"Reverse Dye" Tooling - Impressions Remain Natural Color

["Reverse Dye" Tooling - Impressions Remain Natural Color]

On 11/19/2021 at 11:21 PM, RiverCity said:

Block dying is the correct answer, but you dont need a block. I use a piece of tshirt (I buy tshirt rags by the box/lbs) folded over a few times, and go very lightly from there.

The main trick is, you need to get most of the dye off the cotton before you touch leather. So have another piece of cloth there to blot off excess dye. Another tip is to make sure your impressions are clear and deep. Another tip on the stamping. Wet the leather and then stamp. Do not case the leather, do not wait for it to lighten in color. Stamp when it is too wet. The reason for this is to avoid the stamp burnishing the impression as best as possible. It will stay pretty much the color of the hide.

Here you can see the difference in appearance on a light brown (the burnish from the stamping is close in color), black, and a medium brown.

Hope this helps.

 

What exactly is the hardware you've used to tack the lid to the wood block?  Those small button head nails... are they upholstery tacks?

[Tape Back before or after wet soak?]

What's the proper sequence for taping the back of a large workpeice that I plan to soak in water & store in a large ziplock to case?

 

Would I soak it, let it sit & case in the bag, then tape up the back of it (to prevent stretching) right before I tool  it?  Or do you tape it first?  Other?

["Reverse Dye" Tooling - Impressions Remain Natural Color]

How does one get the effect of dyed leather, where the tooled area (the stamped impressions) remain natural leather color?

 

Ex:

[Air brush for applying Resolene]

How many coats of Resolene should I expect to have to spray (Badger 250, 50/50 with water) to get a seal good enough to prevent bleeding for a wallet?  Used Fiebings OxBlood, 2 coats airbrushed.  Desire is for the wallet not to turn all the money/contents & pockets red or pink when in use!

 

If not resolene, what other finishes are suggested to seal up a brightly dyed wallet to prevent dying your back pocket?

 

Thanks!

[6 slot card holder]

31 minutes ago, CastleLeatherWorks said:

On this card holder and everything i make for that matter i allow some excess material to be cut away to leave me with my finish dimension (so i make the pockets oversized then trim, so i am left with a nice straight cut) instead of trying to square up and fight with 4/5 glued layers of leather that aren't lined up..if that makes sense.

Then i break the edge and burnish with tokonole 2/3 times sanding with finer grits of sandpaper in between.

you can then either dye you're edge and burnish and polish that up or you can do like myself and apply several layers of edge paint sanded in between layers till you get the desired edge you're looking for lol

admittedly iam working on my burnished and dyed edges still. that is why i find it easier to use edge paint because i can achieve a cleaner finish until my skills improve.

 

So that's to say that edge paint may help to mask some of the burnished edges' visible lines, better than just straight dye?  What edge paint do you like?

 

Thanks for the feedback!

[6 slot card holder]

What's the trick to getting such nicely burnished sides?  I'm struggling getting mine to not still show some lines of separation between layers.  Thanks, & wonderful piece!