GimcrackLloyd

I finished a few simple bracelets of various colours and brought them to my office to try and sell them... saving up for a leather splitter!

I bought bag kote and tried it on some 3-4oz bracelets I made. It has made them a little stiff but I think that is mostly due to how thin this leather is. No cracking and a nice finish. I'll test with some acrlic resoline when my local shop unpacks their truck. For those of you who dye using sponges or daubers; do you dye the grain side of the leather, too?

What kind of finishes do you use? I make mostly bracelets right now, I need to start using something to make them sweat and water resistant..

Thanks for the link, that seems affordable! Do you use deglazer on new leather that hasn't been dyed or finished too?

Thank you everyone for the swift replies. Taking your advice I will try with damp and dry sponges and see how it turns out. Eventually I will try with an airbrush and see how it turns out. Reading your posts, I realize my finishing is lacking. I use atom wax and buff, but you've all mentioned using other finishes I haven't tried. I'll try some new ones out. Sylvia, you mentioned you use deglazer as well as dye prep. Why? What is deglazer for?

Hello folks, Long time lurker, first time posting. I'd like to ask you about the method you use to dye your leather. I have tried a few techniques with varied success. I started using wool daubers to apply water and oil based dyes, and found that it applied unevenly; if one stroke overlapped another stroke, that section would be darker than the others. It was very hard to achieve a consistant, even look. Even when using dye prep I got the same results. So I decided to try submerging the leather in dye. This was easy to do with small projects like bracelets, though it uses a lot of dye really fast. I liked this technique because the edges and bottom of the project would all be dyed the same colour. Though it takes 2 days to completely dry. What techniques do you folks use? I could use some advice before I run out of dye. Can you water dyes down? Water down oil based dyes? Thanks to everyone who replies.

This looks great! Very woodsy.. I see elves wearing them.

Cool effect! What kind of airbrush do you use? What is the process like to airbrush leather?