Mojo66

Thanks for the replies, the buckles from buckleguy seem to stop at 2 1/4", and Abbey's only seem to go up to 2". I'll keep looking though.

I'm looking for a 4" belt buckle, needs to be nickel, and preferably double pronged, although single is ok as long as it's sturdy. Does anyone know of any suppliers? I'm in the UK but happy to order from overseas if need be. Something like this, but 4" would be ideal. http://www.tandyleather.eu/en/product/two-prong-roller-buckles-nickel-plated

Thank you for that, usually I find that a lot of products mentioned on here aren't available where I am but that one is, so I may be giving it a go. Am currently trying one last coat of dye applied by pouring the dye onto the leather! Will see how that goes.

Hi, it was just normal veg tan, usually I'd use black bridle leather for a belt but I didn't have a piece long enough. I'll try another coat and see what happens.

Very nice, looks like it will last a lifetime!

Thank you for all the kind comments, I don't have any but find tattooing fascinating, there are some beautiful designs.

A recent project, the red is acrylic paint thinned with water for a slightly translucent finish. Finished with a mix of Eco Flo Chestnut tan and Fiebings Dark Brown antique. Stitched on my old Singer Patcher.

Thank you, a very informative reply! I made a small batch this afternoon and will see how it goes. Out of interest, can I apply this over the Fiebings dye, or will I need to make a new belt? Either way it's not a problem.

Hi, thanks for the reply, I've been looking at the vinegeroon threads, might try that. I have some brillo pads and a smallish (180g) mustard jar, will they work? How much of the brillo pad do I use? Cheers

I'm making a belt at the moment using Fiebing's black dye. I'm used to this stuff rubbing off, but I find that it looks OK when viewed on it's own, but if it's in strong light, or when viewed against a factory dyed black leather it doesn't look completely black, more a dark brown colour. Am I being picky? Does anyone have any suggestions? I've tried a little neatsfoot but it doesn't seem to have made much difference. I heard it's possible to dye the article blue first, then go black, does this work?

thanks for that, I've checked and Createx is available over here, so I'll give it a go.

Thanks for the replies, I'll see if I can persuade him to have it in tan and black, if not I'll have to go with the acrylic.

I've had a request from a customer to make a guitar strap similar to the Waylon Jennings one, ie. black with white tooling, the black isn't a problem, but does anyone know how to get the white? All the stains I've found are mainly various shades of tan, I've had mixed results with acrylic paints and as the strap will need to flex I'm not too sure about using them for this project. Something similar to this would be good. Leather is expensive and I don't want to waste lots of time an money making a hash of it! I'll be using 3mm veg tan. Thanks. http://www.telecaste.../normal_003.JPG

I usually go over the dye with either Resolene or Super Sheen, just "paint" the lettering with it. Never had a problem with the colour coming off.

Cheers, just having a look at his site!

I've made some dog collars from natural veg tan, and dyed them, one with Feibing's black dye and one with Eco Flo red. I'd like to completely waterproof them so if the dog jumps in a river it doesn't end up with a multi-coloured neck! So far I've used Resolene and neutral shoe polish on them. Is this enough? Is there anything else I can use? It needs to be something I can get in the UK so please don't say Neatlac/Wyosheen/Clearlac etc! Ta!

Hi, thanks for the replies, I did offer to try and dye over it, but fortunately he decided to have it, it must have grown on him, didn't fancy getting the sander out!

I recently made a belt for someone and stamped it with their name. They weren't sure about what they wanted so said they'd leave it to me. I added a few carvings at their request and dyed the letters of their name with Eco Flo leather dye. I took a deposit to cover costs, but not my time, which was about 2 days. I sealed the dye with Super Sheen, then stained it with Eco Flo leather stain, then coated it with Resolene and finally I polished it with Kiwi shoe polish. I sent them pictures of the finished belt and they said they don't like the coloured lettering and can I remove it? Is this possible without affecting the tooling and surface of the leather? What kind of result am I likely to get, bearing in mind this whole project has been a bit of a nightmare from start to finish and the customer seems quite picky. If it turns out blotchy it's bound to be pointed out. If I'm going to have to go the chemical route it needs to be something that's readily available in the UK. I'd like to sort this out for the customer, and because it's highly personalised and not something I could ever sell to anyone else. I'm happy to remove the colour altogether and go back to bare leather as long as it won't damage the leather or tooling in any way. Apart from the time it's a waste of nice leather. Thanks.

Brilliant, thanks for that, I'll give it a go! Just a thought, but I'd be using it on belts and guitar straps, is it fairly flexible or will it crack with any movement?

That's a great tutorial, however neither Wyosheen or Neatlac is available here and apparently it's illegal to import them. I can get Saddle Lac, Tan Kote and Leathersheen, all by Fiebings. Will any of these do?

I usually just apply it straight to the leather, I have Resolene and Super Sheen, would either of these work before I used the antique? I usually do apply it in a circular motion, and with gloves, otherwise I look like I'm on 60 a day!

I got a pot of Fiebing's antique finish in medium brown the other day and I seem to be getting really inconsistent results with it. Sometimes I use it and it comes out a nice brown colour as expected, and sometimes it goes more or less black! I often get dark blobs with it too that I can't remove. I apply it by brush straight onto the leather, then rub it with a soft cloth. Am I doing something wrong? This photo shows a dark stain on the right where it blobbed, and a few marks along the top edge. I've gone over it with a brown dye to cover it up a little, but I didn't really want to do this. (However, I quite like the effect!) Anyone any suggestions on what to do to avoid this, or what I can do if it happens again?

Do you mean this stuff? I got some of the mid brown and found it was more of a grey brown finish, I wasn't sure about it at first but it grew on me! Oddly enough I'm sure I once used someone else's that was labelled as mid brown and it came out completely different.

I've had that problem too with Fiebings antique stain, the one in the little pot. Most of the project looks fine, but every so often I'll get a dark splodge of colour that can't be removed. On items that are intricately tooled it's not too much of a problem, but on plainer areas it's really obvious. I've ended up going over it with either dye or shoe polish which changes the colour. I usually apply it with a small firm paintbrush.

You could always stick the two layers together using double sided tape. Or you could tack them together at intervals before stitching. Use the same holes to stitch through to avoid any extra holes you don't want.