Adapting Vat Dye as an Alternate Dyeing Agent for Vegetable Tanned Leather

Abstract

The research explores the use of vat dye, a selected dye that is available locally in the Ghanaian market in large quantities, with varied colour ranges to identify their suitability as effective colourants on vegetable tanned leather. Four different experiments were performed with vat dye, and two others were tried with suede dye. In the first experiment, a more familiar technique of applying vat dye on fabric was used; this resulted in the burning of the exposed areas of the leather. For the second experiment, a new formula was composed and applied. This experiment was subdivided into three parts where various techniques for applying dyes were used. It proved successful, thus indicating that, with proper formulation, vat dye and its accompanying agents could perform effectively on protein fibre in leatherwork, just as it does on cellulose fibre in textiles.