Dyeing Vegetable Tanned Leather

Q: I heard it is hard to dye vegetable tanned leather with indigo. Is this true? I would like to try dyeing it with your kit but have no idea how it will turn out.

A: I actually have no experience with this, so have no comment except to say that one of the activating ingredients in my kit is ferrous sulfate, a water soluble form of iron. I’d expect that the tannins used to preserve the hide would react with the iron to form a grey black color if the hide comes in contact with the sediment in the vat.

Additionally, as a general matter, leather is a protein product and does not fare well at elevated pH (becoming brittle and cracking if left to dry in alkaline conditions). So, as a concept, I'd plan to rinse all leather pieces and re-establish a neutral or slightly acidic pH following each immersion into the dye bath so the leather does not dry out and crack from the alkalinity.