CitizenKate

You know, you can mix those colors to adjust the tint more to your liking. If it looks too purple (magenta is a purplish-red color), offset the blue with a little yellow to make it more of a true red. This works with any brand of dye. Kate

Thanks, Clay, for your kind offer. Nice try. I was able to brighten up and even out the color somewhat using some neutral shoe polish with some blue dye worked into it, so on with the show. After the antique and finish, I trimmed off the excess backing on my table saw. At this point, it just drops into a 22"x22" picture frame, and I mount the board in the frame using brads driven perpendicular to the board into the side of the frame. The brads do not go through the board. The back is covered with felt... And I like to add a couple of other nice touches... Now, do you know, in my haste to get this thing shipped, I forgot to take a photo of the finished board in its frame. Sorray... guess you'll just have to try to imagine it. I'll try to remember that detail next time. Kate

Thanks for the comments, everyone. Well, now I've run into a bit of a problem. Here it is with the remaining dye work, and that turned out the way I intended. But then when I applied resist (latex-based) to the "bright" colors, the blue did something funny. Some areas of it turned light, but I'm not sure what caused it. I did not get the same effect on the other colors. Not sure what to do about it, for now, but here it is, as such. Kate

The Angelus dyes are very intense. A little of it goes a long way, so I rarely apply it full-strength. I dilute mine with just straight denatured alcohol, which works the same as any of the "reducers", except it's a lot cheaper. You can get a gallon of the denatured alcohol for just a little more than you pay for a 4oz bottle of the reducer. Kate

The colors that were specified by my customer will be somewhat brighter than I usually make them when everything is done, but the antique will tone them down a bit. On the rest of the board, I wanted to use more natural-looking colors. Since I antique most of my game boards, I exaggerate the color slightly so it will show through the antique. So if they seem a little BOMBASTIC right now, sorraaay! I would mix the colors much differently if I was just going to put a sealer over them. The antique will tone everything down, and help everything blend nicely. Kate

Brad, the stamp I used around the circles is a PX006 from HideCrafter's pro crafter collection. The customer who ordered this wanted each home corner and home track for each player to be color-coded red, green, yellow, and blue. I was not sure how the blue dye was going to show up after applying antique. Last time I colored something blue, the antique turned it a beautiful shade of green. So I did a couple of conditioner-dye-resist-antique tests to make sure the colors would end up right. Here's a sneak peak at some of the colors. I think I'm going to try to lighten up that blue a little, but at least it came out blue! Kate

The first impression I make is a very light one. Then, towards the final approach, I make very small adjustments in the spacing of each impression to land the last one in exactly the right spot, and nudge the first one if I have to. By nature, I like to work things out on paper. I came from an engineering background. But I'm a recovering perfectionist. There is a lot to be said for being able to manage the "fudge factor" on the fly. Kate

Once you cut the line, it's pretty easy to use that as a guide for your dividers to make concentric lines. This is a little different from most of my designs. I've been trying to explore more things I can do with just stamps. All the stamping is done now, but I'm thinking there needs to be more in the center. Not sure yet what I'm going to do with that, but here's what I've got so far: Kate

So far, just a lot of beveling and shaping parts with a modeling tool... Now the border stamping begins... Kate

Pete, the circles are cut free-hand. My template marks two points on the circle's edges, then I mark the circle on the leather using a pair of dividers. To keep the dividers from making a mark on the leather in the center of the circle, I lay a small piece of scrap leather there for the pivot point to rest on while marking. Kate

That must be the neutral (uncolored), and I think they do still make it. I've got some that I got from Springfield Leather a while back. I'll have to try that. Cool effect. Kate

Good point, Suze. It's supposed to be "non-toxic" but that doesn't mean you can eat it. As it happens, I've never used a rolling pin to prepare food, anyway. Not much into baking. I'm sorry, Pete, I didn't see your earlier post... but that's true. This makes it very easy to fine-tune exactly where you want everything to go. "Hmmmm... that tool didn't work out to well in that spot, maybe this one will work better." Kate

I've got an order for a Parcheesi board, which I haven't done too many of (but would like to do more). Thought I'd take some photos while I'm working on it to give you guys an idea how I build my game boards. To begin the process, I cut a piece of leather to exactly the dimensions of the board, in this case 22"x22". The leather is permanently mounted on a piece of MDF that is slightly larger (about 24"x24") with contact cement. Before wetting the leather, I use a poster board template and a scratch awl to mark all the intersection points of the board's layout. There are a couple of reasons I do this while the leather is dry. One is that the template is paper, and it will wilt if it comes into contact with wet leather. I can make a plastic template, but the poster board is much easier to come by in large sheets. Once all the points are marked, I wet the leather to get it ready for tooling. The first thing I do once the leather has the right moisture content (I'll let you choose your own method for that - everyone has their own), is to cut the layout lines of the board. And that is the point I am at so far: This board is going to have strictly stamped borders around all the the playing areas and around the outside border, no "carved" designs, per se. So this will be pretty straight-forward. More progress tomorrow! Kate

Those are freakin' cool! You always manage to put together some of the most interesting designs... shapes, textures, colors... what is that white goop you used? Is that an antique paste? Didn't know that came in white. Not sure I would have tried it if I did, until now. Kate

I just found a really slick way to play with new stamping designs that I thought some of you might be interested in. This method lets you play with your stamps all day long without sacrificing any leather, and without spending time rummaging through your scrap bin and casing leather for your stamping experiments. Take some polymer clay, a sheet of glass, a rolling pin, and your stamps. Roll some of the polymer clay flat on the glass. Press your stamps into the soft polymer clay to make your stamping patterns. If you don't like what you got, just wad up the clay, roll it back out flat, and start again. The clay stays soft indefinitely, so you can just keep using it over and over again until you have what you like. If you like it, you can just stick it in the oven for a few minutes to harden it, making a permanent stamping pattern sample. This really lets you see your ideas and work out layout issues before having to commit them to leather. Hope some of you find this as useful as I have. Kate

Another mind-blowing, stunning piece of leather work from hidepounder... Thanks for the inspiration and treating our eyes once again, Bobby. Kate

Tim, so far I have found it at Ace Hardware and Home Depot. Kate

I tried this recently, and I love the stuff! Putting it on in a couple of very light coats leaves the leather flexible without cracking, looking natural, and it's even impervious to hot coffee. Kate

Nice looking coasters, particle! Great way to use up smaller pieces. Kate