Leather dying tutorial. Picture intensive

Here is a quick tutorial I put together to show how I'm dying my leather. For the most part this formula should work for most people but make the base color in the small formula as shown and test it on your leather with an airbrush and also with a dobber before mixing up the large batch.

The first picture shows all the dyes, solvent, and resolene that I use.

Now, this is exactly what I needed oh... about 2 years ago!

I ended up doing things very similar to you MonCal... my dye mixture for my skirt was different though... I think everybody's is. But that's okay.

Sorry.. .... I know I'm a couple years late. hehe I've always been a late bloomer

I like what I have come up with this time much more than my original method and a few people have asked about dye formulas etc. so here's one way of doing things. Y'all don't have to do it this way... it's just a suggestion or at least a place to start

MonCal, are you not wetting the leather before dying it?

No intent to tell you how to do your job, youre one heck of a craftsman. I was always taught to wet the leather first, helps pull the dye into the leather give it a fuller look.

Again, no intent to be rude, I learned a few tricks for general dying by reading your tutorial and maybe learn something new!

Looks awesome!

Cal, you are a beautiful person!

Which means; Thanks for that tutorial!!!

That's nice .

Thank you Cal.

hey thanks...ill use some of those ideas for the skirt and the holster

I want the pieces to weather quicker. If it were dyed througout it would take 20 years of constant use to get a good weathered look to it. Our first Zam costume was perfect after a year of trooping. It is just a costume which doesn't get used like a pair of cowboy boots or a saddle so it will still last forever

Thank you so much for the tutorial! You have made my life 10X easier with all of this info. I've saved it since I know I probably won't start my Zam until December or January.

Yeah thanks for this Cal. Very decent of you dude. I don't know where you find the time.

My thoughts on wetting the leather is helps the dye to go in plus, and this is quite inmportant too, it makes the leather look used
It wrinkles up the edges and takes the sharpness out of all the pieces. Makes it look used

Also just with the holster in particular (like you said John) wetting it, banging the blaster inside then leaving it to dry makes a lovely wetformed shape that seems to hold a lot nicer than just dry airbrushed leather in my opinion. (not preaching i just think mine came out nice like this it also puts less stress on the glue to hold it as the leather forms more to the shapes)

Absolutely. Whatever you all want to do. These are merely suggestions. As long as you're satisfied with the end result, it doesn't really matter how you get there

After Kathy trooped in her Zam for a while I was very happy with it because everything became worn, was soft... I form the leather around the blaster when I glue the holster so the blaster fits anyway either way and after a while it will certainly form to it even more.

Yeah, actually, wetforming for the holster is the right thing to do in my opinion, just not the skirt - DCB and I did our holster the same way. Wetform, put your blaster in a plastic bag, let it dry out with clamps ( you have to place these really really carefully, or you will get clamp marks) , glue, dob dye, and airbrush. The holster has three or layers where it loops around the cumberbund, (not including the 10 oz strips and the front piece with edging that is glued).

I wanted to add that in the midst of your dyeing madness and/or you find that your gloves have a hole in them (like I did today... ) there is a product called ReDuRan that is excellent for getting the purple off your hands! I bought mine from Dharma Trading Company when I was dyeing fabric for my daughter's costumes. But it works great for leather dye too! (Thank the Force! ) I don't have 1 purple hand now!

wish i saw this last week...it took me 4ever to get the dye off my hands...lol comet, with bleach and an sos pad!

Yeah... been there, done that. This works better! Trust me! I didn't know about it either until I ordered the dye material for the fabric - didn't think about it until I took my glove off today!

Here's the direct link to the product: ReDuRan Hand Cleaner

That is awesome.

Here is my recipe for the vest and veil:



We used the white pig skin for the vest, veil, cummerbund, gloves, and boot tops. Use this mixture for the vest and veil with an airbrush. I also mixed a little bit of brown to just touch some spots of the vest to add some color variations. The suede side of the veil and hood will have to be airbrushed heavily to get down into the suede. I airbrushed it from all angles and then wiped the suede to get it to lay different directions and airbrushed again and then lightly airbrushed with resolene.

For the cummerbund, gloves, and boot tops use the purple base color mentioned for the rest of the costume. With these different types of leather it will give you the right amount of contrast between the parts.

For the shins use the same purple base color mentioned for the rest of the costume and the skirt but airbrush it on heavily where you want dark spots. then take the brown / black mixture I mentioned for the belly and holster and airbrush those dark spots on the shins. Then dab a paper towel in the dye and wipe some of those spots as well. Then add some scuffs and such. Airbrush some resolene to seal it. The armor and gauntlets are the same as the shins.

chiming in on the weathering note... i used to do a lot of leatherwork, and whenever i want something to look aged, i hit the high points with some really fine sandpaper... 400 - 600 grit. and it i want it to look just flat out damaged, i'll use 320.

dye and sand, or dye, coat with supersheen, sand, and dye again (the dye won't soak into the supersheened parts, but will stain the sanded bits... gives a neat look too)

i wouldn't know a good zam from a bad, but figured i'd throw it out there just in case it was of use to someone.

