Vinegaroon Tutorial

[g4ghb]

I Thought I'd make my 2000th post worthwhile..........

There has been some discussion regarding colouring leather using vinagaroon in the past so here is how I make and use it.




MAKING VINEGAROON


‘Ingredients’ – Steel wool & Distilled Vinegar

This batch was made using an old brillo pad which was washed till no soap remained then left to rust in a jar.

To speed the rusting along I rinse the wool with a little water then pour out the excess to keep it damp for a few days.

Fill up your jar with the wool in it with distilled vinegar (this is Tesco value brand!)

And give it a good shake – it will look like brown muddy sludge – NOTE – ensure you loosen off the lid aftwards! (it will produce gas and build up pressure while ‘brewing’ and it can explode if you leave the lid firmly on.

After a few days it will look like this – you can see the bubbles still being produced!

Lock the lid back on and give it another good shake before loosening off and leaving for another couple of days – repeat this for about a week till the wool is dissolved away.
It will probably still be cloudy sludge looking so I filter through a piece of kitchen paper to take out the big bits

Once filtered it should look a little like weak back tea – ENSURE you label it well!

You can use it straight away but I have found it better to leave it a couple of days to ‘mature’ – it kinda clears and looks more like a liquid rather than a solution if that makes sense.


USING VINEGAROON

It’s simple - really simple! Either dip your veg tanned leather into the solution or daub / brush it on. It starts to darken almost immediately. You may have to do 2 or 3 applications to get the colour you want although it does darken and look better once it is oiled or waxed (I use mink oil)
To neutralize the acid I soak a couple of times in a strong bicarbonate of soda solution then finally rinse in clean water.

Here is a before shot of my demo piece of leather beside a white sheet of paper

A link to a(poor and out of focus) video of the process to show the speed of the change

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkOLb5QOf5U

And finally a pic of the result (before neutralizing and oiling!)

Please note this is not a dye - it changes the structure of the leather itself so it will not wear off - however I find it gives a more even effect and is very quick and cheap!


FINALLY..... ONE I MADE EARLIER!

A sheath I made to show the effect on an actual piece

 

[Toddy]

Good post and a really excellent demo

This is what I use as an iron mordant, it's also the basis of some recipes for oak gall ink.
Please take care with the jar, all mordants are toxic.

Have you tried the copper mordant on your leather ? Basically pieces of copper scrap with either ammonia (which will give ink blue very quickly) or vinegar (which gives a turquoise blue) liquor.
This copper mordant is very toxic !!!

I'm told it gives a green dye on leather though


cheers,
Toddy

 

[Draven]

Awesome tutorial

 

[g4ghb]

Good post and a really excellent demo

This is what I use as an iron mordant, it's also the basis of some recipes for oak gall ink.
Please take care with the jar, all mordants are toxic.

Have you tried the copper mordant on your leather ? Basically pieces of copper scrap with either ammonia (which will give ink blue very quickly) or vinegar (which gives a turquoise blue) liquor.
This copper mordant is very toxic !!!

I'm told it gives a green dye on leather though


cheers,
Toddy

Hmmmm - green you say...... - guess what I'll have to try now

 

[Black Sheep]

Great stuff I'll definitely be giving that a go

Richard

 

[Shewie]

Congratuations on your 2000th post Graham

& thanks for a great tutorial

 

[Cobweb]

Wow, I wondered how to make leather black Thank you!
OT a bit: Toddy from what you mention, this process can be used to mordant wool?

 

[Toddy]

It can indeed, just go lightly 'cos too much Iron will rot the wool. Copper on the other hand actually preserves it.
Iron saddens wool colours, copper gives a depth and a greening to them and alum gives light clear colours with soft water.

If you have Iron tablets at home just crush a couple and pour boiling water over them. They will dissolve quickly to give you mordant liquor in a few minutes.

cheers,
M

 

[Cobweb]

Wow, thanks Toddy, that tip about the iron tablets rocks!
Saves wasting brillo pads

I've got some copper scourers that I never use, would those in vinegar give the copper mordant?

 

[robin wood]

Nice tutorial. I have a pot of vinegar and old nails in the workshop for dying oak black. It is a reaction between the tanic acid in the oak and whatever the iron becomes when dissolved in vinegar that creates the black stain, I am sure someone here will tell us that it's feric vinigoxide or whatever. The process with veg tan leather is the same as that uses tanic acid (from oak bark or more often these days other sources) to tan the leather. I don't know if it would work the same on say chrome tan leather but then most bushy work seams to be done with veg tan.

 

[British Red]

Fantastic tutorial!

You arre always an inspiration to me Graham

Red

 

[Black Sheep]

Just been shopping and some distilled vinegar was on the shopping list

I've made some with wire wool and some with off cuts of copper sheet, I'll see what happens in a week or so.

Toddy - Would Iron tables and vinegar work?

