such purposes use a fine art brush to apply finish on the plots that should not be painted. After complete drying of the finish with the same fine art brush, I pass dye along the contact line. The amount of dye on the brush should be kept to a minimum so that it does not move into the thickness of the area covered by the finish.

[Tugadude]

Part of the problem longterm is preventing the veg tan areas from darkening in sunlight.  I made a sleeve for my Yeti cup and couldn't believe how much and how quickly it changed.

You say you want to preserve the "pinkish" color.  IMHO it probably won't be possible for long.  Some finishes claim UV resistance but I'm skeptical.

[billybopp]

I wonder if anybody has ever tried SPF100 on leather?

-Bill

[ABHandmade]

20 minutes ago, Tugadude said:

Part of the problem longterm is preventing the veg tan areas from darkening in sunlight.  I made a sleeve for my Yeti cup and couldn't believe how much and how quickly it changed.

If this does not make it difficult for you, can I ask you to post a photo with a changed by UV leather?

[Tugadude]

No problem.  BTW, the darkening is not, I can assure you from dirt or handling.  You can experiment for yourself by putting a scrap of veg tan on your windowsill or other direct sunlight.  Mine sat on a counter by the kitchen window and changed pretty quickly.

This is the remnant from the same belly the finished piece was cut from.  Looks more different in person.  Personally I prefer the suntanned look.

[ABHandmade]

Thank you! The reason for my request - I just had not yet been able to see the effect of UV on the leather.
I will definitely do the proposed experiment - with the finish and without. I'm very interested in how much the finish affects the process.