Hi everyone, I come to you humbly for guidance.
A potential client needs cigar cases made, with the constraint that the leather be vegetable tanned, that it be "hand dyed, or having a hand patina finish", and of course that the leather would wet mold well.
He wants 4 colours, emerald green, royal purple, burgundy red, and black.
I pushed back on hand dying these, because of time constraints, available colours on vegtan, and durability of the finish.
Now red, green and black I have figured out where to source, I reckon the tuscan tanneries the likes of Walpier or La Perla Azzura will be great at this.
However their purple is nowhere near the bright electric "royal purple" colour he needs (see attached an unknown surface pigmented vegtan leather from A&A Crack and Sons).
Do you think such a bright colour can be achieved with vegetable tanned leather? My understanding is it is hard, you get rather earthy tones vs. the electric hues that chrome tanning allows.
If so, does anyone know where I could source some aniline finished/hand dyed vegtan (like buttero for example) in those four colours (that is not the one mentioned above)?
I realise now how tricky it is to work with customers poorly educated in the ways of leather...
I hope I am making sense here,
Thanks a million for your insights
Julien
@Julien Douve Hey Julien!
Good to see you around.
Have you thought about using veg tanned goat skin? You can glue this over the top of pre wet moulded crust. You will probably get the best of both with semi-aniline skins as they can have bright colours and a natural look too.
Lux cigar cases are most often made from skins wrapped over a pre made shell, usually plastic these days, traditionally multiple layers of sugar paper or kraft paper wet with glue and placed over a form until dry - then wrapped and stitched.
If you can make bright purple by dying crust without pigment, I'll be impressed! Maybe possible with alum tanned skins as it starts off white.
Check these guys out for inspiration:
http://www.falloncuir.com