immiketoo

Always seal after antique. I use RTC by Bee Natural.

Cause it looks bad?

Looking at the quality of your work, I'd say you have invested a decent amount of time and effort in your leather craft, so I'll give you a leather specific response as best I can. My first airbrush was a dual action Paasche VL. It was a good starter brush and it served me well for many years. It had a .5 needle and a.3 needle in the box so I could vary the spray for nearly anything a leatherworker could ever need. Once I moved to acrylics, the Paasche would clog up a lot regardless of how thin my paint was so I looked for alternatives. Its still fine for dyes though. its my black brush now. I upgraded to a couple of Iwata a few years ago, with in gravity feed and in siphon feed. I use both equally. For larger coverage, siphon feed is good with a bigger needle (Means a bigger hole and more flow) and the opposite is true for details. The gravity feed is great for smaller areas and if you have to change colors often, especially if you work with spraying acrylics say on one of your fish. Usually, you get what you pay for and the Iwata certainly has a better spray and its easier to control than the Paasche. However, I was turned on to some chinese made copies of the Iwata and frankly, they're fantastic. At 35 bucks on Amazon, you can buy four of them and still have money left over for a compressor. I'll see if I can find a link if you don't mind buying from China. Now, a lot of folks like to cheap out on the compressor, but if you spend a lot of time with an airbrush, you will really do well to spend the money there. Look for a model with reservoir tank to ensure consistent, pulse free spray, a moisture filter and most importantly, buy a quiet one. I bought one that operates at 40 dB and I can barely hear it turn on. Great for long days in the shop without the need for earplugs. Speaking of, stay away from reed style compressors as they are obnoxiously loud. Lastly, look up Chris Wright on you tube. He makes amazing leather art with an airbrush and he's starting a channel for tips and tricks videos for us leather workers.

For your first attempt tooling, you did a great job. So much of tooling comes with experience and feel, which will come with time, but here are a few pointers. On any kind of carving other than floral carving, but especially with any kind of figure carving, look into getting a figure beveler. This will make that pop you're looking for. I have put a few examples below to show how a figure beveler can separate the background from the carving. Next, the transitions on any viking or Celtic design where one part goes under another need to have smooth bevel transitions so it looks like a natural flow as opposed to steps down and under then back up. Again, a figure beveler will help, but you can also smooth the transition using a modeling spoon. Another analogy is that steep beveling makes things look like they have been pushed down into a pillow, whereas a figure beveler or spoon makes them look like they have been place on top of the leather. If you're using antique to create contrast in your carving, checkered tools will help hold the antique and give darker areas to help pull the smooth areas to the front visually. Figure bevelers are generally smooth though. In Pic one, you can see the area around the hair is smooth except for the lines for the branches. The figure beveler pushes down the leather smoothly and makes your art stand out. In the second pic, you can see our the branches are behind the birds and Odin, but above the background. Also you can see the transitions on the celtic weave. Hope this helps.

That kit has a little bit of everything you'll need to make some things, but the quality isn't there. Don't expect it to last very long. How long is dependent on how are you'll use the items. I just made a set of armor and I didn't really use a lot of tools to make it. Most of it was hand stitched, but the parts that were machine stitched would have been a nightmare to do by hand. For the scales, we used 4mm leather and the rest was 3 mm leather. You can wet mold veg tan leather and let it dry. It will keep its shape. Baking it in the oven at very low heat, or a hot box will harden the leather and still keep the shape. Too hot will cause shrinking and shape loss. Under 125 degrees works well. Boiling it also works but looks like ass in my experience. I didn't give it much of a go after it looks like something the dog chewed up. As for buying leather, you have a lot of options. If you aren't concerned about a lot of color in your armor, you can buy English Bridle leather thats much more dense and durable than standard veg, and it will hold its color (Shade of brown or black) indefinitely. Otherwise, you'll likely have to dye it or just leave it plain. It's expensive. My last armor has over 500 bucks worth of leather in it. Depending on the type of armor you want to make, you may just add a few layers to give strength as opposed to hardening it. Be prepared for some waste if you do choose to harden. Its not an exact science. Good luck!

I do a lot of lettering in my work, and I have always had a disliking for using the same lettering that everyone uses on their work. I wanted to share a website called dafont.com. This site allows you input your text and view it with thousands of fonts to see how it will look. It also allows you to set kerning and tracking so that your fonts look professionally spaced and they are never crooked. They also never have that telltale halo from hitting a letter stamp unevenly or too hard. The downside is that some fonts are complicated and you have to know how to carve delicate shapes without altering the dimension or consistency of the font. It's a challenge I feel is well worth the effort, as it allows a person to match the font with the type of work. For example, a college sports theme could be paired with a font called, surprisingly, Colleged. It gives that old jersey feel. A memento could be combines with a scripty font that adds elegance to your work. Just a thought I have had for a long time that's come up again the last few days. Give it a try, and don't forget to donate the couple of bucks to the creator of the font you use. They really appreciate it! A few examples for illustration purposes. Hope it helps!

