First antiqueing attempt.

[Tophee]

 This is my first attempt at antiqueing anything. New to leather work in general, did not contrast as much as I wanted and it stained the leather even after I applied resolene as my resist. The antique kept coming out when I went to wipe off the excess shortly after applying. The long piece was an attempt at making a book mark. It was by far the worst one affected. Im using fiebings antique paste Mahogany. I am also just using stamps at the moment since I feel they would be easier to start with than carving in the leather for now. I have few stamps so that is the reason for the similarities. Maybe the stamps just arent deep enough to antique, I am not sure. Process I did for these was dye, let dry, apply resolene and let that dry. Apllied antique, wiped off excess, let dry than add final coat of resolene. 

[Mablung]

It looks like the leather may have been too wet when you stamped it. Also, did you stamp the flesh (fuzzy) side? It looks that way. That can be done, but the definition is usually less clear. I may be misinterpreting the pictures, though. Did you allow the Resolene to dry fully? It doesn’t take long to dry, but it does need some time before it will act as a resist well. How did you apply it?

[Tophee]

I dampend the leather with just water on my fingers. Was not even wet really. I did not stamp the flesh side, I did use a texture punch also so it may be the reason it looks that way. I let the resolene dry completely for about an hour. Applied with a wool dauber and wiped off any excess.

[Mablung]

Ah, okay. The matting tool or whatever other thing you used probably made it look that way. You may have needed to dampen it further to get deeper stamp impressions, possibly. 

[Tophee]

Possible, there are good impressions left. But maybe the stamps just arent made with deep enough grooves for antiqueing. Or I am just not doing the whole process right.

[SUP]

You could try dampening the leather with a spray bottle. That gives a more consistent casing. 

Also you could check to see how  deep the water has penetrated. Look at the edge of the leather; you should get an idea. It should penetrate to about half the depth of the leather. More and it might become soggy, less and it will not take a good stamp. 

Edited April 28, 2024 by SUP

[Tophee]

I do have a little spray bottle that was originally for a hand sanitizer I cleaned and filled with water. But figured it was wetting the leather too much so for these i just made sure the surface was moist. Even with a bad stamp tho I would think an antique paste would make its way into any of the impressions well enough to not come out when wiping off the excess. Again maybe im just not doing the whole process incorrectly.

 

[chuck123wapati]

your impressions aren't deep enough to hold antiquing, either to dry or to wet, not hard enough with the mallet or to thin of leather or any combination of those. 

Casing is very important to get a good impression. 

[Tophee]

Im using a 7oz leather. From a post or 2 ive found on this forum, minimal for stamping and tooling according to some would be 4-5oz I believe what was said. So I should be good with that at least. Gonna have to play around with casing the leather with these scraps I got. Appreciate the help from everyone by the way.

[Mablung]

It’s not necessary, but I tend to soak my leather and stick it in a plastic bag to let the water work its way into the fibers thoroughly. Wetting it as much as I do requires leaving it out for a few hours to dry before trying to work with it, but it guarantees a consistent case. Play around with the amount of water you use, as long as you give it enough time to soak in evenly and consistently. That’s the most important thing. 
 

You might try getting a 9 oz craft panel to practice with. I find that additional thickness easier to work with. Also, any idea what part of the hide you’re using? Back, shoulder, belly? That will also affect how well it stamps and the method and degree to which it needs to be cased.