So I've had my Aldens for about a year and the color has always bugged me just a little bit. Since my laces just broke and I'm waiting on new ones from Schmidty, I decided I'd take some steps to change it. I went to a local shoe repair place to get some shoe specific dye, as regular leather dye is water based and wouldn't soak into the shoes too well. Strangely enough, the place I went to turned out to be run by the guy that made all the boots for the original Star Wars trilogy. He even fit the one requirement of being an original movie supplier: he couldn't remember any specific details.
Anyways, I bought the dye and got to work. I did one boot first so I could see the difference in color:
And here's with the flash:
So I coated that boot in some atom wax to give it some shine back and dyed the other boot:
The atom wax makes a huge difference in the look and feel of the leather. Tomorrow I'll be able to wax the other boot and 24 hours later I can wear them again, that is if my laces are here. The only downside to this process has been that the white stitching is now brown, but it looks like its already starting to fade a bit, so with any luck it'll lighten up fast.
It's called Lincoln's quality shoe dressing, the color is just brown. It comes in a black and yellow box with a dauber and a glass bottle of dye for $4.50 (where I got it.) Just follow the directions and be careful not to put too much on and it'll go smoothly. The tricky part is doing the tongue without it touching the liner. The next day after the dye use some atom wax leather balm which you can get at Tandy to seal in the dye and make them a bit shiny.
I've been doing leather work for about a year now and I've learned that getting an even coat with any color other than black is nearly impossible without an air brush. Since I don't have an air brush and it probably wouldn't be a good idea to use one one shoes anyways, I was kind of stuck with the uneven coat. I'd actually prefer they looked like the AB special Aldens so that I could distress them naturally, but it just wasn't possible. I really hate that red color on the shoes, and even dying them can't get rid of it. It peaks through the lighter parts.
Risu wrote:I've been doing leather work for about a year now and I've learned that getting an even coat with any color other than black is nearly impossible without an air brush.
When dyeing my Todd's boots, I had no problems with uneven coats. I found the process fun and easy. I'm thinking of getting another pair and trying a distressing job plus the redye.
Either way, I like the mottled effect on your leather. It does have that antiqued look.
What was your technique for dying the boots, did you do circles with the dauber, or lines, or something else? I have noticed that this dye works much better than the eco-flow water based stuff the eco-nazis have forced on us, but I still wasn't able to get the coat perfectly even.
I followed the tutorial that Dalexs gave.. including the dye he suggested russet Fiebing's. I pm'ed him with a few questions I had and he cleared things up. I thing I worked in lines but can't be sure.
I can't locate it quickly, maybe he just told me what to do? But I would swear he used to have it on his website! You can always P.M him and he'll tell you.
i wanted to dye my aldens as well. I was wondering did you attempt to strip the original color or did you just dye it over the original leather. I bought some lincolns shoe dye in dark brown and the fiebings atom wax. i am going to attempt the dye myself although i went to a local tandy leather store in maryland and they advised me that leather dyes are for unprocessed leather and if i attempted to dye my boots all the color would end up bleeding off and i would have brown feet. How did your dye job hold up.
I'd advise you not to use the dark brown. I used regular brown and they came out darker than I was expecting. It ended up being a good thing because it helps to hide that terrible red color that can't be escaped. If you use the dark brown your shoes will probably look almost black. I didn't do anything to actually strip the color though.
Before dying, you should clean the shoes off really well, make sure they don't have any dirt, polish, or oil on them. Then just use small amounts of the dye on the dauber and be careful (especially on the tongue) not to let the dye seep around the edge of the leather onto the liner of the boot or drip inside. Try to get an even coat, let it dry for a good 15-30 minutes, then buff it off with a clean rag. I used two coats of dye on my boots and after buffing it clean and letting them dry overnight I applied two coats of atom wax (with a different dauber than before), let it dry until it didn't look wet anymore, then buffed the boots. Let them dry for 24 hours, re-lace, and wear.
My boots do get a tiny bit of dye on my socks occasionally around the edge of the tongue because there was a worn spot on the tongue that was heavily creased and the dye had a sort of capillary action and got pulled around to the back, which didn't get waxed afterward. Just be careful to not let that happen and it should be just fine.
Those look great They look very close to the Hero boots that AB makes. The darker welt I think makes the "Indy" boot IMO. Great work! Seeing the before and after, its like night and day.
Sure thing, on the left is the atom wax, the middle is the box the dye comes in and on the right is the bottle of dye itself. Very high quality stuff, comes in a glass bottle, not one of the plastic bottles the eco-flow dye comes in that leak once you've broken the seal.
I found the process fun and easy. I'm thinking of getting another pair and trying a distressing job plus the redye.
They look very close to the Hero boots that AB makes. The darker welt I think makes the "Indy" boot IMO. Great work! Seeing the before and after, its like night and day.
