TJFlora

That last one is pretty cool eh? It's a DreamEvil seat. So what is it that's not durable about these anyway? The paint? Does paint come off after being subjected to biker ass? Does the dye come off? You mean to tell me that all this awesome artwork on all these crazy expensive seats won't last?

Hey all, i'm realtively new to this site but am finding it really helpful. Thanx to all who have tried pointing me in the right direction. I figure I would put this under biker gear 'cause most of the amazing stuff that I see is on seats and i'm trying to take my art in that direction. Any help or guidance on the subject would be greatly appreciated. I have attached a few pics of some really awesome work that I can't figure out for the life of me how it was done. I wonder if any of yall have some pointers. This ones got me pretty baffled. I have no idea how there is dark in the tool impressions of the woman's body but the rest of her remains clean. Or are they paint and not tool marks? Or was antique added with a tiny brush to those spots? Or the face... is that tooled and painted/dyed, or just painted? I have a feeling that most of my answers lay in this piece that appears to be half finished. I can't tell but it looks like the chin/cheek line was knifed but the eyes/nose/lips and all that were done with maybe a spoon and then it looks as though it's been colored with a fine pen. I don't know. I really like this one. Can't tell how the eyes were done. Looks like a figure beveler or jst some good spoon work on the nose and body. Cant tell whats paint and whats dye.

Nice finish man! Did you use eco-flow antique gel or fiebings paste?

Sweet. The eyes came out cool.

Etched/striped? What do you use to do that? Did you do this after the seat was sealed?

Nah don't appologize. I'm having so much trouble with eco-flo products. The biggest problem I am experienceing at the moment is creating a resist that is strong enough to have antique gel rubbed over it and remain sealed and clean. No matter what I do some of the dye always ends up coloring a spot that I sealed like 3 times. I can't figure out whether its the supersheen that doesn't work, the antique that doesn't work, or the process i'm using them in. I foud that fiebings dye rubbed over supersheen takes it right off. Basically just trying to get bright colors and an even background. In this pic I tooled, colored (with eco-flo), brushed two coats of supersheen on the colored areas (waiting 24 hours in between), then painted in a fiebings tan. You can see the brush marks and I think that's no good. So I figured that you seat makers must seal your colors in with something else then use maybe one of the fiebings paste antiques that I cant get in Cali and rub it down with that. That's the only way I can figure that being done. Am I wrong?

So i've been lookin' at all these great pics of motorcycle seats with really vivid colors and rich, even toned background finishes and i'm wondering what the hell could they be using. I'm starting to think that all this great stuff (antique paste, clear-lac, oil dye) that we can't get out here in Crapafornia is the culprit. I've been slaving away with eco-flo dyes and atiques and supersheen to try and get some of these wonderful finishes, but everything looks horrible! Example: I will tool a piece, oil it, wait overnight, dye it, wait overnight, then use two or three coats of supersheen (painted on with a brush, waiting 24hours in between coats) to the areas that i don't want effected by the background finish. Then after all that is said and done, I completely destroy everything by applying background finish. I figure the only way that a seat could have brilliant colors (or just plain sealed spots) and a rich even brown finish elswhere on the seat was that these people must have sealed the colors then rubbed/applied an antique or dye over the entire thing so as not to leave brush marks. Well, either I am using the wrong products or the laws of physics do not apply in my workshop. No matter how many coats of supersheen (which I have tested to seal the best out of block-out, satinsheen, tan-kote) I apply there is always some horrible marks left in the sealed areas by the background stain, antique, or finish. What am I doing wrong? Is this because they are using antique paste and clear-lac instead of eco-flow antique gels and dyes? Are eco-flow products really that useless? It seems as though the eco-flow antique is particularly worthless. Can anyone help with this?