dip dye and Fiebing's - real disaster.

[Vladd]

Hi All!
I have a problem with this process and can't understand where I'm wrong.

My steps are:

1) I take a piece of leather and thinned fiebing's orange.

2) I dip the leather in the dye for about 5-6 seconds.

3) Wipe off excess with cotton wool or piece of cloth and leave it flat.

4) Once dry, it makes me cry. The edges are always darker.

I don't know what's wrong with this dye. I have another noname dye for a dollar and the result with it is much better /the last photo/

but I prefer to work with fiebings for now.

Could you help me to solve this?
Thank you!

 

 

[HaloJones]

To my mind, with a light dye the edge will always be darker as the edge is soaking up the dye on 2 faces (front & side) but the middle is only getting dye on the front?

you could try on your dry piece to apply a coat to the centre only?

Edited June 20, 2020 by HaloJones

[buzzardbait]

nothing is wrong with the dye, it is penetrating more deeply on the edges. some colors show that more than others. allow your part more time in the dip so the surface can absorb more dye.  I get better results applying dye with a sheeps wool pad trimmed close and use a lot less dye.

[fredk]

1. wet your leather first. wet enough as if for tooling, but not as wet as for moulding

[jcuk]

Don't do much dying myself but remember both edges have been cut so exposed no top grain finish so they will soak the dye up more.

But could be wrong.

 

Hope this helps

JCUK

 

 

 

[Frodo]

if you dip dye, leave it till the bubbles stop

[mike02130]

spend $10. on a Preval sprayer.  You will be quite surprised and happy.

[Grumpymann]

Used to have this happen all the time, I figured it was cuz it was from the cut end and ended up more often than not making it DARKER to cover for it.  I have been using an airbrush and I haven't  had this problem in a while, though there are other issues but a light bulb will solve that one.

 

Can you give a link to the cheap dye you use?

Edited June 20, 2020 by Grumpymann

[JHLeatherwood]

On 6/20/2020 at 7:11 AM, buzzardbait said:

nothing is wrong with the dye, it is penetrating more deeply on the edges. some colors show that more than others. allow your part more time in the dip so the surface can absorb more dye.  I get better results applying dye with a sheeps wool pad trimmed close and use a lot less dye.

Buzzardbait - can you tell me more about using sheeps wool / lamb's wool for dyeing? I've seen several references to using lambs wool for applying and buffing dyes/finishes, etc, but I can't find any good tutorials about it.

Even the most basic info, like (and don't laugh) should I use the fur side or the flesh side?

Can I re-use the skin/wool as long as I stay with the same color/dye? Or is it a single-use consumable?

How big a piece?

Any prep work before use? You mention trimming, and I've seen that elsewhere - just run my beard trimmer over it, or is there a better way? How short?

Or ... just go back to cheap sponges that soak up so much more dye than they put down on the workpiece. I do mostly little stuff, and I feel like I'm wasting so much dye!

[fredk]

1 hour ago, JHLeatherwood said:

Even the most basic info, like (and don't laugh) should I use the fur side or the flesh side?

Can I re-use the skin/wool as long as I stay with the same color/dye? Or is it a single-use consumable?

How big a piece?

Any prep work before use? You mention trimming, and I've seen that elsewhere - just run my beard trimmer over it, or is there a better way? How short?

Or ... just go back to cheap sponges that soak up so much more dye than they put down on the workpiece. I do mostly little stuff, and I feel like I'm wasting so much dye!

If I may put some answers

1. use the wool side

2. A piece about the size of the palm of your hand or slightly smaller for most work. A piece about two fingers width for doing small areas and edges. Gather it up into a ball with the flesh side inside. Gather it up tight.

3. You can re-use it with the same colour within 24 hours or less. I find that  when the dye fully dries the wool goes hard and is of no further use ~ I've never tried to wash the dye out ~ I just treat the wool pad as disposable

4. the only 'prep' I've done is to run my fingers through the wool to get off any loose hairs and debris. The wool should be about 1/2 inch long. Most comes this length anyways

[JHLeatherwood]

7 minutes ago, fredk said:

If I may put some answers

1. use the wool side

2. A piece about the size of the palm of your hand or slightly smaller for most work. A piece about two fingers width for doing small areas and edges. Gather it up into a ball with the flesh side inside. Gather it up tight.

3. You can re-use it with the same colour within 24 hours or less. I find that  when the dye fully dries the wool goes hard and is of no further use ~ I've never tried to wash the dye out ~ I just treat the wool pad as disposable

4. the only 'prep' I've done is to run my fingers through the wool to get off any loose hairs and debris. The wool should be about 1/2 inch long. Most comes this length anyways

Thanks!

 

[buzzardbait]

2 hours ago, fredk said:

If I may put some answers

1. use the wool side

2. A piece about the size of the palm of your hand or slightly smaller for most work. A piece about two fingers width for doing small areas and edges. Gather it up into a ball with the flesh side inside. Gather it up tight.

3. You can re-use it with the same colour within 24 hours or less. I find that  when the dye fully dries the wool goes hard and is of no further use ~ I've never tried to wash the dye out ~ I just treat the wool pad as disposable

4. the only 'prep' I've done is to run my fingers through the wool to get off any loose hairs and debris. The wool should be about 1/2 inch long. Most comes this length anyways

The only thing I do different is to wring the dye out of the wool when I am done and I do reuse the wool.