Leather dye question.

[James MacMillan]

Leather dye question.

I am in the process of making three sporrans. One will be a dress sporran with skunk skin. Two will be day sporrans one brown, one black. For the day sporrans I am using a nice piece of lamb skin that was commercially dyed brown.

Here is my problem. For the black sporran, I spent last night dying it black with black shoe dye. I let it dry then buffed it with old towel pieces. Then I applied a clear, neutral shoe polish. It looks great!! But every time I rub it with pressure, I still get black coming off.

What am I doing wrong? I do not want the black coming off on my kilts!

Do I need to just spend more time rubbing it? More time to let it dry? Another type of polish? Help and advice appreciated !

What can I do to seal the color into the leather and not have it come off on my kilt?

[Panache]

Black shoe polish isn't going to be enough. You need to use actual leather dye.

Most shoe repair shops sell it for about $7 a bottle.

Good luck on your project!

Cheers

Jamie

[James MacMillan]

I used commercial grade leather dye! Not black shoe polish!

[Panache]

I must have misread your post. My apologies. How long did you let the dye dry before putting the clear polish on it? I found that the first piece I dyed had had quite a bit of color rubbing off it when I polished it the next day. The second piece I dyed twice in the course of an hour and then left alone for several days before messing with it further. There was much less black to rub off.

Cheers

Jamie

[McMurdo]

I have not made a sporran, but with the belts that I have made I have used Fiebing's Leather Dye followed by Fiebing's Leather Sheen to seal the belt once I am done. I have had no problem with the dye rubbing off, I get my supplies from Tandy Leather

[James MacMillan]

I had to run out to the garage to check. The dye that I used is Kiwi. Same with the polish.

I think I'll let it dry for a few days and then hit it with a car buffing machine thingy that I have. I have to do something, as I don't want to ruin a kilt.

Maybe the real thing is lots and lots of elbow grease.

[escherblacksmith]

you should use a sealant afterwards, before I found out about it, I had a baldric that left light black smudges for sometime until I sealed it.

[PiobBear]

I use Fiebing's "USMC Black" dye, followed by Fiebing's "Tan Kote" finish. I've never had a problem with smudging, and I wear white uniform shirts.

[A Hay]

Tandy's has several sealers. You might try Super Sheen or Resolene. Both are acrylics.
A couple of coats with a day to dry between might help the problem.

I agree with the others who have said don't use shoe polish, use leather dye.

Good luck! How about pics of your work?

Tom