Dyes

Practically everything I make is made from full-grain vegetable tanned leather. In it's undyed state, this is usually a creamy-white colour. Undyed leather will gradually darken as it is exposed to light and general handling - this can create a beautiful patina, totally unique to that item.

To produce the coloured leather covers you can see on this chart, I have to apply dye.

All the dyes I use are water-based, which has some advantages and few disadvantages: It does mean that they are quite safe to use and they are just about as eco-friendly as you can get. Some are ready to use full-strength, some need a little watering down before application. All of them can be mixed, but having over two dozen colours available already should be enough choice for most!

Water dyes do not penetrate quite as far into the leather as their chemical and oil-based cousins. The fat content of the leather can also affect the absorption of the pigment, so as every leather hide is slightly different from the one before, it is quite possible that colour saturation and tone may vary from piece to piece.

The colours on the right hand side of the chart with a '*' are tannery dyed leathers, ie they are dyed that colour when I receive them. In general, these leathers will have a more uniform coverage because of their production capabilities.