hey guys and welcome back my name is
James and today we'll be using coffee to
dye or stain more precisely to coffee
stain leather we'll be making these two
little card holders just to see the
effect as it gives on vegetable tanned
leather I will be walking you through
every single step of the process and
discussing those steps with you as we go
hopefully you learn as much as I did
along the way because it was indeed
quite an interesting process enjoy Oh PS
guys at the end of the video I have
added in again that it's all coffee
making excerpt for the ASMR people out
there so if you're into that why don't
you just hang along right at the end of
the video and let me know what you think
in the comments below so first of all
we're going to be making some really
nice coffee I'm using some really good
coffee beans much to the dismay of my
girlfriend for the first few and I did
switch it up afterwards for some much
more regular coffee and much cheaper
stuff I mean I was actually quite
surprised how much coffee you really
need to do this so if you I've decided
to try it out at home go for some cheap
coffee you really don't need anything
and bear in mind guys that the coffee
afterwards is going to be thrown away
and this yes it's quite heartbreaking
but it is unfortunate that you have to
get rid of the coffee afterwards you
just don't know what has been inside the
leather as way of preparing it so just
be on the safe side try just don't don't
reuse the coffee info sheet you could
also try keeping the coffee for other
projects bear in mind that coffee does
go bad after a few days and can grow
molds so I don't recommend keeping it
too long although you should last a good
week also in the fridge so if you want
to try different projects with the same
batch of coffee that's also a great way
of doing it I'll be leaving in these
piece of leather first for twelve hours
though 24 hours sorry and then 48 hours
was at 12 hours I kind of I've written
it down in video but the idea was to
test out on different lengths of time to
see what the difference it would make in
coloring
and well you'll see the results you'll
see the results but while this is being
done I must mention that makes applying
also have a great little video tutorial
on how to do this Monica Lee as I was
researching this specific way of dying
or staining precisely leather
there we go twelve hours versus 48 hours
can you see difference I can't so as I
was researching this I couldn't actually
find many videos and that's why I went
ahead and started doing us about four
weeks ago and I've noticed today that
three weeks ago makes apply have a great
little video as well so there we go
great minds think alike I suppose go
ahead and grab go and check out the
links in the description for that so as
you see the regular coffee just wasn't
doing it for me I was expecting
something much darker so I decided to go
ahead and give it a second go this time
using some ready-made some instant
coffee and I poured out 100 grams and
added four hundred mill no scratch that
just go go ahead and overdo it it's
overkill it so from hundred grams I go
to the whole 200 grams of that pack with
400 mil of water and this gives me a
very syrupy type of mixture the whole
idea was that the original dye or
staining just wasn't dark enough I was
expecting something way darker than that
and it just wasn't doing it for me so I
go ahead and pour out my mixture and at
this point this is this is just stupidly
strong it is just the ridiculous it's
like a syrup then you can see how syrup
eaters and yes
syrupy is the good word basically as I
discovered coffee seems to have more
sugar than I want to admit or at least
is the soluble version I did check in
the soluble version said it was a
hundred percent soluble coffee and
clearly there was nothing added
apparently onto it but hey let that sit
for another 48 hours and at this point
these pieces of leather have been
sitting in some type of coffee for about
about four days I'd say total one of
them was 12 hours then 48 hours then
both then all of them was and as the
additional 48 hours so they've been
sitting in coffee quite some time as you
can see I'm having to really work at
getting this coffee off because
it's very syrupy again very yeah weird
texture but it actually takes quite some
work surprising enough as I spent quite
a few days working on this so I wanted
to get rid of the excess while it was
drying and this is when I noticed just
how syrupy and how much sugar there was
in there can you see that white foam
happening developing there that I think
is drew from the sugars inside the
coffee and this will have a very adverse
effect it makes the the whole thing
incredibly hard and brittle basically
the sugar have crystallized the sugars
have crystallized and I'm not happy at
all of this and I did a small bend test
on a corner and the corner just snapped
there you go you can see that it just
just completely snapped in my fingers
these are very very hard piece of
leather and completely unusable you can
try adding oils you can do whatever you
want but no completely onions Akana I
love the color viper however and so I
decide that if indeed it is sugars that
are making it brittle I will try and get
