PlatypusMax

I emboss a lot of small pieces of leather. Leaves, fabric textures, etc. Till recently, I was using a vice with the leather positioned between 2 pieces of wood and sometimes a piece of hard plastic for more detail to come through -My husband just got me something like this press - https://www.amazon.com/OrangeA-Leather-Embossing-Leathercraft-Materials/dp/B07H2ZZBK3?th=1 - and it works really well, but if you don't want to make the investment and have a vice already, it may do what you need. This was my vice setup:

This is interesting, thank you for sharing your notes! I am experimenting with vinagaroon after learning about it last week. One more thing to throw into the mix is hand warmer packets as a source of iron. I don't have steel wool in the house but since it's ski season in new england, I do have hand warmers. I happened to recall my son once asking me how they work, looking it up and learning that they are made of fine iron shavings and they warm your hand by oxidizing at just the right pace. I tried a recipe that involved both vinegar and peroxide, and it is working ok but is definitely a smelly mess and leaves the leather smelling like vinegar. I'm going to do some more testing with just vinegar then a separate neutralization step. I am also going to try tea-soaking advice I read elsewhere -- anyone have experience with this and have suggestions on what brands of basic cheap tea might have the highest tannin content, and how long to soak? Does the order matter or could you soak in tea after the vinegaroon? Thanks.

Thanks, good info. Timing may be a factor, I do have a tendency to rush things! I also just learned about vinegaroon dye, which I'm intrigued by (I found a quick recipe using handwarmers (https://imgur.com/gallery/gG86n) that I'm testing out. Big question is if I can get the black dark enough and if anyone has long-term experience, how it wears over time.

I make jewelry/accessories and am trying to optimize my process to make things more consistently etc. Starting with embossed veg tan leather. I currently am using mostly tandy black dye (I am not partial to it -- would be happy with anything affordable that I can buy in bulk). I then apply a sheen coat of a metallic angelus paint with a roller, so the black low areas show up nicely. Then I have been applying tandy ecoflo with a dauber but find it messes up the paint layer. I have read about this in other strings (thank you!) and am trying to resolve. Suggestions I read about include using an air brush, which I may consider in the future. (I already am playing with tests using a simple spray bottle for comparison and it does speed things up when I have a lot of small pieces). I also saw there was a debate between ecoflo, resolene, and a mop & glo suggestion (that I haven't yet jumped on). Specifically what I'm wondering is if I can just seal the DYE coat before I apply the paint, and then skip sealing the paint layer? Will the paint layer be safe and ok for use if it is unsealed? Angelus paints are acrylic but they sell their own acrylic sealer which they say prevents scratching. (Their target customers are mostly custom shoe painters, which is not what I'm doing, so I don't know if this issue is relevant for non-shoe products!) Anyone have experience with angelus sealers to know if they also dissolve acrylic paints? Thanks.