Dying leather?

Okay, so I have my costume complete. The problem is, my belt is noticeably lighter than my boots, and I wanted to dye the belt to match. I just have no idea if this is possible, or how to do it. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

I have a background in leathercrafting and worked for Tandy Leather Co. for 5 years, so hopefully my advice will count for something.

First of all, not all leathers are "dyeable", to a degree. Leathers that are vegetable tanned can be dyed. This type of leather is used for tooling (carving), belts, knife sheaths, gun holsters, etc. That's not to say EVERY BELT you encounter is made from this. Chrome tanned leahters (commonly garment leathers, latigo,...) are any of the soft leathers found in shoes, jackets, ... are dyed during the tanning process...essentially, these CANNOT be "re-dyed". This has to do with the state of the leather fiber itself being "closed" or "sealed" from the tanning process.

That being said, as long as your belt is VEGETABLE TANNED leather, you can darken the color by additional dye. NOTE, you will have to "deglaze" the belt first. This means removing any finish that is on the belt first. Most leather goods of this sort will have either a wax-base or acryllic-base or laquer-base finish over the dye. Use Tandy Deglazer (or similar acetone product) for this. You can then proceed in dyeing the belt (darker shade only...never lighter). Bear in mind that the color yeilded by further dyes will be darker than used on natural leather (obviously). Then, when the dye is finished drying, you need to re-apply a finish such as Tandy Super Shene, Tandy Satin Shene, or Fiebing's Leather Balm with Atom Wax (my preference).

If you can give more info on your belt it would greatly aid me in advising you.

--Kai