rid of the sugars by soaking them in
water again this time trying to get rid
of extra or the extra coffee the soluble
coffee at least that was the idea that
may have permeated inside the pores and
the fibers of the leather this is just
after one so can you see how dark that
water has gone it's just insane
it's just insane how much coffee is
actually in there but already the
leathers feeling much more supple so I
go ahead and give them a few cycles of
this washing in just clear water
alternating it's a lukewarm water there
just to help soften up the fibers and
get that coffee out of it and as you can
see the bowl is already full of dirty
water basically now repeat this process
two or three more times just to make
sure you get all the excess coffee out
and that is the results the final pieces
are much much more pliable but we are
losing a lot of that initial gorgeous
dark rich coffee color which I was
liking this is to show you the
difference between the natural veg 10
leather vegetable tanned leather and the
coffee stained leather and it really
isn't as much as I would have hoped so
well let's just carry on and move on
here I'll show you a different thing
afterwards but it just wasn't as dark as
I'd hope I'm using Sofia renovator here
to add in some more oils and to keep the
whole piece nourished and hopefully keep
it in good condition because I will show
you the other way the traditional way of
dyeing leather because this is just
simply too long and it's a fun process
but it takes a long time so the more
normal way usual ways to go either with
water stains or alcohol stains alcohol
dies and in this case I'm going to be
using the water dye the Eco flow because
it's the most readily available you can
find it at most places that do leather
craft supplies and it's the really the
easy to put on I showed you the filings
Pro dial all die and those are much much
more potent dyes and I just wanted to
show you the quick and easy way and
watch how fast this piece is dyed now
I'm not saying this is how you should do
it I mean if you're watching this is
clear because you want to do the coffee
staining and go for it I mean it says
the funds versus it's definitely if you
want to do that and go for that but if
you have the opportunity of dyeing
things properly well this is definitely
faster this is definitely going to give
you some best results now obviously the
color is way darker than the coffee
color but this was just to show you an
example there are many many different
kinds of dies out there and so it's up
to you to choose whatever you want to do
here are the two that I have coffee dyed
and notice how gorgeously subtle those
colors are um I must admit I wasn't sure
when I took them out of the buckets the
first few times that's how I was going
to like it as much as I do but I really
need to enjoy these cars and I wished if
I could hold on to one long enough to
see it
patina over time and you can just see
the construction method so here we go of
the three on the left you have the
natural the middle is the coffee stain
and on the right is the die this is just
to show you the difference in colors
that you can get and yes to the two
first ones are quite subtle and the dye
is much more pronounced now you can get
some more softened dies you can dilute
the dyes to make sure that the color is
much more subtle as well but I just
wanted to show you the different types
and methods of dyeing leather that you
could find out there and yes for those
of you wondering these are surprisingly
good little card holders I'm really
really loving the construction
I make them myself and yeah absolutely I
think it's absolutely loving the results
in the coffee dye I'm not sure this
again but had a great fun time doing it
there you go guys this is how I made
these little card holders dyeing them or
standing them using nothing but coffee I
will be adding them to my Etsy page so
if you want to pick one up go ahead and
hit the links in the description below
bear in mind they're picking at one of
my items is also an amazing way of
showing your support to my channel
helping me out in general but if you're
not ready to make the jump just yet you
can also just hit the like button hit
the subscribe buttons these are great
ways of helping me out as well as you
can probably see by the size of my beard
of my hair we are in the middle of a
lockdown here and this is a fun little
project to do during a lockdown barring
the cost of the coffee of course it
won't cost you anything you don't need
to go out and buy anything I don't
suppose we all have coffee I hope we all
have coffee at home so definitely do try
us out if you want to at home but if
you're looking to do something that's a
bit more sustainable that will be
repeatable I cannot recommend this I can
only recommend going the proper die
route and there are many many options
available to you if you do that instead
nevertheless guys I'd love to hear your
questions comments was that your
thoughts in general in the comments
section below I love to read you guys
and I try to answer you all as soon as
possible in the meantime guys thanks for
watching thanks for being here and I'll
see you very soon for some more leather
craft