After soaking the chamois in mordant solution for 24 hours, I drained it, pressed it, and spread it out to dry in the sun today. It'll remain dry until the dyebath is ready to use.
I'm a little concerned about what the soak might have done to it, since the water had turned faintly chamois-colored. Did the alum and/or the cream of tartar attack the aldehydes, liberating some of the fish oil? I'll have to knead it once it's dry and see whether it's turned rawhide-ish.
Yesterday meanwhiles, I started getting the dyebath ready to use. I'm using the
recipe and
numbers from Wild Colours. Luckily I had a manygallon bucket on hand as well as a jar of calcium carbonate I bought for use as a white paint pigment last year.
Although the numbers call for using a 1:1 ratio of madder to fiber by weight, I used the entire 100 grams of madder for 71 grams of leather because I can't be bothered and what am I going to do with 29 grams of madder anyway?
I put the powder in the bucket, poured eight quarts of water over it, sprinkled on the calcium and stirred it all up with my hand in a rubber glove. Then I covered it in Saran wrap and set it on the back porch, with another plastic bag tautly pulled over the top of the bucket to prevent rain from filling it up. (In hindsight, another sheet of plastic wrap would probably work better for this purpose.) It will sit for four days to a week and then the leather will soak in it for four days to a week. So, next update in about two weeks.
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