News

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A LEATHER DYE AND LEATHER PAINT?

There’s a big difference between a dye and paint (also known as leather pigment)

Leather Dye

• Is translucent in colour
• Does not have any adhesive qualities, it will not stick to a leather surface
• A dye’s intention is to soak in to the leather (not sit on the surface)
• You have to apply a dye by hand, by rubbing in to the surface of the leather
• You can’t completely change the colour of an existing leather by using a dye
• The term ‘leather dye’ on the internet is used quite a lot to encompass any type of colour you apply to a leather surface, be aware and read the description as ‘leather dye’ may be used to describe a leather paint.
• If in doubt seek professional advice, we’re here to help!

Leather Paint

• Is solid and even in colour
• Have adhesive qualities, its intended to stick on top of a leather surface
• Leather paint is also known as pigment, its created flexible to stretch with the leather.
• You can apply leather paint by hand or by spray gun.
• You can completely change the colour of existing leather by using leather paint
• Be aware and read a products item description as ‘leather dye’ may be used to describe a leather paint.
• If in doubt seek professional advice, we’re here to help!

How to Restore Dry Leather Using intensive or Beeswax Leather Conditioner

Clean the leather

The first step is to clean the leather surface so it’s more receptive to absorbing the essential nutrients in the conditioner.
If you apply leather conditioner to a surface which hasn’t been cleaned it can’t soak in to the leather, and the surface may become sticky when the conditioner comes in to contact with dirt.

Moisturise the leather

To retain flexibility of your leather, apply our intensive conditioner or beeswax conditioner. It helps the leather to be more soft and supple, this also helps it to naturally flex without causing cracks on the leather.
Apply using conditioner using a sponge in even circular motions.

Buff the leather to remove any residue or to increase the sheen
Heat can harden the leather so keep away from direct sunlight or radiators, if this is impossible condition the leather every 2-3 months. 

Genuine leather can flake and peel, we see and treat this problem from time to time in our workshop, the issue is known as de-lamination.

What causes the leather to flake and peel?
More often than not its a lack of adhesion on the underside of the coloured coating, it can't flex with the leather and starts to peel or flake off the surface.

How to treat it?
Its quite labour intensive but it can be done, even by an amateur.

1. Firstly you need a good water based strong cleaner such as our professional power cleaner and a nail brush.
You need to scrub off the flaking leather until the surrounding areas are stable and not flaking.

2. when the area is dry wipe away any loose flakes from the surface.

3. Stablilise the edges of the affected area by carefully applying our leather bonder, we find patiently applying it using a cotton bud gives the best result.
When the bonder is dry, apply again over the whole area.

4. You may see some dis-colouration where it had peeled, at this point you can re-colour the area using our leather paints

5. Finally re-seal the leather using our handy aerosol leather sealants