hunteil

Great work Colt. I ended up buying a new, very fine brush with an angle to it. I'm trying that now. It seems to be working. But it smudges a lot still so I'm going to have to do a lot of clean up anyways.

Hello, I just finished stamping out all my pieces for this project and then proceeded to test paint some samples to see how to most effectively create the look I need to create. I tried the following methods with angelus leather paint in white and black. The look I'm trying to get is a black border with white stamped nordic runes. Methods used: (Black painted leather stamped) fine paint brush with white on brush. (too messy, not clean enough) Repeated the above one, then used a stiff black sponge brush with black paint and got the Orange text result in picture... I did this by accident and now that I look at it look the best... (Black painted leather stamped) watered down white paint and slowly added mix into groves in leather. (crappy turn out as shown in picture.) (Black painted leather stamped) painted grooves white and use clothe to remove. (caused rough feeling white residue on black and made it look like crap and couldn't get off the bad white paint and the letter wasn't fully filled either. I tried this again and the white just dries way too quick for this method to work correctly.) (White painted leather stamped) Used Block dyeing technique with black paint. (Got black paint in letters and the black didn't cover everything i wanted covered. :-/) The picture of my test sample is attached. The orange letters shown seems to look the best now... Is this the correct method? is there a easier way to get the rune letters white? I have a lot to do with this project with little time still, any advice would be appreciated.

bump?

Dear Admin.... idk how this got posted twice like it is and I can't seem to edit and fix it. Could you please?

So this thread I wanted to see what products were best in Leather painting or surface coloring applications. I'm looking for something for light colors like solid Yellow, solid Orange, solid White etc. etc. I'm seeing so many products out there. I can't tell what the difference is between them and what would work best. My projects normally go through rain and get worn a lot and go through abuse and I want something that won't chip off easy but also gives good bright colors that can bend and all and maybe even soak into the pours if possible... Or maybe I could dye it 1st and paint over it so that if it chips it'll have a close color under it???? Also I want to tool the leather too. Then paint over it but not entirely hide the detail if possible.

So this thread I wanted to see what products were best in Leather painting or surface coloring applications. I'm looking for something for light colors like solid Yellow, solid Orange, solid White etc. etc. I'm seeing so many products out there. I can't tell what the difference is between them and what would work best. My projects normally go through rain and get worn a lot and go through abuse and I want something that won't chip off easy but also gives good bright colors that can bend and all and maybe even soak into the pours if possible... Or maybe I could dye it 1st and paint over it so that if it chips it'll have a close color under it????

I use Tandy Leather Factory for my leather needs. Anyone I talk to there says they don't have any type of leather available that is lighter than Veg Tan that will allow good tooling capabilities. I have a few dozen pieces of other weird leather and tooling it is impractical. So I prefer to stay away from those. As far as dipping it in dye... Wow that's gotta be expensive.

The leather I used in the picture was Veg Tanned. I don't believe you can find anything brighter than that.

Hello, I guess you can consider me novice, but I do have alot invested into leather crafting and I've done a dozen or so projects over the years. But I seem to hit the same darn brick wall every time I get into the coloring of leather. I get so much feedback on how much better paint is over dyeing and then how much better dyeing if over painting. And the only resources I can find only try to sell you the products you're looking at so I feel like I'm going in circles. I need help in getting taught what is the best solution when it comes to giving color to leather... I have Oil Based Fiebings dyes and they work great for the darker colors. Plus b/c it's oil based it should help keep the leather from drying out. Which it has and gives good deep colors. But I want to give my leather a Yellow color. And the last time I made something yellow, I entered it into a crafting competition and I got aweful scores b/c it wasn't bright enough and people thought I didn't even dye the leather... (attached are the pictures of the project.) After a few months the color gets darker and turns orangish or browner... It needs to remain yellow for years on end and deal with the stresses of being a Belt. Can someone help give real facts about what's best to use. I'm not looking for opinions b/c opinions more or less sale the product or products. I'm looking for cold hard facts on if paint is just better and what type of paint works best for what and then the same for dyes. I want to invest on the correct best products and not get stuck again with a lot of money tied up in dyes that just don't perform professionally when I was told it would. :-(

Thanks for the information guys. I just found out why I was so confused on most of the options out there. I buy Tandy products b/c thats all I can find around here. I bought their Pro-dye products 5 years ago. Right now they don't sell that. They switch to Eco-Flo which is a Eco friendly version without all the super harsh chemicals. That helps... Is Neats Oil worth buying for the above issue btw? Saddle soap has some of that already. Just checking b/c I need to buy more dyes... I'm all out of the color I need now.

