Sister Stigmata

Does anyone have any advice on the most economical veg-tan if I'm only going to be dying it and not tooling it? I don't do any tooling in my designs. Occasionally I do some light wet-forming, but most of the time I'm just using veg-tan for its ability to take dye and its weight and flexibility. I usually try to find the cheapest 'economy' grade veg-tan, but it gets confusing with all the sides/shoulders/bends/bellies to choose from. I mostly make belts and collars and similar fashion accessories. Tack leather and the stuff they sell for armor reproduction would seem to be the most natural choices, but they're way too thick for what I'm doing. I usually just try to buy the economy grades of veg-tan and hope I get lucky, but even those are usually advertised for their tooling qualities. I've tried asking the staff at the local Tandy about this but their area of expertise was tooling and they didn't have any advice. If anyone who uses a lot of un-tooled vegtan in their work has any advice about what's the most economical solution, that would help me out a lot. I think I'm going to try an order from Zack White Leather in NC next and I'm not sure if I should get a side, a butt, or whatever. I hate having to buy leather online but there's nowhere local except for the Tandy and even that's quite a drive. Thanks, Liz

Vinegarooning looks awesome, I will definitely look in that. And I think I'll get a paint sprayer, they don't seem to be expensive. Would diluting acrylic paint with mineral spirits be equivalent to spirit based dying? I was planning on glueing on a suede or pigskin lining, although the rivets are quite smooth. This particular piece is supposed to look very severe, after figuring out the process I was going to make versions with spikes and D rings, kind of going for a very Hellraiser look which is very BDSM inspired. The next one I make is going to be thinner veg-tan, but yeah, it is definitely a piece that goes for a specific look at the expense of some comfort. I was planning on making some versions that lace up as well though, and ones that don't go up all the way to to the chin. Thanks for the advice!

Hi, I've been trying to learn leatherworking for a few months now. My goal is to make theatrical looking goth/metal type accessories so I've mostly been working with latigo with dyed veg-tan only as accents but I've mostly been doing belts and collars and cuffs. I want to start making garments out of the thinner weights of veg-tan, which means wet forming them for a better fit/shape. I prototyped out a neck corset, first in posterboard and then in a thin marine vinyl and now I have this beast: Apologies for the poor photography, apparently that is something else I need to improve at The hardware isn't set yet, just placed in to hold things together temporarily. I was planning on soaking it in hot water and then wearing it until it dried. But, then how am I going to dye it and finish it? I usually just use daubers and eco-flo and finish it off with super shene but I don't think daubers are going to reach all the crevices. I know that if I dye it first it'll impede the wet forming process... and possibly also dye my neck black. I've also noticed that when I dye strips of veg-tan with the eco-flo and leave them to dry the edges sort twist off the ground. It only takes a gentle tug at the edges to get them straight, but does that mean it's getting wet enough during the dying process that it would just undo any wet forming? Also, should I oil it? at what stage? And could there be bad effects with the hardware and water interacting? Sorry for so many questions at once, but out of all the things I've been researching on leatherworking wet-forming has been the most confusing. Some people seem to get good results just from using their hands and intuition and other people make very exacting forms so I'm unsure what approach to take. Until recently I was a 3d artist in the videogame industry so I know enough anatomy to sculpt forms if necessary, but I don't know out of what... and unfortunately I never liked actual physical sculpting that much although I suppose I could learn to. Thank you for looking! Here is some of my more conventional work. -Liz