Dyeing leather gloves
2019-Oct-18, Friday 12:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chebeThe gloves were an adventure. I eventually found a promising pair of gloves roughly the right style, and in a pale enough shade that they might take a colour. These also didn't mention any waterproofing coatings, so I gave them a try.
But, the gloves are leather, which I've never worked with before. A quick web search led me to believe that if they absorbed water they could be dyed. The specific dye I ordered was on back order, so I chanced throwing them in with the jeans I was dyeing. Good news; they took the dye really well, achieving a much deeper purple than the jeans. Bad news; they shrank, and when they dried they went rock solid.
I soaked the hardened gloves in water and lots of moisturising soap. Once they loosened up a bit I started oiling them with a rich body oil. Inside and out. I repeated this daily. And the gloves still kept mostly drying out, but were at least usable for short periods.
Next time I'd like to figure out how to dye leather gloves without them shrinking and drying out. And also, should add the pink patches on the back of the gloves.
Original gloves
Photo by chebe
But, the gloves are leather, which I've never worked with before. A quick web search led me to believe that if they absorbed water they could be dyed. The specific dye I ordered was on back order, so I chanced throwing them in with the jeans I was dyeing. Good news; they took the dye really well, achieving a much deeper purple than the jeans. Bad news; they shrank, and when they dried they went rock solid.
I soaked the hardened gloves in water and lots of moisturising soap. Once they loosened up a bit I started oiling them with a rich body oil. Inside and out. I repeated this daily. And the gloves still kept mostly drying out, but were at least usable for short periods.
Next time I'd like to figure out how to dye leather gloves without them shrinking and drying out. And also, should add the pink patches on the back of the gloves.
Dyed gloves
Photo by chebe
no subject
Date: 2019-10-20 08:02 am (UTC)Probably wouldn't have worked for purple, but only because I've never seen purple shoe polish (nor do I suspect there's suitable polish-colours out of the cyan/magenta/yellow palette to blend it).