Hello,
so we all have heard of patina and leather getting darker when exposed to sunlight. But, has any of you heard or got his hand on the ellusive Reverse Patina leather? I had heard rumors about it; first made by the ancient Celtic Druids while trying to tame the Loch Ness Monster, the ancient spells required to its creation were lost to humankind. Untill today!!! I give you the Fadeaway Leather!!! (In case someone still did not pick up on it, I was kidding about the druids...)
More seriously, I picked up this hide around 14 months ago, and it has been sitting in my workshop ever since, covered with a think paper. This morning, while moving it, I moved the protection paper a bit by mistake and I discovered that the part left exposed to sunlight had actually lost color, dramatically.
It is a chrome tan leather from Tannery Dupuy in France, and it has never been hit by direct sunray. It is exposed to daylight but the sunray do not reach the area of my workshop where it is stocked.
Is this normal? Am I overreacting?
I am not a chemistry expert but I had a few courses on it during my studies, most likely culprit is degradation of whatever pigment/dye was used to colour the leather. UV radiation can pretty much destroy anything if given enough time to do so, also depends heavily on the compound, etc. I am interested in what you find out though!
Maybe you did have a nightly visit from some druids, who decided you had way to much nice leather laying about!!
The only place that I have seen similar colour fading is in brazil, the sun is so strong there that anything older than a year and is outside is basically blasted into a lighter and duller shade of what it once was.