I’m thinking about turning a camel brown jacket into black. Is this possible on a finished leather jacket or will it just end up a blotchy mess. Like will the stitches,lining , leather all become different shades of black and just look horrible. Jacket in question is a vintage 70s Schott long coat.
I voted Epic Fail because that's what it would be if I did it. I know that @handymike did an excellent job on his Chinese knockoff, judging from pics. I am still not sure if these dyes wouldn't run in the rain, though.
I tried this with a Carmel Bates and turned it purple. The key is adding lots of brown to the black. There’s a ton of purple in that Tandy black dye. I voted epic fail because I did epically fail.
I dyed some cheap truckers and it worked out fine. https://www.thefedoralounge.com/thr...cket-fad-of-the-70s.92352/page-4#post-2348096
I dyed a JL from medium brown to a darker brown, and it turned out a nice rich dark brown. But I think your situation is different. Different finishes on hides take dye differently. I voted epic fail.
I am a leather worker (tango_alpha_leather_goods on Instagram) and I would advise against attempting to red-eye it. Unless you are particularly careful, you will probably run into problems with the dye bleeding over into the lining. If you do attempt it, I would recommend using only one very specific dye and that is Fiebing's Pro Dye. I would use foam brushes to apply the dye....carefully.
Reminds me of trying to paint a car. Probably all depends on the prep. Bad prep...bad paint. Just a thought. B
Be careful when dyeing something black! @ton312 has a great point about the purple. Have you ever tried to dye anything with straight black RIT dye? You need to mix in brown to warm it up. I tend to stick in similar color families when re-dying a jacket. I have not had any issues with bleed once the jacket is dry and sealed. A little does come off in the first rub down, but after a few days you should be good if you use a quality dye.
Oh boy this sounds like an interesting read! Hope to read a how to thread from you! What brand is a good quality btw?
Here is another one I did. https://www.thefedoralounge.com/thr...levis-lee-type-whatever-jackets.91747/page-20
Jacket just arrived and I'm cleaning it up / conditioning first before I make a decision. I was actually expecting the poll to be closer to 50/50 and just a simple stick it in plastic bin with black liquid dye. Will post up a couple fit pics for feedback. My closet is probably 80% black jackets so maybe having a unique brown one isn't a bad idea.
I am always curious as to how the redye ages and wears. Does it rub off easily, revealing the original color? Almost like a teacore?
My dye job is permanent. After a few days, and after it was completely dry, I wiped it down with a damp cloth to get any excess dye off the leather. After a few wipes, nothing more came off. Four or five years later, no more dye has come off.
depend on the finish of the leather, you have to strip its "varnish" off first, like @jonesy86 did, with alcohol, or acetone, or lighter fluid, then perhaps wash it with detergent to get rid of wax and oil buildup and then probably you have better result in darkening color in the same tone, not something drastic like tan to black, unless you use opaque paint/ pigment and spray it with airbrush. tldr, epic fail
