Sealing Flesh Side of Leather after Dyeing with Angelus

[BillCody]

I dip dyed veg tanned leather with Angelus leather dye, and the results are beautiful. I have "sealed" the front with atom wax, and that has actually stopped any ruboff from the front. I am trying to figure out the best seal for the back (flesh side) to prevent dye ruboff. I have atom wax, resolene, and leather sheen at hand. These are going to be for holding restaurant checks, so people will be handling these pieces a lot, but I don't have to worry about constant rubbing, like from a belt.

Any tips on how to seal that flesh side?

[SaintJoy18]

I'm still really new to this as a hobbyist so hopefully one of the other more knowledgeable members will chime in and correct me if this is wrong.

Have you considered smoothing the flesh side with a glass slicker and then applying the sealant? I don't know if the leather would need to be slicked THEN dyed, or dyed first then slicked but it might give you the smoothed out texture you wanted.

[Dwight]

You cannot go wrong with Resolene, . . . mix 50/50 with water, . . . brush it on with a cheap bristle hair brush, . . . swirl it around on there until you get a little "lather" of bubbles, . . . brush it back and forth, . . . up and down, . . . all sorts of angles until the bubbles disappear.

Repeat.

Let it dry, . . . use it.

I use Resolene exclusively for wallets, holsters, belts, cell phone cases, . . . etc.  Funny part is the only time I've ever had dye rub off, . . . it was a small shoulder holster rig I was testing out, . . . had to go to a party, . . . didn't want to go disarmed, . . . threw it on.  Got home and took off my shirt, . . . (holster was between shirt and tee shirt), . . . stinking black dye was all over my tee shirt.  Got to checking it out, . . . forgot to coat it with resolene.  

Coated it, . . . never had any more problems.

Tossed the holster as I figured out the design was flawed.

May God bless,

Dwight

[BillCody]

On 12/7/2019 at 8:00 AM, Dwight said:

You cannot go wrong with Resolene, . . . mix 50/50 with water, . . . brush it on with a cheap bristle hair brush, . . . swirl it around on there until you get a little "lather" of bubbles, . . . brush it back and forth, . . . up and down, . . . all sorts of angles until the bubbles disappear.

Repeat.

Let it dry, . . . use it.

I use Resolene exclusively for wallets, holsters, belts, cell phone cases, . . . etc.  Funny part is the only time I've ever had dye rub off, . . . it was a small shoulder holster rig I was testing out, . . . had to go to a party, . . . didn't want to go disarmed, . . . threw it on.  Got home and took off my shirt, . . . (holster was between shirt and tee shirt), . . . stinking black dye was all over my tee shirt.  Got to checking it out, . . . forgot to coat it with resolene.  

Coated it, . . . never had any more problems.

Tossed the holster as I figured out the design was flawed.

May God bless,

Dwight

Thank you! I end up doing as you outlined above, and it worked great! It did stiffen the pieces a fair bit, but I am happy with the result.

[Stetson912]

Dwight's advice is good advice I'd listen to it. He is a very knowledgable member of this forum. I also use resolene almost exclusively ( I like mop n glo too) and have sealed the interior of holsters with it. 

I've also heard of but not tried saintjoy's method. I've heard of this method being used with tan kote.

My advice is to try both methods and see which you like best. Test on scrap first... I'd hate for you to mess up a project (been there!) 

[durtyAnis]

What did you use to clean it prior to dying? I’m doing a watch strap right now and the customer changed his mind halfway through