chuck123wapati

My last tip again with a visual reference, if you cant draw or tool a butterfly as perfectly as you want it to be then draw it imperfectly. Here is a deer I did on a bracer, I know I cant do justice to a life like deer without a lot of practice and any attempt would be wasted leather so I made him un-lifelike. Kinda Celtic but you get my point lol hope this helps.

Good to have all the tools now its a matter then of practice and turning what you see in your mind as a butterfly into something someone else sees as a butterfly. Sorry I don't have butterflies to show that point only roses, both pieces are the same rose only different techniques and a different way of seeing the same thing. As you can also see I'm not great at tooling either. Tooling is about shading or what the light reflects to the eye. I use modeling tools as much as i do bevellers, they are much more subtle and easier to control and get good results when forming the slight variances that make the shadows and also the lifters are a must have imo to complete those shadows. You may want the object to appear to be setting on top of the leather, the fore wings over the back wings etc. and connected to a roundish body You can round your body with a modeling tool for example much easier than with a beveller. You want your shadows to be fluid and show motion or form as it would naturally. I also take and study photos to get a better idea of what I want.

lol I'm sorry to dis agree human skin and leather are two very different things, mineral oil reacts differently to both, one is living tissue is meant to keep unknown substances out of your body and protect you. Leather is tanned and is porous because of the tanning process and has lost that ability it can no longer keep unknown substances out so your comparing apples and oranges. If you don't think mineral oil absorbs completely simply put some on a piece of leather it only takes a minute or two to see that's incorrect. It is however a light oil and that in itself is why it isn't used alone as a liquor for leather, none of the lighter oils are used that way but mixed with something heavier, leather liquors or conditioners are susceptible to gravity, heat and all natures quirks so lighter oils would simply seek natural equilibrium and migrate away if not bound by heavier greases or waxes. The anti fossil fuel/cc industry and food industry has more to do with the bad press of mineral oil than how it actually reacts. It is a natural product produced from "natural resources", that's fact, olive oil is refined as are most any vegetable or animal oils also. If we were truly and honestly trying to be good stewards of nature, like they are training our kids, we would eat the edible oils in the raw unprocessed foods they come from and use the non edibles for leather and lubrication. But instead we buy peanut butter, which is now a waste product from a refining process, with soy bean oil added so we can buy peanut oil for 20 bucks a gallon. The Olive oil BS is even more ridiculous. Sorry for the rant on idiocrasy.

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OMG well there's a lesson in everything lol a story to remember. the good part is there was something left to repair, my bullies would have left nothing. Nice to see your still here!!!

a lifter and modeling tool would be a big help, do you have those?

a real heavy dousing of a good acrylic sealer may work you might test it out to see if it does what you want.

nice work indeed!!!

YW lol some times you have to find the modern names to figure out the recipes. From my feeble knowledge and experience of brain tanning the basic idea is to remove all the stuff inside the leather except the fibers, I can find big words in my book for "stuff" if you need them, then the stuff inside is replaced by the oils or greases. this allows the leather fibers to flex and move against each other easier which we see and feel as softness or suppleness. the fibers don't change they are just lubricated. As for hydration i think that leather being porous takes in and holds only what humidity will allow, that's why it doesn't stay wet I don't think you can hydrate leather to a given state, say 10% because it will simply evaporate to match the natural humidity and that is why you use oils lol they don't dry as quickly. Yea those aren't true conditioners imo if they don't work and go completely into the fiber structure of the leather, leather has to change color somewhat to be conditioned correctly again IMO.

Most air brush paints are acrylic based now a days i believe. I have used both super sheen and the acrylic mix in my airbrush with no problems as well as acrylic paints which again are a basic acrylic solution only with pigments added.. I go about 30 psi As you say just clean real well.

pretty much the same thing friend. if you do one you don't need the other. unless of course you only condition your snow boots. The basics of "liquoring", or "conditioning" leather is pretty straight forward. you might try the #2 petrolatum and beeswax formula in the book. Always test!!!!!

mine are still hanging in the green house all doing fine, BTW i did use Tallow on one of mine Deer if I remember right. a good bit of bending will test the fibers which i do also no need for a microscope.

now those need to baked on the bbq they look great!!

The best tip i can give for any unknown combination of products is, always test it first on a small piece of the same leather!

yes i think you would have much more control and they would look more light and fragile looking if that makes sense

dang nice !!

thats cool!!!

go to the store and buy some acrylic floor wax, mix 50/50 with water. I'm sticking my neck out here the last post from a guy who wanted sealer info didn't really want help. Many of us suggested using this mixture and he went kind of crazy on us. It is widely used as a sealer but its your choice. If you don't want to try it then I'm out of suggestions. Mop and glow or similar, i use pledge future floor wax which works fine too.

if i were to attempt a butterfly i would use a knife around the body and outline of the wings. Bevel between the wings and body and around the wings , maybe lifting the edges a bit. On the wings and body, I would use a stylus only to outline the colored areas and abdomen. then light coats of acrylics to build up the colors.

yes that is correct.

sorry its not about sandals lol. its a cool book even has recipes for fireworks lol. These are all pretty straight forward and of use in all leather products. What you need to remember is that back in the day most leather goods were conditioned to withstand the weather and they didn't condition different types of leather goods with products specific to just one thing. Boot dressing for example was used on belts, gloves satchels and such.

i just made soap out of 6lbs of Elk tallow its something to do with unneeded fats and oils

i have a recipe similar in an old book if you need it. In fact it has a couple recipes i believe. with lanolin and cod oil used. Most younger folks don't think that leather was ever conditioned so they reinvent what was already there. mostly with the new age buzz words added. History has taken some bad knocks in the education field lately.