Restaining Leather for Decorating

Staining Leather

• Staining leather is fairly easy to do, especially if the leather is a light color. Most cleaning oils, such as neatsfoot oil, are leather-safe but do have a tendency to make the leather darken with cleaning. If you want to make your leather slightly darker, you can clean it with an oil-based leather cleaner or neatsfoot oil. This will stain the color naturally and make it slightly darker without harming the leather.

Dyeing Leather

• The leather you purchase in the store has already been dyed as a part of the tanning and curing process. However, you can strip the dye from leather as well as put more dye over the existing dye in order to change the color of the leather or conceal stains and repair damage. Dyeing leather is by no means a fool-proof process, so you should be prepared to spend some time experimenting with different dyes and colors prior to embarking on any major projects.

Leather Dyes

• Leather dyes are available in an assortment of different shades and colors. They are available for purchase both in stores--normally in the shoe or craft department--as well as online. Different types of dyes work better on different types of leather, so if you have a piece of exotic leather, such as ostrich, you need to look for a dye product that is specifically recommended for use on that type of leather. The tanning process and chemicals that were used will also affect how your leather dyeing project turns out, as some leather items are treated with stain-proofing chemicals that can make them difficult to re-dye.

How to Do It

• If you are going to attempt to change the color significantly, you will need to strip the existing dye off of the leather and then apply the new dye to it as directed by the product instructions. In order to make sure the dye will take and has the look you are going for, you should test it on a small, easily-hidden part of the leather item to check that you will get the desired results. If you like what you see, continue and dye the entire item. If you are only dyeing a small section of an item or changing the color slightly, you may be able to get by with simply applying the dye to the area you want to cover.