Fiebings Antique pastes and Resolene are a waste of money

[Vithonil]

Hi folks,

 

 

 

Above pictures are of my tooled belt.

 

I have followed a dozen tutorials at this point, and all of them say to use the antique paste and seal it with resolene. I have done that. I have let it dry completely, a little, applied resolene when the paste was still wet. I have applied the resolene with sheep skin, a rag, a sponge, and even bought a goddamn airbrush. I have sealed with tan kote, and with leather sheen.

 

But its always the same: within hours of wearing the belt the paste just crumbles out and falls off. Why do I even bother? Its getting really frustrating. I cannot get the paste to stick to my belt and not wear off within mere hours of wear. Awful!

 

And the antique gels are even worse..

 

If anybody has some ideas for this please let me know this is so stupid.

Edited January 2, 2023 by Northmount
Uploaded files from 3rd party host so they are stored here on LW

[Northmount]

@Vithonil Please post photos on this site rather than 3rd party hosts.  Many 3rd party links are broken due to hosts changing policies, owners moving or deleting files, etc.  Then the post or thread as a whole becomes useless for future reference by anyone.

I downloaded from your host and uploaded your files here.

[Leescustomleather]

You are doing it backwards apply the Resoline to seal the leather after dyeing then the paste after the resoline dries to get the color down into the tooling then wipe away the excess paste. after it t dries put on a final coat of resoline to seal. The first coat of Resoline seals the leather so the paste only dyes the tooling indentations. If a product has been working for thousands of folks for many years, then chances are it is not the product that is at fault.

[tsunkasapa]

And it sounds like you are leaving too antique on the project.

[JLSleather]

I've been saying for YEARS that ant-streak stuff is low-rent crap.  Looks like the dirt left behind when puddles dry up after a rain.  

Some folks have made it look less abhorent than others, but it NEVER looks good.  And I've seen it do real damage to otherwise very nice carving. 

As one example, look up Don Gonzalez.  Nice tooling.  Seems like a decent fella (though he's a bit heavy on the marketing spiel for me).  Then he puts that ant-streak refuse on it, and sometimes even - UGHHHH - acrylic "dye" (translation: PAINT).  End result being its still not HIDEOUS, but fact is it looked WAY better BEFORE he pooped that paste on it.

I'd show you some carvings I did where I used that paste (same as others, I did it because some said you were "supposed to" use it) but I TOSSED THEM OUT.  I tried it maybe a dozen times over the years - never did care for the look.  NO WAIT ... I DID ship out a project using that stuff, because one gal wrote a really nice check and SPECIFICALLY ASKED for it.  I made a belt to replace an old family heirloom.... and she wanted it done the same way with the same carving.  Lemme see kin I find those pics ...

Yeah, here's the belts.  To be fair the one lying flat is pretty old with significant wear, so maybe not a fair "comparison".  You can see the "muddy" look of the ant-streak in the impressions of my new tooling (copied the design from the old belt).\

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here are some projects done WITHOUT ant-streak.  The one with the two straps (saddle billets, not belts) is ANOTHER one I was asked to replace.  Bottom one I received from a customer, ant-streak long gone.  Top is the new and improved - DYED, not 'antiqued'

Edited January 2, 2023 by JLSleather

[chuck123wapati]

i understand your frustration but what's nice is you don't have to  use either one if you don't like em.

[doubleh]

I am with chuck on this. Don't like the results, then quit using it. Pretty simple solution.

Edited January 2, 2023 by doubleh

[JLSleather]

1 minute ago, doubleh said:

I am with chuck on this. Don't like the results than quit using it. 

Yup - each his own

That's why I recommend seeing Don G's videos... he's a very 'by the numbers' step-by-step guy, so you can see how he does it (and his carving is nice mostly) and you can decide at each "step" if you like what's happening.  I personally think that when he gets to the ant-streak step all goes south, but some people like it

 

 

[Vithonil]

2 hours ago, Leescustomleather said:

You are doing it backwards apply the Resoline to seal the leather after dyeing then the paste after the resoline dries to get the color down into the tooling then wipe away the excess paste. after it t dries put on a final coat of resoline to seal. The first coat of Resoline seals the leather so the paste only dyes the tooling indentations. If a product has been working for thousands of folks for many years, then chances are it is not the product that is at fault.

Yes true. I am doing it your exact way though. I use oil, dye backgrounds, use pro resist to seal the leather, antique paste, wipe off, seal with 2 coats of resolene, let dry. No idea what I'm doing wrong.. maybe it is my leather, no idea

[Vithonil]

45 minutes ago, JLSleather said:

Yup - each his own

That's why I recommend seeing Don G's videos... he's a very 'by the numbers' step-by-step guy, so you can see how he does it (and his carving is nice mostly) and you can decide at each "step" if you like what's happening.  I personally think that when he gets to the ant-streak step all goes south, but some people like it

 

 

Problem is I do like it, I love the look when its all unused. I followed his tutorials as well, I feel like I've watched every available tutorial on YouTube about this.. No idea why my paste just rubs off immediately. 

I want it to look fresh at least a year or two, not only 1 hour

1 hour ago, chuck123wapati said:

i understand your frustration but what's nice is you don't have to  use either one if you don't like em.

Not really true, I do like em, I just want them to stay looking good for more than 2 hours of wear, especially for the price and the hype around their products 

[Sheilajeanne]

I've never liked the look I get with antique paste either. Even with several coats of  resist  (have tried both Tandy's and Resolene) the antique darkens the carving far too much. I haven't had a problem with it flaking off though, because I buff like crazy when applying, and after it's dry.

So, JLS, I'm guessing you apply your resist to the carving, then dye the background with a fine brush?  And I'm guessing the same goes for most people who get a really high contrast between their tooled areas and the background?

 

[chuck123wapati]

2 hours ago, Vithonil said:

Problem is I do like it, I love the look when its all unused. I followed his tutorials as well, I feel like I've watched every available tutorial on YouTube about this.. No idea why my paste just rubs off immediately. 

I want it to look fresh at least a year or two, not only 1 hour

Not really true, I do like em, I just want them to stay looking good for more than 2 hours of wear, especially for the price and the hype around their products 

i use both too don't get me wrong but not on belts that go through loops and flex all day long neither will wear well but they have their place for sure.