fredk

I was wondering that as well but didn't want to look daft asking..... not that you're daft, just smart to actually ask ....so thanks for that link

If you can get the dimensions and the shape, carve one out of wood

1. If you've done your prep right any water should soak into the leather. If it remains as drops on the surface then the leather still has lacquer on it which needs removed as the dye will not get past the lacquer 2. The bigger the better, maybe even a small small spray-gun. A small air-brush will only cover about 2 square inches at a time, you need and will want to work faster. You can get non-compressor spray-guns. You'll need something that can take 500ml [1 UK pint] at a time. With a spray-gun you don't need to worry about the tip, you just want a fan spread. Most good spray-guns have a rotatable head so you get the fan vertical, horizontal or at any angle. Check out car spray painting equipment as well as equipment for spraying outside woodwork. 3. At least 50:50, depends on spray equipment. With a small airbrush I sometimes go to 1 dye to 3 water/alcohol mix 4. Resolene can be diluted with water or alcohol. I use a mix of both. 2 coats might do but I reckon you'd be needing 5 coats, to give long lasting protection and a bit of a shine. More coats = more shine.

Use an elephant stamp and then use a hair tool to put fur on it

1. Hard to say. It'll depend on absorption. I'd recommend have no less than 4 x 32oz bottles each of dye and resolene to hand. 1 x 32oz of deglazer should do 2. Cloth rag only. Scotchbright will scratch the surface 3. I prefer Fiebings standard leather dye, others will recommend the Pro dye 4. Minimum of 18*, 20* better 5. You'll not be 'casing' the leather, but having it moderately damp will help with the spread of the dye thru the leather 6. Yes, dilute the dye. You can apply the dye with a sponge or better yet get a cheap airbrush and compressor and spray the dye on. You'll have better control over the colour density

That looks very nice indeedy Its in the details you know; I see you worked a 'joint' on the arms of the Cross

Could you not just cut the hangy bits with shears/scissors, using the Mk.1 eyeball for judging the width ? By the way ~ This is a bad idea. I tried it and I left the glue on too long and couldn't separate the leather from the card. I tried soaking the combo and most of the card came off but some remained as did the layer of glue. Edit; This is my 1100th post!

Nearly there; two ways; 1. apply a resist first, eg a few coats of resolene, then apply an antique. Wipe off immediately - do not allow it to dry at all. Use kitchen paper towel folded up into a stiff wad block, or even a few layers on a block of wood - refresh the paper surface frequently; one wipe, new paper etc 2. use a dye like Fiebings standard type. Then use a cloth wad, wetted with alcohol such as meths or IPA, to wipe over the work. A stiff wad of cloth or wrapped around a bit of wood. Refresh the cloth surface frequently. The alcohol will remove almost all the dye from any raised surface but will leave some staining behind.

Thanks for sharing this

I'd stick light leather, such as thin deerskin or pigskin. to a piece of compressed card using a rubber based glue such as Copydex, which doesn't soak into the leather and can be peeled off cleanly, then use something like this; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vegetable-Food-Onion-Cutter-Slicer-Peeler-Shredder-Chopper-Kitchen-Gadget-Tool/202320963691?epid=15013120665&hash=item2f1b44e86b:g:qGMAAOSwgTJbBgwy:rk:1:pf:1 Its actually for slicing food. It cuts strips about 2.5mm wide*. I tried it on leather and it works fine, I've also used it to cut strips of polmerclay. You might be able to get one of these slicers locally if you can't wait on the slow-boat [literally] from China * I'm guessing as I can't remember the exact size, the strips might be only 2mm wide. Just about right for a leather tassel tho

Thin them with water first, then some Pledge. I forgot to warn you, the Pledge will do two other things: 1. it'll speed up the drying quite a bit and 2. It'll make them glossy. I reckon you'll want the paints quite thinned so that the first coats soak into the leather before drying and building up the colours with more coats. The 20% is a maximum needed, I sometimes only use about 5% or 10% at most. Also; if you shop about you can find similar products to Pledge at cheaper prices. Read the label on the back. Pledge recommends no more than 5 coats on a floor and 'remove with ammonia in water'. Cheaper products have the exact same properties. I'm in UK. When Pledge went off the market here for a while I found an alternative which is exactly the same except for added scent. Here Pledge costs about £4 to £7 for 500ml, my alternative costs £1 for 750ml. When you find this stuff, do not be put off by its milky appearance; thats to stop people drinking it as the original was as clear as water. It dries perfectly clear.

