CrossleyLeathercraft

I use a bit of craft glue on the bottom of my singer foot to fill in the teeth so they don't leave an impression, but still enough grip to pull the leather through, it's not an ideal fix but it does the job for me!

Love it!

Thank you very much for your advice! Extremely helpful Denene

So leather balm/carnauba cream on top of snow proof paste, should I also put a conditioner underneath the snow proof paste? It's for a Christmas present so I've got some time to experiment, I'll post a pic if it turns out OK. Electrathon, that is a good point to consider, I'm sure this person will know how to maintain leather (Hunters are certainly no stranger to it!) are there any products you would recommend to keep it in good condition after a soaking? would the leather balm or carnauba cream do the job? Denene

Art, I haven't had any problems (yet) with flexing, but with a collar I guess it would be a bit more extreme. I've looked up those breathable finishes you mentioned and they say that they're more for conditioning rather than finishing leather, should I put one of those on first and then the snow proof paste? Surely there can't be much point to putting a conditioner on top of a waterproof finish? Denene

Thanks for your reply! Do those breathable finishes wear off after a while? Will they need reapplying at some point? Also, will those finishes affect the colour in any way? Denene

I was wondering what you guys would suggest for finishing/waterproofing a dog collar. So far I've only made items that won't really see much heavy use outdoors and I've been happy using super sheen on them(purses and small cases and such), I'm looking to make a collar for a working lab, so it's going to get wet and see a fair bit of use. I have super sheen, acrylic resolene, and feibings snow proof paste, could I use the snow proof paste as a finish in itself? or should I put it on top of one of the other finishes? I wouldn't want to use neatsfoot oil because I plan to colour it and it turns everything pretty dark. And could any one suggest how to protect the back side of the collar? I was thinking of sewing two pieces of leather together back to back to get the right thickness, could I use the same finish then on the back? Any help on this would be appreciated! Denene

I've never used gum trag as a resist but I've had great results with super sheen, are you using leather dye or acrylic paint for the letters? If you're using leather dye then would suggest doing the letters first, then sealing them with super sheen (make sure it's completely dry), then dying the rest of the item., remove excess dye smudges from the letters with a damp paper towel. With acrylic paints I've had a good success rate with dying the entire thing, applying the finish, and then painting on top, the super sheen stops the acrylic from 'merging' with the dye or if theres any excess residue it doesnt get integrated into the paint. However I haven't used that technique over black dye, I've used it on dark blue and purple and it's turned out ok, I shouldn't think It would come out much different. Hope this has been helpful! http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?app=galleryℑ=29834 (letters and rose are purple underneath, the bell was sealed before the dye went on and then painted to see if there would be any colour difference, and there doesn't seem to be!)