Those are excellent pointers and very much welcomed!!
thanks..

Just an FYI, I went to Tandy Leather this last weekend to pick up some dye to start working on my Zam and the store manager told me that they will no longer be carrying the Pro Dye products any longer.

I guess they are converting to that more "environmentally friendly" line they were pushing last time I was in. The colors were different - and will most definitely color the leather different too! Hopefully they will still carry the Fiebings brand though.

From talking to the manager in the Milwaukee store, they will continue to carry the Fiebings. The manager did tell me not to mix the new brand with the Fiebings though as one is oil based and one is water based.

Thank you for this interesting tutorial.
Im absolute new to Zam and not sure where to start.
So if anyone with Zam exoereience will help me, I would be more than happy

thanks moncal! i know this will be helpful!

They actually have the same dye... it just has a different label now. I've mixed both of them as I had run out of the purple when I made that tutorial and used the new purple that they carry.

I will be trying this dying stuff out in a week or so and want to say thanks for all the info.

So where do you get the dyes and I have a light brown leather vest that I want to dye a royal purple color. Any suggestions? And thanks for this because this is the costume I want to work on for next year.

You can buy leather dye at Tandy Leather online or locally. There are also other online sources for leather dye.

The question is... does your vest have leather finish on it? (is it shiny and smooth?) If it is, you'll need to remove the finish before you can dye the leather again. There is a product to do that (but it is stinky). Then you'll need to dye your vest - normally you'd test leather out to find the right color dye (because it's not the same as paint) - but if it's already made ... you're going to have a harder time - especially since it already has a color to it.

Personally, if this vest is exactly the way you want for a Zam costume (or whatever) I would make a pattern from the vest, buy new leather (white sheepskin) and sew a new vest and dye that leather. You'd have plenty of scrap leather left to find the perfect color you are looking for.

I see that you are in Gilbert... I would also suggest you get in touch with the Dune Sea Garrison. There are plenty of friendly folks there who can help with costume questions too - and may be able to offer some "hands-on" assistance!

The is a great tutorial. Especially for people doing a Zam costume. I found this useful to read to help me on my jango bits. Will look this up when I actually come to do it. Thanks for putting this up!!

You're most likely not going to be able to dye a light brown vest to purple. Leather dye is not like clothing dye where you can bleach it/remove it and re-dye it.

Correct, you can only go darker when dying leather.

Thanks for the info. I'll be sure to check them out

Fiebing's Leather Dye Solvent was recalled due to the packaging. I've tried to look up another leather dye solvent, but having no luck.

Does anyone know of another leather dye solvent to use and can it be used with Fiebing's Leather Dyes?

Ok, was able to find a company that had some left over stock of the solvent. How much leather dye did everyone use? The dyes come in 4 oz and 32 oz. What size do I need to buy?

If I remember correctly I needed only a very small amount of everything except the (Cordova ?) red... which I needed more. But then ... I spilled a bunch on the garage floor so...

If I were to hazard a guesstimate I would get 2 large bottles (or 3 to be safe ) of the solvent and 2 (4 oz.) bottles of the red... maybe 2 of the brown ... you'll only need a small amount for the rest. I know that you can substitute something else for the solvent if you need to... but I can't think of what it is at the moment. I know that my own formula was different than MonCal's (I made mine up before he made this tutorial )

If anyone else has opinions on what Thumper needs for leather dye... please post them!

I think I went through one of each color, and ended up buying a 2nd of brown, but I did end up spilling at bit of it. I had bought the smaller bottles.

Dyes I didn't need much of, but I used a lot of Solvent. Almost through my 3rd bottle. Used about 2 batches for the skirt alone.

BTW 4 days away before the big event were George Takei (sp?) will be narrated Sci-fi music. I will be going over every night to a friends who is Jango72 and who lives about 45 minutes away.

At first I was really nervous about dyeing, but once you start, you can't stop. Its like a drug. I now want to go around the house finding leather to dye.

Anyways. Good luck on the dyeing, test areas not visible first and remember to have fun.

*DF*

Hi, everyone.

First, I'd like to thank MonCal for such a fantastic tutorial. My husband and I enjoy making "his and hers" matched costume pairs, so when he decided to make a Jango costume, I set to work making a Zam to go with it. I practically lived on this forum for a while as I got to know the costume, and I bought the leather dyes suggested in this thread. But our plans changed before I got very far, and I don't think we're going to revisit these costumes. I hate to leave the dye abandoned in my leather supplies tub while it could still be of good use to a Zam costumer... so if anyone would like this stuff, you're welcome to it. I repurposed some of the supplies for other projects, but I'm willing to sell the unopened bottles for 20% less than what I paid for them. I have the purple, red, and navy blue dyes that are recommended in this tutorial, as well as acrylic resoline and some reducer. If anyone is interested, please shoot me a pm. I hate to see this stuff going to waste.

Again... great tutorial. Thank you for posting it. It is of true benefit to the costuming community!

Pam :-)

This stuff will definitally come in handy!!!