re dying old leather?

[Pootle]

Question for the tanners out there.
I've got some ugly cream leather from a dead sofa to play with. is it possible to dye it a nicer colour? or can leather only be dyed the once? maybe brown boot polish would work?

[Humakt]

Generally, no you can't.
The leather used in that old sofa will almost certainly have been chromium (sometimes called mineral) dyed leather.
And the problem is that the chromium salts will repel other attempts at dyeing it.
If it turns out it was vegetable tanned leather then you could re-dye it. But the fact that it's a cream colour suggests it's chromium tanned.
But, you know what - I'd give it a go anyway!
What you will need to do is turn the leather inside out, so you have the rough suede-like side on the outside. And you will have to put a darker tan on it (which I guess you were going to do anyway). You may have some luck dyeing that part. But the cream-coloured 'outside' side is unlikely to take a new dye, so that will have to be on the inside of whatever you're going to make.
The leather used on sofas and that kind of thing is no good for sheaths but is great for pouches and stuff like that. Just put that cream colour on the inside, embrace the suede lifestyle and hope it takes some of the dye. Should do.

[Pootle]

Thanks humakt. I hadn't thought about the possibility if dyeing the reverse. if it doesn't take it doesn't take. The main aim is to use it to learn on.