Store it the way you have, in the cold, warm some of it to use it, it'll last years. Put it on a shelf in sunlight and constant high warmth, it'll last 6 months to a year. I have a small jug bottle, kept on a bottom shelf in the dark, in my workroom which does not get warm nor gets too cold, that bottle is at least 5 years old. edit; PS. I warm my NFO before application as well. I decant some into a jam jar, warm in a micro-oven for a short time, then apply either with a sponge or coarse [child's] painting brush. TBH, I don't use it a lot

The things I don't like about those paints are. 1. the pigment is quite coarse, 2. they always remain water soluble. Even with several coats of sealer on top of them they can still be soluble to any water or moisture. To improve their water resistance; add about 20% of 'Pledge with Future Shine' [aka, Future or Klear] floor polish which is not a polish at all but a very thin acrylic varnish. This turns the paints essentially to an acrylic paint which is not water soluble when dry. *I presume we are discussing the premixed paints. With tablet block paints; wet them with a mix of water and the 'Pledge. . . . '

Neatsfoot oil does get old. Improperly stored it can go rancid - you'll know when it does. Neatsfoot oil is made boiling the feet of cattle [the word Neat = old Middle-English word for cattle] and the lower leg bones to get the fat out of them. This is then refined to remove a lot of the fat and just leave the oils. It sounds like some of the fat has separated out and by heating it up you simply re-melted the fat into the oil

Nice. I reckon you're getting the hang of doing these now

By 'drying' after use of alcohol we mean that it removes the natural oils. Sometime after cleaning, before or after dyeing, apply some neatsfoot oil to replace the lost oils. Use pure neatsfoot oil and not NFO compound which has other additives in it The water will only harden the leather if you soak it and dry it too fast. A mild washing will not overly affect the leather properties. If you use soapy water it will remove some of the oils - again apply some NFO You can wet mould after applying dye, but before sealing the dye

Years ago a friend of mine cleared a load of display boxes from a cancelled order. The boxes were about 6" square base by 10" tall with clear panels on three sides. His selling was, 'quality display box with Free Invisible Man' £xx - he sold the lot, about 250, at just a few craft-fairs. - I kid you not, this is true. It was about the same time the pet rock was the rage

If I may give a similar but reverse situation. N.I. has an average of 80% humidity and 12* C [53* F] I had to make and cover interior panels for a vintage car. The older ones [not vintage, but old] were taken off and I cut new panels out of hardboard exactly to the same size. Then they were covered in upholstery leather using contact glue. At every stage the size of the panels was checked, by measure and by placement. This work was done in the spring. The panels were put into an empty office near the car being rebuilt, adjoining the garage workshop. When it came to fitting the panels early in the winter almost all of them were too big. I measured them, all too big. We put the panels into a heated office for a month and they shrunk back to their original size. In those few months the hardboard had absorbed enough extra atmospheric moisture for them to expand

That looks just grand so it does Just a wee 'but'. . the edge which will be along the fold over looks a bit too fussy

I'm thinking it sounds like water/moisture evaporation shrinkage in an exceptionally dry environment. The boards, before covering, and the leather might have needed a week, or even more, in that environment for them to shrink and stabilise. In they way even dry timber needs to be in its end use environment to stabilise

May I join in? Here in N.I. 'Game of Thrones' has been a big employer for about 10 years. Its also flooded the market with 'medieval' leather goods - items supplied to the extras on the movies, they get several new issues during the filming, so they sell off their 'old' stuff. Problem is, those 'medieval' style leather items from GoT are fantasy designs. I used to make leather goods for the local re-enactors. I have a library full of books written by archaeologists and museums. The items I made were made according to actual period finds - but, more and more, people started telling me my stuff was historically wrong as it was so different to the 'Game of Thrones' items - people insisted that GoT was historically correct and I was wrong, even after I showed them the find example in a museum publication. It wasn't just the style and designs, it was in the quality of the leather, the way the items are sewn together. People would rather believe that medieval people could not make nice looking, robust and well put together leather goods. The buyers of GoT items would rather pay 4x for a 'correct' piece than my modest price for a better constructed item. I stopped doing the 'medieval' fairs and such after a bit too much of this thank you ~ rant mode off

I suppose I should make something fit for purpose rather than cobbling together a stright piece of MDF, supported by the blocks on a Black & Decker workmate thingy, or using a the side of a block of granite for short straps

Problem with bags of 'scrap', you just don't know what you are getting. With larger pieces bought specially, belly leather stretches the most, with back and shoulder stretching the least, ususually none at all. But you need to know what you've bought. With 'scraps', take a piece, cut a long thin piece [5mm x 100mm minimum length] off a bit and pull it in your hands, you'll soon see how much belly will stretch The 'fix' mentioned above is a good one. You can sitll do a 'wet mould' on it. Either with the items for it, wrapped in ceran food wrap, or wood blocks. Soak in warm, but not hot, water and dry quickly using a warm air flow, like from a hair dryer. The leather will shrink a bit and tighten up. But this is risky and should only be done with experience or as a desperate measure. I tighted up the holder on this knife sheath doing the warm water method. It tightened it up so tight that the sheath could not be removed from it, which was required.

gottcha, understand how it fits now. Well thought out then so it is

They look nicely moulded and sewn but wot he asks, its not the tang tho - its the finger guard *the tang is the part of the knife metal which runs up into the handle/grip