Marble Leather - How to Dip Dye Veg Tanned Leather

This was my first experiment with hydrodipping or dip dying leather, and it came out pretty cool!

I learned a couple of things from the process, if you add those pointers to your first test you will probably do even better.

This was not my idea, youtube video link below to the original process.

Thicken up the water

This step is supposed to make the liquid thicker, the assumption is that the leather dye will get more time on the leather - I think.

In reality the starch and water should been boiled to create a thin jelly, I missed that and just mixed in way to much Tapoica starch / arrowroot flour in the water and stirred a bit.

Drip in dye

Leather dye is then added, here using Fiebing's Pro Dye in first Red and then Chocolate.  It would probably been smarter to use a dripper or really small bottle rather than just pouring a bit off the actual bottle here.

Watch the video at the end, his result was better than mine and I reckon this step was the main reason. Where he carefully drips in single drops of dye to create  more marbled effect overall.

 Moisten the leather

I sprayed the front of the leather with some water before dipping the whole piece in. My thinking was that this way the leather dye would not run as much, dying the leather where it touches first. 

I then placed the leather face down on the surface and after a few seconds, pressed the leather under the surface before removing it again.

 Rinse well - do not rub!

The leather should already have a marbled or splotched effect. Rinse the leather well under running water but do not rub, this will smear the darker colour(s).

Fold over and let dry

Because this is going to be a knife sheath, I folded it over almost closed while wet and hung it to dry. The leather getting wet will make it stiffer so might as well stiffen close to final shape. 

Fixer upper

In my case I was not 100% happy with the result and added some more red as well as black blotches using a rough sponge to add to the effect. I think next time I will boil the starch/water mix and dribble the dye in drop by drop. Maybe also leave the leather to soak on the surface longer before submerging it. The marbling was not quite what I was after. It ended up looking cool but I think it can be better than this.

 Giving the leather some life back

After the leather sheath was finished the leather was smothered in Carnauba Creme, letting this soak in and wiping off the excess. Give it a couple of hours and repeat for a total of 3 coats. Neetsfoot oil would also be good to add but it darkens the leather a lot more than carnauba wax so I often prefer the CW. Finally the sheath was sealed with Fiebing's Resolene for some moisture protection.

 Youtube video

The video I watched for inspiration is from RogueApparatus, his marbling ended up way cooler than mine so will try to replicate better next time how he does it.

Check out the video here:

Thank you for reading along, send us some photos in case you try it out!

Bjorn