Dyed leather - awful result

[KarlProsek]

Hello there,

i dyed a couple vegetable leather tanned pieces for making a wallet, with fiebing oil dye (Dark brown) thinned with isopropil alcohol with 1:3 ratio (1 part dye, 3 parts alcohol) and that is the result. I already dyed many times a different leather (also vegetable tanned, but different manufacturer) with consistent result.

usually i use a sponge for dyeing, first the flesh side, second the grain side, all in the same session.

what do you think? It is evident that something is wrong... in the pic attached the two pieces for the wallet. In the small one there is also some “dots”... never saw anything like that.

best regards and thank you

Karl

 

 

[Bob Blea]

Hello. It's possible there was some sort of surface coating or contamination that caused that.  Do you use anything to clean the leather surface before dyeing?

[KarlProsek]

39 minutes ago, Bob Blea said:

Hello. It's possible there was some sort of surface coating or contamination that caused that.  Do you use anything to clean the leather surface before dyeing?

Hi,

well, i did a brief isopropil alcohol dampening with a sponge (only a passage, without strong rubbing) on the grain side before dyeing.

[Dwight]

Couple of problems I see, . . . and not trying to be offensive, . . . but you are trying to be cheap, . . . and cheap usually equates to low quality.

1.  When you dilute the dye, . . . use Feibings reducer, . . . and only go one to one, . . . not one to three.

2.  For small projects like wallets and belts and holsters, . . . find a metal pan and "dip dye" the leather.

Your sponge marks are perfectly legible on both pieces, . . . some had dye, . . . some were dry, . . . and you got streaks for your effort.

3.  On lighter tan and brown especially, . . . always give it a light coat of neatsfoot oil about 24 hours before dying.  Let the leather return to the original color, . . . that tells you it is evenly distributed within the leather, . . . and only put the oil on the hair side of the leather.

I've done it this way for almost 15 years, . . . and the only time I ever had a hiccup on dying was when an acquaintance said he was having really good results using water as a thinning agent.  I won't go into the gory details, . . . enough to say I tossed the project after the dye job, . . . and went back to Feibings reducer.

May God bless,

Dwight

[Professor]

10 hours ago, KarlProsek said:

dyed a couple vegetable leather tanned pieces for making a wallet, with fiebing oil dye (Dark brown) thinned with isopropil alcohol

If you thin a dye with alcohol always be sure its of 90% or higher. Household rubbing alcohol can be as low as 40% and may have lanolin and other ingredients.

I've used thinned dye in several applications to achieve a very even coloring. I've used the same method with wood stain.

As the first application dries watch for dark areas where more of the mixture soaked in. then re apply while those areas are still damp. This way the damp area will take up less of the following applications while the dry areas take up more, evening it out in the long run.

Continue the process till you reach the shade you want.

PS the leather dyes I've used were not oil based.Don't know how well that would work.

I've made my own walnut stain for wood by pouring scalding water over rotting walnuts still in the husk then letting the water dry in the sun in a shallow pan. I then add 90% alcohol , stir and pour into a bottle. I have several black walnut trees and I let the nuts rot in a plastic bag till an oily residue collects in the bag.

[Bob Blea]

I'd have to agree with Dwight.  Those marks are probably from variations in the dye concentration on the sponge.