Boot dyeing

[gman8176]

As part of mine and my wife's christmas present to each other, we got some new shoes for our SCA personas. We ended up getting some shoes from Boots by Bohemond. We got the off the peg shoes, the Baltic II boot and the Jorvik shoe. We like the shoes but was thinking about trying to dye them so they have a little bit of a personal touch. I was wondering if anyone has tried to dye Sir Bohemond's off the peg shoes and what you used and how did they turn out.

Thanks.

[Konstantin the Red]

You'll want to know if any sealers were used, down to and including a coat or two of neutral shoe polish. These materials get in the way of dyes.

[James B.]

Most of Bohemond's shoes seem to be made with chrome tanned leather; not sure they will take another color over the current color.

[losthelm]

Check with the local bridal shops, they often dye to match wedding colors or brides maid dresses.
I know my favorite leather shop stocks esquire and nu-life dyes for this kind of thing.
Steffanleather.com I would ask Linda about durability of the dye job for this application.

[Jon]

As James said, they are chrome tanned. If they are a light color, you can darken them with mink oil. And most leather will accept black. You'll need to strip them first. Just use rubbing alcohol to take off any sealing finish and polish. Let them dry and use a modern black dye. Seal with modern black or neutral polish. They will likely fade a bit on your feet/chauses/hose. I don't know how historical black dyes (vinegar and steel wool concoctions) will work on chrome tanned. My guess is that it wouldn't.

Jon

[Kilkenny]

As James said, they are chrome tanned. If they are a light color, you can darken them with mink oil. And most leather will accept black. You'll need to strip them first. Just use rubbing alcohol to take off any sealing finish and polish. Let them dry and use a modern black dye. Seal with modern black or neutral polish. They will likely fade a bit on your feet/chauses/hose. I don't know how historical black dyes (vinegar and steel wool concoctions) will work on chrome tanned. My guess is that it wouldn't.

Jon

The iron oxide reacts with the tannins in the leather, so where tannins are not present, no reaction and no color change.

[James B.]

I don't know how historical black dyes (vinegar and steel wool concoctions) will work on chrome tanned. My guess is that it wouldn't.

Jon

The iron oxide reacts with the tannins in the leather, so where tannins are not present, no reaction and no color change.

I know this for a fact, I got leather that had both chrome and vegetable tanning done to it and the chrome finish made it impossible to dye with iron oxide

[Jon]

That's just some confused leather - doesn't know what it wants to be
Jon

[James B.]

Sometimes you get a chrome over veggie dyeing, looks like veggie but acts like chrome. In this case it was a reduced calf hide from Seigel's before they shut down. Cannot complain about the quality of the leather or the price

[Kel Rekuta]

That's just some confused leather - doesn't know what it wants to be
Jon

What the tanner wanted it to be - done faster but still look like vegetable tanned.