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.
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.)
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.
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.