Dyeing and Finishing Veg-Tan Leather
I have some 1.5mm veg tan that I'm hoping to dye and use for the Zip Wallet. I have a couple questions about the process: - I was planning on cutting the rough pieces, then dyeing, then cutting exactly to the templates. I worry that the dye could shrink/warp the leather, I just want to confirm that this the best order of operations.
- I'm using Fiebings Leather Dye in Yellow, which is an alcohol based dye. The manufacturer recommends using their Resolene product as a finish, but I think the acrylic might have a poorer hand feel than a wax/oil. I tried using Fiebings Atom Wax, but it significantly darkened the colour to more of a brown. I'm thinking of either trying a Carnauba wax, the Resolene acrylic, or just ordering a different pre-coloured leather (like the Alran Sully I'm using for the interior). What would you recommend?
I think the Sully would look great for that, and would definitely be way easier to deal with than having to dye and finish everything else. Buttero comes in a nice yellow though if you decide to go with a pre-colored veg tan and some suppliers also have Buttero Hatch in yellow as well which is kind of like a saffiano print, it's very nice. Plus with the pre-finished leathers you don't have to worry about having to finish them afterwards and potentially still having dye rub off at some point. Although with the yellow you would still have to test different conditioners to see which one darkens it the least amount.