Natalie O

Hello Mike, And thank you too for taking the time to give me some advice. I am now waiting for some new leather to try some of the advice people have given me over here. So here's a a question that might be a bit stupid, is super sheen always acrylic? Cause my bottle says water based. And would you think its better to work with acrylic dyes and antiques instead of water based dyes? What is most commonly used?

Hey Chavez When you say that the acrylic resolene takes time to learn to apply (and since i have some issues with patience) is it really that complicated? Any tips on how many layers and how you apply it? Thanks! And a last more general question. I ve read a lot about the advantages and disadvantages of every type of dye, and in the end i m still confused about whats best. If i used acrylic dyes or antiques would i still have this problem? And which dye actually gives a better result?

Hello. We do have quite a few products like that over here. Especially for wooden floors. However i don't know if all of them are good. Is it possible for them to have some sort of chemicals that will destroy the leather?

Hey! I would like to try the oil or wax based finish but since i live in Greece and i can only get stuff from the internet. So far all i can find on amazon or ebay is super shene ,acrylic finish by fiebings, satin super shene, acrylic resolene sealer and fiebings saddle lac spray. Should i use that last one since its spray? Is there any other products you would recomend that i can get here? Thanks for the advice

I dont have an airbrush but i ll try the spray bottle idea. Thanks! And by the way how do you know? I did that too actually. When i realized the paint was coming off with the cloth i took a paint brush and tried to apply it on the dyed area. Guess what! The coat was so thick the dye just floated away and my brush is now green! I nearly gave up. It was so frustrating! Seeing that a lot of you had the same problem is a comfort though. Hopefully in a few days i ll have something decent to show you!

Aw, thats too bad. Thank you though. I ll try that. However, if i use a cloth, i ll still have the dye coming off. And if i do apply 2 coats to the area i dont want dye on, and then dye the rest of it, well in the end the dyed part will need a finish coat too. Is there a risk of the finish being too thick if i apply another 2-3 layers on the whole porject in the end?

Thank you all for your advice!!! It has been really helpful. I was so frustrated. I had spent hours making that project and now it looks like something a kinder garden student made.I surely will start testing everything before i use it. And now i got more things i have to buy. Is everyone here from the US? I live very far from that, and cant get nearly anything here. I'm afraid leather crafting is not that popular in my country. I get most of my things from amazon. If i don't find the Clear Lac whats the next best thing?

Hello. I guess i could try that, but using oil would still make it ok for me to work with water based dye? Thanks

Hello and thanks for your reply, I ll try to upload a picture of it later (although the outcome makes me very NOT proud to show it in public ) Well, i cleaned it with alcohol (someone told me its good to use it, i dont know if its right???). and basically that kind of dries instantly. As for the tooling....the dye that came off was actually frost a part that wasnt tooled at all! I left it dry but not over night. Maybe it needed more time, i dont know. And also another thing that happened with this product is that it says that if you use 2 layers of it , it can be used as a resist finish. i was trying to work my way around the patern but the dye just didnt look consistant (using a small brush to do the details) so i put 2 layers of the product, let it dry, and thought that i could then just work the dye on the patern, having the patern to remain in its original colour and the rest of it to get dyed evenly.....The patern changed colour too. I know there are special products for that but it said on the bottle it could do the same thing. Any ideas about that? Thanks

Hey guys, I am kind of new at leather crafting. I have been making quivers mostly wich didnt require any tooling but i decided to start some new projects. I bought books, stamps, tools, dyes and everything that seemed to be needed. I tooled my leather, cleaned it to remove any wax or oil, and then when it dried i proceeded with the colouring. I used a water based dye (eco flo). I let it dry, i buffed it and then i applied the finish. I used a super shene....and it was a disaster! I only wanted one part of the project to be dyed and the rest to remain in its natural colour. I took a cloth, put some of the product on it and started working it on the leather. The dye came off the coloured parts and just spreaded on the rest of the project which now looks so bad i ll have to throw it away. Any ideas about why this happened??? Please!! Thank you!