Kaps Ochre Leather Dye 108 – 25ml Warm Brass Gold with Preparer

Description

Kaps Ochre Leather Dye 108 – 25ml Warm Brass Gold with Preparer, a warm earth gold with genuine ochre pigment behind it, closer to brass or turmeric than to any yellow you might be picturing, boxed with a preparer bottle

Picture a July wedding held on somebody’s lawn. Two hours on grass before anyone sits down, a marquee floor that everybody walks in from outside, and photographs where your feet are firmly in shot. Light shoes take a hammering on a day like that, and a pale upper that has picked up green and grey from an earlier summer is not something you can hide behind a table.

On the printed swatch 108 lands as a warm mid gold with a distinctly earthy pull to it. Ochre proper, in other words, sitting almost exactly halfway up the brightness scale with about half its possible strength showing. That midpoint is precisely why it covers cleanly instead of drying chalky the way brighter yellows do.

£9.99 buys 25ml of earthy ochre gold dye, preparer bottle included.

Why choose this warm brass gold dye?

• It is a yellow you can actually wear. Bright yellows on footwear read as fancy dress and nothing else, which is why most people abandon the idea before they start. Ochre carries enough brown in it to behave like a tan, so the shoe looks deliberate rather than like a costume piece.
• Earth pigments cover far better than bright ones do. Lemon and primrose shades are famously transparent and need four or five passes before the old colour finally stops showing through underneath. This one carries proper body, so two thin coats over a mid tan will generally finish the job.
• It rescues tired summer shoes properly. Pale leather goes green and grey rather than fading evenly, and once that has happened no amount of cleaning or feeding will bring it back. Recolouring is the only honest answer, and this shade sits close enough to natural tan to look original.
• It takes to canvas as happily as hide. Textile trainer panels, webbing and canvas espadrilles will all hold it, which is genuinely unusual for something sold as a leather dye. A shoe made from two materials can therefore finish up one even colour, and you can leave the masking tape in the drawer.
• The preparer more than earns its place. The second bottle strips old wax and silicone so the dye has clean material to bite into, and light shades show a poor bond far faster than dark ones. A pale coat lifting at the flex line is obvious from across a room.
• It mixes well with the rest of the range. Add a little 101 White to lift it towards a soft buttermilk, or a touch of 109 Gazelle to push it browner. Make up everything you need at once, because eye matching a fresh batch later is close to hopeless.

How to use the Kaps Ochre Leather Dye 108 – 25ml Warm Brass Gold with Preparer

No great mystery to the method, though heavily pigmented earth shades come out of the bottle a good deal thicker than you actually want them sitting on the leather for a first pass.

1. Unlace the shoe and pack it out firmly.
2. Degrease the whole upper with the preparer.
3. Mask the welt and shield the eyelets.
4. Lay the first coat on thin and even.
5. Give it twenty minutes, then coat again.
6. Let it stand a day, then lace up.

My tip as a shoe specialist

Decant a little into a bottle cap and load the brush from that rather than dipping into the neck. Ochre is one of the most heavily pigmented shades Kaps make, and a brush pulled straight out of a full bottle carries roughly twice the dye you actually want on a first pass. That thick first coat is where the trouble starts, because it dries with a visible edge wherever one stroke overlaps the next and no amount of later work hides it. A capful lets you wipe the brush properly and lay something genuinely thin.

Specifications

Bottles, tools and coverage

• In the bottle: Ochre dye, 25ml
• Second bottle: Preparer, also 25ml
• Colour code: 108
• Tone measured: Warm earthy brass gold
• Surfaces: Hide, imitation hide, canvas, webbing
• Beyond footwear: Handbags and small furniture
• Supplied with: Brush plus sponge
• Drying: Wearable again after one day
• Cost: £9.99 the pair of bottles

Frequently asked questions

Is it the same as 107 Yellow?

No. 107 is a marigold gold that is far brighter and far more obviously yellow, whereas 108 has real earth in it and behaves like a strong tan. If you want the shoe to read as gold rather than as yellow, this is the one to pick.

Will it show over a dark shoe?

Not on its own it will not. Anything darker than a mid tan wants a coat of 101 White underneath it first, otherwise the base drags the ochre down and it dries muddy.

Does it stiffen canvas?

A little, and thick coats stiffen it a great deal more than thin ones do. Keep every pass light and the fabric stays reasonably supple once the whole thing has cured properly.

Where can I buy the Kaps Ochre Leather Dye 108 – 25ml Warm Brass Gold with Preparer in the UK?

You can have 108 from Shoespecialist.co.uk today. Orders above £50 travel free of charge, anything ordered before we shut for the evening is packed and dispatched the same day, and sixty days of return cover apply.