LeatherLyfe

Apologies if this has been asked before, I read some good discussions on this topic a while ago but can't seem to find them anymore! I am looking for a way to upgrade my burnishing technique. I work mostly with belts and straps and burnishing the edges by hand is becoming time consuming and quite hard on my arm. I want to upgrade to a burnishing machine to reduce the amount of stress on my body. Leather is only a part time gig for me but I work out of my bachelor apartment so space is a majorly limiting factor. I am wondering if I can get away with using a dremel burnisher instead of a modified bench grinder as it would take up a lot less space. I previously came across some threads that were very positive about dremel burnishers and offered helpful advice on the best burnisher attachments and speeds to use but I oddly cannot find them anymore. If you can direct me towards any of those threads, that would be great! Otherwise, what is your own advice/experience with dremel burnishers? They appeal to me both for their size and simplicity, I don't have any experience with rotary tools and find it difficult to follow any of the guides to modifying a bench grinder for burnishing. I'd much rather invest in a high end dremel than try to diy anything, but I'm open to the possibility if y'all seriously discourage the dremel idea. My current burnishing technique is using gum tragacanth on beveled vegtan or oil tan before airbrushing with acrylic dye (vegtan only). Any advice, opinions, or words of caution?

Hey folks, relatively new to leather and looking for some advice before I invest in my next hide. I have so far been working with natural vegtan and dyeing it with acrylic dye, but I'm interested in purchasing a drum-dyed vegtan hide but am curious as to how the additional tallows and waxes from the dyeing process will affect the vegtan's properties. I'd like to experiment with using my airbrush to stencil designs onto black vegtan with acrylic dye. Will a black dyed vegtan absorb the dye the same way that natural vegtan would? Is there a specific variety of dyed vegtan that would suit me better than others (ex. harness vs bridle)? Thank you!

How long should I wait between coats? Should I let each coat dry before I apply the next one, or will letting the base coats dry prevent the dye from sinking deeper into the leather?

If the colour is already opaque, should I still be adding more layers of dye? Is there anything else I can be doing to help the acrylic dye sink into the leather?

Hi folks! I've been airbrushing leather with Fiebings acrylic dye and then using diluted acrylic resolene as a top coat. The end result looks great and is quite flexible, but I'm finding that the acrylic dye is getting chipped or removed very easily, such as when I put the dyed leather through a buckle (the first time, not even after doing it repeatedly). My question is, is there a better sealant I could be using as a top coat to protect my leather dye? Should I use more acrylic resolene? Any advice is appreciated! Thanks!

Hey y'all! I am an amateur leatherworker who has made a bit of a name for myself at local craft fairs and markets for vibrantly dyed leather goods (mostly collars, harnesses, and other items that don't need to be extremely flexible). So far I have achieved this using Fiebing's acrylic dye and an airbrush, but I am interested in branching out to use different products with a wider shade range. I am thinking of going with the Angelus acrylic leather paint but I often see the words "paint" and "dye" used interchangeably for acrylic products. Are these terms synonyms or are there substantial differences between a leather dye and a leather paint that I should be conscious of before trying to colour large strips of leather with the paint? Furthermore, is there any difference between an acrylic dye like Fiebings and a fluid acrylic pigment like those sold at craft stores? Thanks a bunch!