white specks on weaver dyed veg tan leather!

[Hankhill11]

Hi all. I recently got a little ways into leather working as a side hobby. After stitching a few pouches together I decided to jump into some veg tan stuff. I picked up an Imported Single Shoulder Natural, 4 to 5 oz, from Weaver. The over all piece was decent, only a couple blemishes. I decided for xmas I would made the weaver leather hanging wine rack as a gift. Marked and cut the patterns, got ready to go.

Fast Forward to the other day when I was dying. I used Feibings pro dye - Mahogany, with a sponge. After passing over the first time, I noticed little white speckles appear. I passed a second time and the speckles reappeared. Almost like trying to paint plastic with non-plastic compatible paint if you've ever tried that.  I decided to post this from work, so I dont have pictures, but has anyone experienced this? I can try to get some pics after work.

[fredk]

Did you prep your leather before dyeing? It sounds like specks of contamination like greasy dirt preventing the leather from accepting the dye. A wipe over with Fiebings Dye Prep, IPA, Methylated spirits or sometimes I use cellulose thinners to remove anything which might be unseen on the leather surface 

[Hankhill11]

No, I did no prep. The main reason I didn't prep was because I had nothing to prep with. A while back when I was making my first belt, I tested alcohol, as I've read on the forum, but that turned the leather pretty hard and looked like it was streaky. 

I should probably invest in proper prep method. 

[Hankhill11]

Well just to follow up, I was pretty bummed when I had this issue during the dying phase. I thought the project was ruined as a gift. The good news is, after buffing any excess pigment away, and using a nice dose of Leather Balm, the specks are not nearly as visible. It does look good enough that i'll still be gifting this project. thank you for your suggestion either way.