Interest check! Intro to leather dyeing! (12/16)

Hiya everybody! I was considering making up another intro class for everyone who wanted to know more about leatherworking. Dyeing is the one I’ve heard the most interest in, so that’s what I was thinking of doing. I’d go over the pros and cons of the dyes we have in the cabinet, probably as well as a few others, how to set up a workspace, what leathers are best for dyeing, how to apply an even coat, and how to protect the dye job. Of course it would be hands-on, maybe with a keychain or notebook cover?

A few other class ideas would be Intro to Tooling, which I’ve already tried and did not have many people sign up for, leather earrings, which we could probably make a few different types during an hour-long class, braided bracelets, and so forth.

Just let me know!
Francesca

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Something you could add to your “dyeing toolkit”: recently my wife and I tried ebonizing a bit of vegetable tanned leather. It worked well. We did first cover the leather in black tea but I doubt that made much difference.

(Ebonizing does not work particularly well with Baltic birch which was the actual goal.)

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I’m interested.
I was interested in the leather tooling too, just fell when I couldn’t come

In leatherworking, “ebonizing” uses “vinegaroon”. I’ve used it for horse tack, but usually also overdye it with Fiebring’s.

Vinegaroon can be made from vinegar and rusty iron. I use plain steel wool, soaked in water and allowed to rust, then added to a bottle of vinegar. Makes a bit of a mess when converting (foams up a rusty foam), so best done either outside or in a larger plastic bin to catch the rust. This will stain metal and ceramic sinks. You have been warned.

The Iron acetate in the vinegaroon/ebonizing reacts with the tannins in the leather (lots available in veg-tanned leather) or wood (varies greatly by species). If you want to ebonize low-tannin woods, you can wash the wood with a tannin source first, then let dry before adding the ebonizing solution. A good strong cup of black tea is a good source of tannin.

I’d be interested in a dying leather class, especially one which teaches techniques for applying shades of color which varies across the piece rather than a solid color.

Antiquing, shaded corners, that sort of thing.

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Alrighty, I’ll get started on leather dyeing, keeping in mind antiquing and varying shades. I will not be going over ebonizing, as I tend to go with straight dye for that, but I’ll teach a few different methods.

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Tadaa! Dying class!
https://calendar.dallasmakerspace.org/events/view/4627

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I’m signed up.

FWIW, I can bring some vinegaroon if you’d like to show ebonizing.

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There are three new bottles of antique gel in the teacher cabinet for you.

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Thank you for the antique gel!

Again, I will not be going over ebonizing