Finished Bag

[SpottedBull]

When I dye it I wet the leather and use a wool dobber to apply the dye, wiping off any excess with a paper towel. Somehow it just ends up looking like that. But I ain't complaining.

The look of the way you stained it reminds me of another technique taught me in the mid 70's, by a Leather Worker who ran a Tandy Store. He took a small 1 1/2"x1 1/2"x 3" block of wood and wrapped a strip of cheesecloth around the center maybe 6 or 8 times. He put one edge against the leather dye bottle and just got dye on one side. He lightly and quickly rubbed that on the leather to dye it. When he needed more dye, he just got more dye on the spot that had the dye on it. I was surprised he got an even coat on even some larger pieces of leather.

Having written this, I tried it a few times and could never duplicate the technique, so I eventually gave up on it. I mention this in case others have read or heard of it.

Gus

I've done something similar with just using one corner of a large sponge and keeping the other end for rubbing in and removing excess. It didn't get me the desired affect.

To be honest, dyeing the bag for me is always the part that causes the most stress. Ive spent all that time cutting and poking holes and sewing it up and it looks great. But I can easily change a screw up at this point. If you screw up the dye job, you're done.

Trust me its happened...

 

[MSW]

looks great!