Billy, that thing is pretty cool. Never saw anything like that, but I did have a clicker die made with 8 scales per click for this project.

It may. In my experience, paint stick better to un-Dyed leather. I started doing it that way because I don’t like thick chunky paint like he’s using or the color bleed through that happens with dye. Some people seal the dye first and then paint, which seems to work for them. I started with a lot of white so that never worked for me, and I arrived at my process out of necessity. the only thing I can say is try a few ways and see what works best for you. I took a lot of advice along the way and it’s led me to where I am now, but experience is the best teacher. Also, thin paint is much easier to control during application.

English bridle is great leather but because of the waxes in the leather, it makes it difficult for paint to stick. This is why I mentioned natural leather dyed black above. Also, regarding paints and the use of them on this item. There is no way to get the vibrance you are looking for from dyes. Red is possible, but in my experience, blue dyes almost never give that color vibrance unless you apply them thinned with an air brush. You'll have to experiment with that. Were I to make one of these, I would hand dye natural leather black, leaving all of the tooled areas un-deyed. The reason for this is because painting white paint over black dye is fraught with problems, and you end up with a crappy looking grey until you get to about 1000 coats, which is then too thick and cracks and peels. I tried this in my first year and ended up having to remake two barstools from the start on account of it. Buy Golden hi-flow acrylic in Titanium white. It is by FAR the best white acrylic available for this task. Paint your white first, preferably with an airbrush and then add the rest of the colors. Most acrylic paints have some translucence to them, so a white base will make those other colors pop. Do not try spirit dye on top of paint. Its a nightmare. I've tried I have also tried all the other paints available with a few possible exceptions. Tandy carries some fine leather. Their European butts are exceptionally nice, but they are a bit pricy. As to durability, Jeff is right that dyes are more durable, but the effect you want cannot be done only with dyes. You will at least need white and gold paint. Lumiere gold is a great metallic gold paint for those details BTW. Paint it over white base as well or you'll be painting gold a long time. Its very transparent. Now, for a strap, if you make your tooled areas part of the strap that normally hang straight, your paint will last years, however if you apply light coats and sneak up to your desired color, there is far less chance of your paint cracking or chipping. I have barstools in the field that have been in constant use for 6 years that still look brand new. The trick is proper preparation as mentioned above. Bare leather will give the paint good adhesion. (Never oil your leather before paint by the way). Once you have a good base, the other colors will stick quite well and not chip off. Here is an example of red dye full strength with white paint applied in the method described above. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Thank you! My fingers are very calloused now and look like witches hands!

I think Logis De Cordes carries it, and maybe Rickert Werkzeuge. If not, you can find it on Amazon.

Check out RTC by Bee Natural. Great product that should suit your needs.

I'm not suggesting they are fraudulent, just that there are many other vendors with established customer service

I appreciate that, but I am no pro at armor. This was a steep learning curve for me too. A bit of my techniques shine through on the armor, so it looks nice, but no matter who you are, these are a big undertaking. Plus, you made all the pieces. Mine is just a torso.

Nice suit!

That would be a hard pass from me as well. I can find all of those from makers I know and trust for the same or better prices. Much of that looks like rebranded Chinese stuff from Kevin Lee.

Truth. I have enough invested in tools to buy a car. No joke. It took me years to find my thing in leather work, and I am still learning every day. Bare minimum tools for that job are: Quality leather. Drum dyed black or natural. Black is easy to dye, hard to screw up. Hermann Oak or Wickett Craig Needles, thread, quality diamond awl and a stitching horse will cost you WAY less than an appropriate sewing machine. Letter stamp set, unless you want to carve your own fonts. Paints and brushes in assorted colors and sizes. Don't get caught up in the Angelus hype. Their paint is average at best for leather. Rivet setter Hole punch Glue pot and glue (Or a tube of glue if you like) Buckles. Good knife. A utility knife will work here, but a strap cutter is easier. Strap end punches unless you want to cut your own ends. Right there you have exceeded the cost of buying a bunch of straps form the guy who made the ones in the pictures. Not trying to discourage you at all, just saying that its an investment to get your work anywhere near that level. Especially with painting white on black leather. There are some steep learning curves with all aspects of leather work, but it is very rewarding work, especially for your buddies on the job. Good luck!

No kidding, right!? Pics man, lets see it!

No way to fix that except to go full strength dark.

Thanks everyone. Latino, this suit was made for a guy much smaller than me, so I can’t even try it on

Very fine work!

Thanks Eddie! I am having those right this moment! Had a little photo shoot today!