Need Some Advice / Beginner Here

[Toddo]

I have this wallet I'm making for my sons birthday. I'm pretty much done with the tooling and painting. I need some advice on the finishing. Here's the wallet:

Should I die the background? Obviously it would have to be a light tint of whatever color so that the dark red lettering would not get lost. The paint is just ordinary cheap acrylic paint I got at the art store. I put it on in layers. First layers watered down a lot and built from there. Then I flexed the leather while it was drying so that it would not crack after drying. It seems to have worked. I can bend it all around with no cracks. If I were to dye the background, then I would need some kind of mask product to block the dye from getting on the painted areas. What should I use if I decide to dye it? And... when dying, do you use a wide sponge brush so that it comes out even? Or just use a cloth. And do you dye it like wood? Meaning, do you make a pass with the dye, then go back and make a pass with a dry cloth to sort of even it out?

Then after dying, what product should I use to seal it? I have this Eco Flo stuff that came with my sons beginner kit that's called super shene. Is that stuff compatible with the acrylic paint? I mean, what's the best thing to use so that it will be completely protected and the paint will never rub off through a lot of use?

By the way, I have a beginners tip for anyone who accidently gets a dark water spot on their project. When I was painting the lettering, I got a tiny bit of paint out of the paint area (look directly under the letter K). I tried to get it up with a wet q-tip. It seemed to smear and then I tried a wet cloth. Well, let me tell you, it got out of hand big time. I then went and got a little bleach and water mixture and tried that. I finally got it to where it looked like there was no red tint on the leather anymore. But the area got soaked through with a big spot. The next day after it dryed there was a big dark spot. I was mortified. I tried to put straight bleach on it to get it out. No good. I even tried to put this product called "oops" on it to try to get the dark spot out. No go. So I called the Tandy shop near me and asked how to get rid of a dark water spot. The guy there says there's nothing you can do, once it's in there, it's in there. A lot of help that guy was. I tried to google up some answeres and the best thing I could find is that I should re-wet all the leather and then it dry. So I took the thing and just soaked it. Held it under water for like 5 minutes, the entire piece, front and back until it was completely saturated. After that, I let it sit a while and then I could still see a bit of a dark spot there. Eeek! Well then I thought I could just take off a little top leather with a piece of sand paper. Like maybe kind of errase it. It worked! I used to rough of sand paper though. I only had #100 grit paper handy. It did take the spot out though. Now it looks as though it's actually a little lighter in that area than the rest. Better than a dark spot though. I must have took off the tanage or something. I only used the sand paper when it was soaking wet. I don't know if this method would work while it is dry. So check: water spot - remove by wetting leather, then rub with find grain sandpaper until gone.

[dirtclod]

Nice job !! I would of never seen the spot if you hadn't pointed it out. I generally use resolene for a finish and some times saddlelac. Bad thing about the saddlelac is after you use it a couple of time it seems to want to splatter because the spreyer gets junk in it and i never have been able to get clean. You boy is gonna love it.

[Toddo]

Nice job !! I would of never seen the spot if you hadn't pointed it out. I generally use resolene for a finish and some times saddlelac. Bad thing about the saddlelac is after you use it a couple of time it seems to want to splatter because the spreyer gets junk in it and i never have been able to get clean. You boy is gonna love it.

Thanks dirtclod! I assume Tandy has got the resolene. I'll give em a call tommorrow and ask them. I guess I'm leaning more towards not dying the background because of the dark lettering. I got plenty o' time to decide.

[Penden]

It's my understanding that resolene is very similar to acrylic paint so I agree that that would be your best bet

[Luke Hatley]

Thanks dirtclod! I assume Tandy has got the resolene. I'll give em a call tommorrow and ask them. I guess I'm leaning more towards not dying the background because of the dark lettering. I got plenty o' time to decide.

For a finish i use Satin Sheen , it works for me. Lace or sew the bilfold and put it to good use.your son will love it for a long time. untill he looses it, mine lost 2....

[electrathon]

If you dye the background you will likely end up with a splotchy mess. It would be best if you leave it natural. Bachground paint will rub/wear off, so stay away from that too. Also, the spot that you sanded on, it will be a completley differant copor if you try to dye it.

Hindsite: If I was going to do a similar wallet and wanted background color I would have first dyed the total piece by dip dying it. You can paint over that and would not have to dye around the tooled area that way.

Aaron

[McJeep]

I think the colour combination works perfect with it being natural. Stitch her, finish coat her, and call her done. Nice work!

[Toddo]

It's settled then. No dying the backround.

Thanks a lot for the advice (and compliments) every one! The more information I get, the better. I actually did make a "splotchy" mess on my fist little project I did. A bookmark that I did a sheridan pattern on. I actually painted the dye on with a tiny brush in order not to get it on the tooled area. Totaly did not come out the way I wanted it to. I'm skittish on dying anything for right now.