meg1517

I have a used Randall Model 132 Strap cutting machine for sale with a base. Blades are spaced to 1 5/8" straps. I have no extra blades or spacers. The machine works great! Has not been used in a while and was not used a lot. Will not ship. Located in Chicago, Illinois area. Please contact me for more info. $950.00 Meg. m.mcguinness@mac.com

Hi... We are having trouble with our dye colors fading. Has anyone used a UV protectant spray for leather? If so what kind of success have you had.... Does anyone have any success making their own custom colors that stay stable over a long period of time. Last question....what are some good water based pigment dyes? Look forward to hearing anyones experiences.....we are at a loss right now. Thanks Meg

thank you for checking them out and the kind words. I just checked out your work and it is beautiful. The motorcycle seat is amazing! And I LOVE those pens that you make. I would love to get one as a gift for my brother. He would totally appreciate the uniqueness of them and be blow away by the fact that they are hand made! I will email you from your blog about pricing if that is cool. Nice work on everything I saw! Meg

Thanks so much Clair, the wall hanging is actually cool in person because it is about 7 ft tall. We tooled it on the biggest dosset of leather we could get. I wish we could have added more to the design, but we were under a time constraint.... Thanks so much for taking the time to check it out! Meg

Hi Alex, thanks for the reply. I have read about the eco-flo dyes and will try them out. I want to try the Satin Sheen out as well......what do you cut that with if you want to spray it? Will that help with dye ruboff if we have antiqued the leather as well? In the event we use it on a chair.... Thanks again....as always this forum and it's members are so generous with their advice. Meg

Thank you so much! thank you.....I actually kept the snake table for my house.....we'll see how long it lasts with 4 kids

Thank you so much for taking the time to look at the images. Have a great weekend! thank you so much....we have learned so much from this forum. It has been a life saver for many problems we have run into. Meg

I have been so excited to post these because we have learned everything about our leather work from the fabulous people on this site. Many thanks and we continue to throw questions your way and you continue to help us along.... Thanks Meg

Ok I have been reading and rereading about the different ways to dye leather....Here is my problem I keep having. I have been trying to make custom colors. The colors NEVER end up the color we began with. Here is how we apply: We have our finished tooled piece We lightly oil it with neatsfoot oil and let it dry. I then dye the leather.....at this point the leather is the color I want in.... I let it dry and buff the leather Here is where it usually goes awry... I oil it again to seal the color.....is this always necessary? At this point the color darkens and start to bring out some browns.... Before we antique we use bag kote as a resist because I don't like the sheen with the acrylic top coats After the bag kote is applied the leather is then really dark and doesn't dry lighter. We tried to dye a recent project, that I attached, a large wall hanging we tooled an old map onto. We initially dyed this a beautiful grey/blue..... After the steps we usually use the wall hanging ended up very brown.... So my questions... do I have to oil the leather after I dye the leather and before I antique, to seal the color... Are there any other resists that have a more matt finish that will not darken leather? And last can you cut the dye w/ denatured alcohol up to any amount.....will the denatured alcohol ruin the leather? Sorry for the long post.....really need feedback!! Thanks so much Meg

Thank You for the suggestion I will definitely check that out. Meg

Hi Tim I am looking for different ways to dye our leather. Something that is really uniform. I thought I had read about one of the members who made holsters and he dipped his holsters to dye them and then he said he sometimes dyes them by 'flooding' I might have read it wrong.....So I would love to know more about the process od dipping leather to dye it...if there is such a process...and if so what is the process and the drying time and benfits etc. Thanks so much for the help I really appreciate it. Meg

Hi Tim I am hand tooling leather to be installed on a bedroom wall. The overall piece when stitched together will be 12' x 8'. We are using a 5/6 oz leather and we do seem to have a problem getting our tooling to 'pop' more. I was thinking that maybe our cuts were not deep enough. Maybe we are oiling it to much or to rough....we'll see. I'll have to experiment more. I am pretty new to tooling, but I have to say this forum has been a GODSEND! Thanks Meg

This is GREAT. Thanks for posting it! Meg

What is fllooding leather? And how is it done? Does it give better dye coverage than an spraying dye? How about dipping leather? How long does that take to dry? I look forward to hearing more about this process... Thanks so much Meg

Hi Art Thanks so much for the response that's what I'll do. Meg

Hello All I have another question about dying leather....I tooled some leather and them I oiled it with Neatsfoot oil. I let that dry and then I dyed the leather with Fiebings professional oil dye, let that dry and oiled the leather again with Neatsfoot oil. After the leather was dry, the color wasn't dark enough so I dyed it again.....so here is my question: Do I need to apply another coat of Neatsfoot Oil to seal the fibers again or is it ok to just finish it with Bagkote. I just don't want any of the dye to rub off. Thanks so much Meg

Hi Kate Thanks so much. There are many issues to resolve with the execution. I would love to know what you see that needs to be worked on....I know the dying was an issue and I am running many experiments now, but please share what else you see as I could you a lot of guidance from people who have been doing this longer. On this piece we used bag kote as a finish....but the problem I think we had is I didn't allow enough drying time between steps...so nothing really had time to set. Anyway I am running a bunch of tests and hopefully I will nail down a system. Thanks for you input and I truely welcome more as I am soooooooooo new to tooling and I love it! Meg

Thanks Tim, I will try this. Our piece is big so this is probably the best way to go. thanks for your help!! Meg

Hi Bob Thanks for taking the time to repost this about casing. It is VERY helpful and something I wasn't doing before...so that answers a lot of questions for me. Thanks for your time and sharing your knowledge. I really appreciate it! Meg

You all are sooooo fabulous! Thanks for the suggestions. Another quick question and excuse my ignorance, what does it mean to CASE the leather. How do you case the leather. Thanks Meg

Hi.. I have a tooling question. I am tooling a large piece of leather that needs to be as flat as possible when I am done. What is the best way to keep the leather from stretching and cupping while I am tooling it so it lays flat when I am finished. Thanks so much sharing! Meg

Thank you for your help. I will post my results! I have attached a picture of our first piece of furniture...it is a tooled octopus on a hand made metal base. Our dye was rubbing off when we stretched the piece of leather....we have some experimenting to do. Thanks so much!

Hi Pete thanks for your quick reply...can I apply neatsfool oil after we antique and will that seal the leather? What finishes do you recommend for us to start experimenting with. Again thank you very much! Hi Kate Thank you tons! What products work well as a resist and a finish? I have read a lot of people use neatsfoolt oil to seal the leather after it is dyed and antiqued...unless I totally misunderstood. Thanks so much Meg

I am very new to hand tooling and hand dying leather. I would greatly appreciate any suggestions on my question..... Can you dye leather and then use a resist over the dye to antique the leather. I use Feibings Prof. Oil dye and then we use the Feibings Antique paste. Using the paste darkens the leather I have already dyed, which makes sense, so I am wondering if I can use a resist on leather that has been dyed? Also, the leather I am tooling is being used for furniture can anyone suggest a finish that is matte but will seal the leather and the dye. Thank you Thank you for any suggestions and advice...this is my first post, but I have learned tons from this forum and am grateful to all of you for sharing your knowledge!!