LeftyFretz

That's what I did as well. But like I said, the leather dye isn't compatible with the Super Shene finish product that is supplied in the kit.

I bought the beginner's leatherworking kit from Tandy a couple of months ago. I did the wallet project last week, but I have a question about colouring the background black, as in this picture... I used the Saddle Tan Eco-Flo Hi-Lite colour stain and then used the Dk Cocoa Brown Eco-Flo Leather Dye to paint in the black parts. (It's the only black-ish colour in the kit). But when I went to finish the leather with the Super Sheene it took quite a lot of the dark dye I'd used for the background off. So it seems I can only use the Hi-Lites with the Super Sheene. What should I be doing to get a nice even black background like in the image above? (Preferably something I can pick up from Tandy). Also is there anything available which is more precise than a paintbrush for this fine work? Thanks!

Thanks a lot

Hi there! My name's Neal, I've been leatherworking for a grand total of 3 days now I bought the Tandy leatherworking kit to try and learn the basics, but I hope to eventually be able to make some nice straps for my guitars. I have some questions though! The kit came with contact cement for attaching the leather to some backing cardboard to keep it from stretching - is this really necessary? After seeing a guy on YouTube wreck the back of his leather with the same contact cement I bought some rubber cement. It works well but it leaves the back of the leather fairly sticky feeling. Is there a better way of doing this? When i'm wetting the leather how much water should I be adding, and is there a foolproof way to learn when the best time to start tooling is? I've so far made the two coasters that came with the kit. I just added water until it started taking a while to absorb and then started hammering away after 2 or 3 minutes. Seemed to work okay, but the guy I've been watching on YouTube waited 30 minutes so i'm not sure. Can you recommend a good book/DVD which I could purchase to learn a bit more than the basic stamping and whatnot that the Tandy kit teaches? Keeping in mind that I would like to make guitar straps.