Initially a raw veg hide is coloured with a base coat stain. This is gradually applied, left to dry and then re-applied until the colour has built up onto the leather. This slow process enables us to create a coloured hide that is consistent throughout. This also gives a good depth to the colour of the finished leather top.

Once the base colour has been built up, we then apply a black dye to darken the leather to give the right colour of finish. To get the colour correct the above two stages need to be looked at and matched at every step of the colouring process, and as needed other colours and shades of stain are applied as appropriate.

Once the base coat of the leather is stained to the right character, a black colour is applied and then sealed. This is a highly skilled form of hand dying the leather for leather lining.

If you are looking for an aged antique look, it is possible to mix colours and fade parts of the hide during the colouring process. This would give a much more heavy antique finish to the leather when it is applied to the desk or cabinet top.

When the leather has been applied to the desk or cabinet top the next step is for the tooling. The tools are heated to just the right temperature so as not to burn the gold leaf foil that is going to be applied.

Once the tool has reached the desired temperature the gold leaf foil is held in position and the tool is skillfully positioned and pressed into the leather. If you have a specific pattern that you are trying to match, please let us know or send an image and we will show you the closest tools that we have.

Above you can see one example of a hand dyed leather lined antique desk top. There is a vast selection of patterns and designs that can be allied along with an unlimited option of colouring that can be matched for you. This gives you an idea of what actually goes re-leathering a cabinet top using a hand dyed leather. The same process is used to colour a hand dyed piece of upholstery. Many other processes are involved which have not been shown. For more information or for a quotation, please contact us and we will be more than happy to help.

For our standard antique leather lining the process of tooling is the same, but the leather is already coloured to begin with. It is therefore lightened by hand to give the antique effect and then sealed.

CLICK HERE to see our leather lining options for desks and cabinet furniture.