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Which is better for repelling dye/stain? I need to paint some letters light gray and dye the leather black. I've been experimenting with the two, and am still working on it, but though I'd ask if anyone has any experience in this area. I had planned to dye first, but it distorts the paint color if I paint on dye/stain.

Hello everyone, I am brand spanking new to the leather world! I have just started making leather fire helmet sheilds and so far, so good! Once I was done cutting and tooling the leather, I painted the whole shield white and waited for it to dry. I then came back and painted the background and a bugle on it in back and silver, and to my surprise turned out pretty good for my first time. Every thing to this point has been painted with eco flo, cova color. I then tried putting on super shene and within 2 strokes of the brush the paint started to smear. I have seen several post describing this and one of the biggest things that are mention is buffing the leather. I have tried to buff it and it doesnt seem like anything is coming off, so I am not really sure what to do at this point. Now understand that these shields will endure temps of over 1000 degrees at times. I need to know what I can put on them to seal them from the elements and looking for any advise from others who have made sheilds in the past. Also, am I using the wrong paint, I have seen some people have used 1 shot oil based enamel? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I have no idea if anyone has tried this before, but I thought it may be worth posting. I saw my wife had bought a bottle of " Mod Podge" for a craft project of hers for the kids room. I've use this myself before for other paper craft projects. I thought to my self " I wonder how it works on leather". I tested it on a few scrap pieces of veg tanned leather and let it dry for a couple of hours. I was actually shocked at how well it worked.It left a nice glossy shine on the leather. It resisted water just as well as super shene, maybe better. I tried a tiny bit of Feibings Antique on it, and it resisted it quite nicely. Its a pretty thick substance and tacked up in about 10-15 seconds. Once it tacked up I slightly moistened the sponge with water and went back over it lightly and it thinned the Mod Podge into the same consistency and look as super shene. I even flexed the leather to see if I would get some cracking, but it didn't crack either. I didn't do a rub test or anything like that yet. Disclaimer:: Please do not use Mod Podge as your final finish. I only posted because I though it may be worth looking into further. There's a ton I still haven't learned about leather working and I only tested this on a few scrap pieces, and have no idea how it will hold up in the long run. It may have some kind of negative effect on the leather. Or it may be the next best thing, Who knows.. I will try to post some pics of the practice pieces tomorrow. I have no intentions of using this on any projects, until I test it out further.