Can anyone recommend a good, inexpensive leather dye?

I got a whole hide for free a while back. It's completely undyed, meaning it looks corpsey white. It's not even a shade of brown.

If I wanted to dye it before cutting and sewing it, what dye should I use? I'm thinking about dying it red, if that matters.

Thanks in advance,

Matt

 

<font color="green">Kool Aid always works on the carpet. </font>

 

[ QUOTE ]
Kool Aid always works on the carpet. </font>

[/ QUOTE ]

I know. I already tested a small sample with both Cherry Hi-C and Red Hawaiian Punch. I just can't get the color to come out even when it dries.

Perhaps Mrs. Rash has a red box-of-wine that might work better.

<font color="green"> (Just kidding, Rashy.) </font>

 

Box-of-wine?

We can't afford that stuff.


Whatever you find, I'm thinking you will probably need to soak it so it comes out more even?

I don't know, just talking out my ass.

If you do use Kool Aid, I would leave out the sugar!

 

<font color="green">There is a leather place here in town.

I can try to call them on Monday if you don't get anywhere. </font>

 

I just redyed an entire Cadillac Eldorado interior and it turned out great (the wife said so!). The company that I got my material from is called Leatherique and is recommended by almost every major car club and automobile restorer. The dye itself is about $90 a quart, that's more than enough to do a whole car interior. If the leather is new then all you will need to do is wipe it down with lacquer thinner to remove the old dye, this is necessary other wise you'll end up with a hide that is stiff and not plyable. Then you spray the dye onto the hide in a couple of light coats. It covers very well. You can wet sand it afterwards to get the smoothness you want. Some leathers have alot of grain so this is a good way to smooth the finish out.
You can send Leatherique a sample swatch of any color material and they will match the dye perfectly. Let me know if you need more info, I think I have some directions and tips on my hard drive...

Here's a photo of the Eldo interior...

 

What kind of leather is it??? is it like upholstry type leather, or thicker stuff? What kind of animal did it come from? all of this stuff will affect how it should be dyed.

 

We've done a ton of Lecarra wheels in the past. We use PPG vinyl/ leather dye. You have to use a leather conditioner first. Ask your PPG guy about it. Had great results and never a problem....just make sure you only put enough product on to get the color you want cause you may have a cracking problem later....Stitch

 

Try a small piece in regular old Ritz dye!! Its cheap, works great &amp; you can mix afew colors to get the color you want.Make sure you wet the leather first before you soak it &amp; let it dry between coats.
JimV

 

Seriously. What kind of leather is it? I do custom leather working (punk rock/bondage gear)and make shit pretty much any color under the rainbow. I normally use Feibings dye.

 

Thanks HRTH.

Well, it's got to be a cow hide. And it looks like regular leather: one side has a regular skin-like texture, and the other side has that suede-looking finish where it was seperated from the cow.

Where do you get Feibings dye?

 

Thanks also to Charlie.

I saw the leatherique on another message board. It sounds great for already done interiors, but at $90 a quart, that's not for me. I'd rather try to trade this hide for one of the cheaper ones from Bill Hirsch.

In fact, if I go that route, does anyone know anything about Hirsh's DL Supersoft leather?

Thanks, guys,

--Matt

 

I would go through Tandy Leather for retail (tandyleather.com). If you want a uniform color depth you will need to spray the dye on. It's really thin, would spray through a regular ol spraygun alright (I use an airbrush, but I'm doing a lot smaller pieces). I suppose you could soak the leather in the dye as well ( a process called "Drum dying"), but I've never tried that with anything other than black, so I don't know how the color will turn out. They have "spirit based" (alcohol) and "professional oil based" dye (they also have "institutional" dye, which is water based, avoid that shit like the plague!). For an interior I think I would probably go with the oil dye, it conditions the leather as it dyes, and seems to get a little better penetration. The red oil dye seems a little "orangy" with only one coat, so it might take a few coats to get the color depth you want.
Hope that helps!

 

Perfect, Hot Rod To Hell. That's the kind of information I was looking for. Thanks.

 

I saw that you are thinking of buying leather from Bill Hirsh or some such place. Before you do that, check eBay as there are quite a few people that sell hides for a lot less money than Hirsh. I bought six full hides, kinda beige in color, for about $70.00 per hide. That works out to approximately $1.25 per square foot. And that's a lot less than Hirsh's price for sure!

 

No problem Deuce. Just holler if you have any more ???'s!

 

>Where do you get Feibings dye?

At an old-fashioned shoe repair shop. I don't know where in Pgh you live, but last time I bought Feibing's leather dye was at the shoe repair shop in Highland Park on Butler ST. right past the 62nd St. Bridge.

Cheers,
Blair