Cheer

Richard

 

[NatG]

fantastic to know how it was done Graham, your sheath has had a few admiring glances from my friends and family. And congratulations on your 2000th post

 

[Toddy]

Just been shopping and some distilled vinegar was on the shopping list

I've made some with wire wool and some with off cuts of copper sheet, I'll see what happens in a week or so.

Toddy - Would Iron tables and vinegar work?

Cheer

Richard

The vinegar speeds up the process on the wire wool, don't see why it wouldn't work on the iron tablets too though.
Let us know ?

atb,
Toddy

 

[Black Sheep]

Just had a play with a couple of SWMBO's Iron tablets.

I dissolved two in a little warm water and tried the solution on a bit of scrap leather and here's the result.

I was a bit concerned that the tablets have a red coating which turned the solution pink but luckily not the leather. The photo is before, dyed and waxed.

Sorry Graham didn't mean to steel your thunder

Richard.

 

[g4ghb]

No that is cool Richard - in fact if it works I reckon it will probably be better as you will not have any acid to neutralise

If nothing else my tutorial has spawned some discussion which is the object of the game - we can all learn something new

 

[Black Sheep]

Thanks Graham.

Just another thought or two...........

Could the solution be used in a pen (fountain or Draughtmen's pen) and used to draw patents with?

Does anyone know what effect Coppersulphate would have?

I have an old book C.1906 called "The Mechanic's Friend" which lists lots of ways to colour metals but as you can imagine a lot of the chemicals are now banned by H.S. & C.O.S.H.H.

But I've had a surf around and come up with this site which lists lots of natural dye info'

http://www.pioneerthinking.com/naturaldyes.html

Wonder if any of these work with leather?

Cheers

Richard

 

[forestwalker]

Does anyone know what effect Coppersulphate would have?

No, but when we use CuSO_4 in the lab we have to send all wastes off, not ever pour it down the drain. It is nasty stuff, and not something I'd have at home

 

[moccasintracks]

I tinker with leather, but so many of you are real masters.

I learn something new here every day. I post little, because there is so much to learn, but I will try and pay attention for chances to actually be of help.

thanks again, my day is brighter.

Jim

 

[Toddy]

No, but when we use CuSO_4 in the lab we have to send all wastes off, not ever pour it down the drain. It is nasty stuff, and not something I'd have at home

This is a bit of a ramble of a reply, but it is relevant.

I teach natural dyeing, I do a lot of experimentation, I demonstrate appropriate historical dyeing techniques at heritage centres all over the country.

There are five main mordants that are used.
Alum, Iron, Copper, Tin and Chrome.

I know they are all toxic, and reckoned I'd better find out about how to safely dispose of residues. So I phoned out local sewage works (water treatement works) and asked. One of the technicians/ engineers in charge asked where I lived, I told him and he said, "Put the kettle on, I'll come for a coffee." So I did, and so did he. .......It's a small world around here, his foreman is one of my neighbours brothers

Anyway, when asked, he said that Alum doesn't worry him; it's used in our potable drinking water supplies, it helps remove the peat from the water (ours comes from the Daer reservoir up on the Lanark Moors) before it hits the filters. Some of the alum gets through, but isn't a health hazard and the sewage works deal with it fine.

Iron, he looked at me and laughed. He said that half the women in the country take iron tablets at one time or another and you lot excrete most of it, the sewage system deals with it, not an issue.

Copper he said was a bit more problematical since it is very toxic in any concentration; however, domestic central heating pipes are made from it and some leaches into the system. So long as I use my mordant to exhaustion he has no concerns.

Tin and Chrome he nearly had a hairy fit with his feet up
Tin forms stable organometallic compounds that are extremely toxic and persistant in the environment. Roman tin workings are still considered polluted ground.

Chrome causes feminization of invertebrates at the bottom of the food chain and is also persistant. Basically it's a major environmental pollutant and a major nono...........even if it does give brilliant orange colours. Tough !!

So, I will use alum, iron and copper, but I won't use tin or chrome.
I get a really good range of colours using the mordants and adjustants that I know will not, with care, pollute the environment, and really don't feel the need to do so just to get a brighter orange or glow in the dark green.

I have a major beef with mordant suppliers too; it is in their interests to sell you as much as they can. In reality a very small amount given a little longer in the mordanting liquor or the dyebath works every bit as effectively as quadrupling the amount of mordant.

From a natural background I know that Alum is accreted in the roots of Fir bogclub moss, but since that habitat is under threat we'll just use the man made from rocks stuff, won't we ?
Iron is easy, bog iron water works, iron ore soaked in something acidic works, all native and no hassle. Brillo pads, nails or iron tablets make it easy though
Copper too is possible, just pee on some of the ore, and there are copper sites all over the country, not commercially viable maybe but the ore is there. Off cuts of copper pipe, old coins, copper wire and vinegar or ammonia work very well indeed.

Having gotten that all out, I find it fascinating seeing what other people make and dye, what they used, gathered and when.
Thanks folks

cheers,
Toddy