Leather Dye DIY

Recently I came across a product I had to share, Tarrago Self Shine Color Dye.  This stuff is amazing!  It can change the color of anything leather and make it look brand new and nice again.  And it's really easy to do.  And it's not a huge mess. It's the perfect DIY project!
I found it by researching leather dyeing online.  After reading about some great results on the Friendly Fox blog, I decided to give it a try.  I had this sicky olive green J.Crew purse that was technically a nice bag, but that I never used because of the awful color.

You can see it in the photo right there.  Gross green.  I decided to change it to a color called Pelican.  It can be ordered for cheap on amazon.  Determining the color is a little hard since you're picking off of a computer screen, but I could at least tell that this would be some kind of grey, and I like all grey.  If you like color, they have a lot of different ones also, as well as pearl and metallic shades.

So then, step by step...
Take the leather to be dyed and rub it all over with the included preparing solution.  From the smell I'd guess this solution is just acetone, but it's removes any coatings that might on the leather already, to allow the new dye to adhere properly.  I also rinsed the bag afterwards, which might not have been necessary, but seemed like the right thing to do. Before starting, tape off any hardware so you only dye the parts you want to and put down some plastic to protect the work surface.  Also get yourself a snack because you're going to literally be sitting and waiting for paint to dry.

What I found worked best was to use the included brush to paint the seams and stitching and then the sponge to paint the rest of the bag.  The idea is to use very light coats and rub the dye into the leather.  The photos to the right are after the 1st coat. Expect it to not look very good at first.  Don't worry though, you haven't ruined your purse.  Keep going!

The photo to the left to is after 2 coats.  Already it looked pretty good.  This plastic hanger helped a lot to hold the bag while painting, without touching the parts that were wet.  The dye does dry quickly, but with so many angles to paint it's easy to nick spots.  I ended up doing 3 coats, letting it dry overnight and then a few little touchups the next morning.  And tah-dah!

It's so pretty!!  And I'll use it now.  I'm really happy with it and would definitely do it again if I got another ugly bag or a bag I had started to look worn.  It a fun, easy little project that gives new life to old stuff, and that's always good.