Middle Earth Ranger Forum

I am curious about something. Is there a trick to dyeing leather? Each time I have tried to dye leather brown, it comes out with a reddish tint to it, and I am not sure why.

What kind of dye are you using? Are you getting the leather wet first? What kind of leather is it?

It's the little things when dyeing leather. You want your leather to be a little moist and warm. If it's warm the dye will seep into the pores better. It also makes a difference if you're using alcohol or oil based dye. Of course you don't want to wet the leather too much if oil based, as it won't take as well.

I am using Eco-Flo, a water based dye that Tandy Leather sells, on veg tanned leather sides. Maybe a different brand would be best?

What color Eco-Flo? Eco-Flo can be a bit difficult to work with. Make sure your leather is clean and damp when you apply it. That seems to work best. And don't forget to seal it with something after it dries or your clothes will likely have added color the next time you sweat heavily or get caught in the rain. I personally prefer Fiebing's (also from Tandy).

Timber brown is the color I have tried to use, which doesn't show up to be anything like the samples they show in the store. For example, the quivers I recently made with them.
Not that they look horrible - in fact the first one I made, the larger one, one of my friends liked so much that he bought it off me - but I was going for an actual brown. I'm wondering if I get a darker brown, maybe from the brand you recommended, and redo it, if the red tint would show through.

Those are nice looking quivers!

As for the dye, part of the issue may be the leather itself. I've used Eco Flo a lot, and I've discovered that when the leather has ruddy undertones already, the final product has a reddish hue. However, when the leather is very... I dunno, grey, I suppose, the final product looks closer to a true brown. Personally I tend to use their medium brown antique gel, and I've had excellent luck with it. My own quiver was made using that dye, and I love the color it produced. You can see pics of that one here:

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e173/ ... CN2355.jpg

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e173/ ... CN2342.jpg

Love the color of that! Looks like I'll be making a trip to Tandy Monday.

Yeah- what they've said. Eco-flow is just too finicky for me. I like both the antique stains (for tooled stuff, especially) and Feibings Oil dye. Most Tandy leathers have a color board to look at, too.

And as stated before- slightly moist and warm-ish is wayyy better for an even color!

Manveruon, do you have a pattern for that quiver anywhere?? it's absolutely goorrrggggeeoouuusss.

I'm afraid I don't know much about dyeing leather either. I can't really get dye specifically for the purpose here, so is there anyway to make leather dye?

Dirhael wrote: I can't really get dye specifically for the purpose here, so is there anyway to make leather dye?

Try liquid shoe polish, it works almost as well.

Thanks Dirhael! I unfortunately do not have a pattern - the project was kind of a one-off for me. But I might be able to make one for something like it someday.

No problem. I shall closely study the picture, and attempt a similar design

Thanks for the info Pete!

Thanks for the info everyone - and Manveruon - I love the quiver.
But I do have another question. Is there something I can add to the leather to keep it from losing its shape if it gets wet in rain?

I treat my leather with Sno-seal and it works pretty well. There are several different leather waterproofing products out there. Depending on what you're making you can also wax harden it. That makes it very water resistant, and in general helps it keep its shape. Here's a good article on leather hardening http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/ ... t_Armr.pdf

Brian