Any way to pull dye OUT of leather?

[Toddo]

I got a project going and I decided to use Fiebings Pro Dye/oil dye according to the Weaver Leathercraft dude on YouTube. When I saw that you could make multiple passes with the oil dye without the leather darkening with each pass I says to myself that's the stuff for me. So I used 50/50 light brown and mahogany on the first four pieces of my project and then antiqued with Fiebings antique gel and the pieces turned out beautiful.  Another part of my project includes a wet molded knife sheath that is two parts sewn together. The parts are small so I decided to dip-die them. The Weaver Leathercraft dude said oil dye stays a consistent color no matter what right? So there should be no problem with the dip dye even though I used a sponge just on the top surface of the other four pieces. Mistake. The two knife sheath pieces are significantly darker than the pieces that I sponge wiped with the dye. Is there any way to lighten dye after it's been applied? The only thing I've tried so far is that I soaked the front piece with hot water hoping it would wash some of the dye out. It is now drying out. I'll see in a day or two if that helped. What about soaking the pieces in a 50/50 solution of bleach and water?

I bought a single shoulder for the project and it's coming down to the wire on having just enough leather to complete the project. I really don't have enough leather to remake the knife sheath parts. I really hope there is  way to salvage the parts. My wet molded front piece came out so awesome it looks like it was molded in a factory. I hate to loose that piece!

[Bob Blea]

Unfortunately I don't think there is a good way to do this.  I was always taught that dye is pretty permanent stuff and that it's always possible to make colors darker but not lighter.

So my 2 cents worth, you are left with only a few options.  You could make the rest of your piece darker to match the knife sheath.  Or you could someone make the knife sheath being darker some sort of highlight of your overall design.  A third option would be to use acrylics to mask or cover up the dye job and make the sheath color more like the rest of the project.  The problem with using acrylics is that they are UV resistant and will maintain the same color over time while the veg tan leather of the rest of the project will naturally darken over time.

Sorry I don't have a better suggestion for you.

Bob

[TargetRockLeather]

1 hour ago, Toddo said:

What about soaking the pieces in a 50/50 solution of bleach and water?

I think bleach would ruin the leather and still not get you back to the color you want. As an experiment , I submerged a piece of dip-dyed leather into denatured alcohol (since the dye is alcohol based). It didn't lighten the leather at all, but it did make the leather a blotchy mess. I think that any attempt to remove dye will have similar results.

21 minutes ago, Bob Blea said:

make the knife sheath being darker some sort of highlight of your overall design

Bob's suggestion is the one I would use. No one will ever know that you didn't color it that way on purpose.

I've found that dip-dying works well, but you have to be careful. Any edges/cuts will take the dye deeper than the rest of the piece if you leave it in the dye for more than an instant. That makes the edges darker than the rest of the piece. I think that's why your small pieces came out darker than the rest. Also, if you dip a piece that has the stitch holes punched already, you'll end up with a dark stripe where the holes are. All of those holes will let more dye penetrate deeper. Made that mistake once myself, but I decided to pass it off as an interesting "effect".

[Toddo]

39 minutes ago, TargetRockLeather said:

I think bleach would ruin the leather and still not get you back to the color you want. As an experiment , I submerged a piece of dip-dyed leather into denatured alcohol (since the dye is alcohol based). It didn't lighten the leather at all, but it did make the leather a blotchy mess. I think that any attempt to remove dye will have similar results.

Bob's suggestion is the one I would use. No one will ever know that you didn't color it that way on purpose.

I've found that dip-dying works well, but you have to be careful. Any edges/cuts will take the dye deeper than the rest of the piece if you leave it in the dye for more than an instant. That makes the edges darker than the rest of the piece. I think that's why your small pieces came out darker than the rest. Also, if you dip a piece that has the stitch holes punched already, you'll end up with a dark stripe where the holes are. All of those holes will let more dye penetrate deeper. Made that mistake once myself, but I decided to pass it off as an interesting "effect".

Ahh thanks for the advice yall. I was just looking at 8.5"x11" single cut pieces of veg tan leather on Ebay for like $10 w/free shipping. I could remake the two pieces without much expense and re-do them if I decide I don't wanna use the pieces.

As a matter of  coincidence, I too prepunched holes in the first 4 other pieces I mentioned before I dyed them and noticed darker areas on the edges where the dye soaked deeper into the leather through the holes like you said. But it actually looks pretty cool and could easily be an "on purpose" effect ha. And the pieces were not even dip dyed. Just sponge dyed and dye still soaked in through the punch holes quite a bit.

Here's the piece with the dark edges. This is gonna be a side panel of a black powder trail bag. The dark edges make it look rustic and cool even though it was done by accident. I won't be doing that again. All dying done before holes are punched.

(This is actually a 3 piece construction. Front and back leather with a 1/16" acrylic board sewn in between to keep the sides of the bag rigid. The interior/back side is lined with black felt. A lot of firsts on this project. Never saddled stiched  or done any of this before)

[fredk]

Try washing it down with cellulose thinners

[Hildebrand]

Be aware that the piece of leather you are looking at on eBay may or may not die the same as your existing shoulder.  It's tough to match die on different pieces of leather.

Todd

[TargetRockLeather]

On 5/28/2019 at 6:49 PM, Toddo said:

Here's the piece with the dark edges. This is gonna be a side panel of a black powder trail bag. The dark edges make it look rustic and cool even though it was done by accident. I won't be doing that again. All dying done before holes are punched.

Yep, that's the "effect" I was talking about. This is what mine looks like:

[wizard of tragacanth]

I always used to think that I should strive for uniformity of color... makes it look more "professional" or "store bought".  But, hey, it is hand made!  I now think that the non-uniformity gives the piece more dimension.  

Of course, this would vary depending on the type of project, one may call for uniformity, another, not.

[darkmatter35]

If you plan on doing this for a while try airbrushing the Fiebings oil dye. I've had nice results. 

John 

 

[wizard of tragacanth]

4 hours ago, darkmatter35 said:

If you plan on doing this for a while try airbrushing the Fiebings oil dye. I've had nice results. 

John 

 

Do you thin it first?