Hello, I just pulled out my old kit of Pro Dye. I don't know much about dying and only read the bottles for how to use. It said to have a clean surface and apply with dauber, cotton swabs or sponge. Then rub down again with a clean clothe to remove dried dye. So I adorned the plastic gloves and took a whack at it with a sponge paint brush. The stuff streaked all over the project and dried up each time after only covering 5-8 inches (which happens to be 1 brush stroke). ... you can guess the outcome of doing this. It got really dark and looked pretty bad and I had no control on it. I looked up a ton of sites of how to's and found that you supposed to dampen the leather first... 1st question: Is this true with all dyes? is it supposed to be damp first with all types of dyes in general? (I don't know what my dye is... it don't say but it does say it has alcohol in it.) Many places listed a few dyes...but from what I gathered. There's spirit dyes, oil based dyes, alcohol dyes and water based dyes... 2nd Question: Is this true? Is that all of the types or are they not explaining everything or are they mixing things up? So the next day my project was as hard as a rock. So I took water and used a sponge and soaked it to spread out the dyes... it worked a good bit and evened out the blotches. I then took it and flexed it a bunch to help the fibers... after a few hours of flexing it and letting it dry; it felt somewhat better. So I took out saddle soap and drenched it with a sponge and vigorously rubbed it in. Saddle soap is to help restore the leathers natural properties... So I figured it couldn't hurt as this point. After applying it 2 times. It's now 80% better! I kept it moving as well for hours while it dried. So I hope that part helps out others as well if they find themselves stuck like I did. Here's my last question... I have few options for finishes and I'm confused on what to do. 1st... the saddle soap helped allot... do I even bother with adding a finishing protective coat? I'm not sure if it is considered a finish or not...? 2nd: I have the following finishes available and they all seem to be just as good as the other and I have no clue what to use and if 1 of them would screw it up again or whatever. and can I use more than one of them? Here is the list of what I have. -Fiebing's Leather Balm with atom wax (neutral) (The side says: ... is specially formulated for cleaning, softening, polishing and restoring smooth leather, shoes, handbags, boots and sporting goods. Buffs to a rich, satiny gloss. Do not use on fibrous or suede finish leathers. Protect from freezing.) -Carnauba Creame Leather Finish #22012-01 by LF Tandy (The side says: Natural Carnuba Creme - Recommended for fast, easy application on all leather goods. Tandy's carnauba Creme provides a natural wax finish that resist finger prints and scuff marks.) -Snow-proof Weatherproofing - Original formula (Helps prevent mildew, dry rot, salt stains, and scuff marks. -Fiebings's Saddle Soap - Clean and Polish in one easy Step. This is not a liquid version (Bottom says: Cleans thoroughly while restoring the natural preservative leather oils. ... Cleans leather and lubricates the fibers to prevent brittleness... Maintaining suppleness and strength.) Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Hello, I just pulled out my old kit of Pro Dye. I don't know much about dying and only read the bottles for how to use. It said to have a clean surface and apply with douber, cotton swobs or sponge. Then rub down again with a clean clothe to remove dried dye. So I adorned the plastic gloves and took a whack at it with a sponge paint brush. The stuff streaked all over the project and dried up each time ofter only covering 5-8 inches (which happens to be 1 brush stroke). ... you can guess the outcome of doing this. It got really dark and looked pretty bad and I had no control on it. I looked up a ton of sites of how to's and found that you supposed to dampen the leather first... 1st question: Is this true with all dyes? is it supposed to be damp first with all types of dyes in general? (I don't know what my dye is... it don't say but it does say it has alchol in it.) Many places listed a few dyes...but from what I gathered. Theres spirit dyes, oil based dyes, alchol dyes and water based dyes... 2nd Question: Is this true? Is that all of the types or are they not explaining everything or are they mixing things up? So the next day my project was as hard as a rock. So I took water and used a sponge and soaked it to spread out the dyes... it worked a good bit and evened out the blotches. I then took it and flexed it a bunch to help the fibers... after a few hours of flexing it and letting it dry; it felt somewhat better. So I took out saddle soap and drinched it with a sponge and vigrously rubbed it in. Saddle soap is to help restore the leathers natural properties... So I figured it couldn't hurt as this point. After applying it 2 times. It's now 80% better! I kept it moving as well for hours while it dried. So I hope that part helps out others as well if they find them selves stuck like I did. Here's my last question... I have few options for finishes and I'm confused on what to do. 1st... the saddle soap helped alot... do I even bother with adding a finishing protective coat? I'm not sure if it is considered a finish or not...? 2nd: I have the following finishes available and they all seem to be just as good as the other and I have no clue what to use and if 1 of them would screw it up again or whatever. and can I use more than one of them? Here is the list of what I have. -Fiebing's Leather Balm with atom wax (neutral) (The side says: ... is specially formulated for cleaning, softening, polishing and restoring smooth leather, shoes, handbags, boots and sporting goods. Buffs to a rich, satiny gloss. Do not use on fibrous or suede finish leathers. Protect from freezing.) -Carnauba Creame Leather Finish #22012-01 by LF tandy (The side says: Natural Carnuba Creme - Recommended for fast, easy application on all leather goods. Tandy's carnauba Creme providess a natural wax finish that resist finger prints and scuff marks.) -Snow-proof Weatherproofing - Orginal formula (Helps prevent mildew, dry rot, salt stains, and scuff marks. -Fiebings's Saddle Soap - Clean and Polish in one easy Step. This is not a liquid version (Bottom says: Cleans thoroughly while restoring the natural preservative leather oils. ... Cleans leather and lubricates the fibres to prevent brittleness... Maintaining suppleness and strength.