Tips using Tandy antique stain?

[Chitin]

So I'm giving Tandy's antiquing stain a first go... I'm following the instructions on the bottle: apply with damp sponge, wait five minutes, and wipe the stain off the raised bits. Thing is, it's not wiping off, and my pieces keep coming out a uniform brown! What am I doing wrong? Have I misunderstood this whole "antiquing" business entirely?

[Johanna]

Wet the sponge and "wash" off the extra?

Johanna

[Chitin]

That's what I've been doing! It just seems to make the leather wetter and doesn't remove anything. Should I be treating it or something beforehand? I followed the instructions on the bottle, which say you should apply with a damp sponge, wait 5-10 minutes, and wipe with a damp sponge. Am I just not putting enough elbow grease into the wiping?

[rat051206]

I have never waited. I put it on with a dobber quickly and wipe off with a wet sponge immediatley. The longer you wait the harder it is to get off, which you have now learned. I am very new at this but I learned very quickly that the stain was very dark & I now thin it out with the solvent I use to clean my brushes. But it all depends on how dark you want it.

Roxie

That's what I've been doing! It just seems to make the leather wetter and doesn't remove anything. Should I be treating it or something beforehand? I followed the instructions on the bottle, which say you should apply with a damp sponge, wait 5-10 minutes, and wipe with a damp sponge. Am I just not putting enough elbow grease into the wiping?

[The Major]

What did you use as your base finish coat before you put the antique on?

[pete]

did you use a resist(rtc, neatlac, etc)? If not then the stain will just "stain" the leather all over and evenly as you found out. You need to put down a resist to allow for contrast.

Sometimes I do what you did to get an even color through-out the piece but it really doesn't show off ANY detail.

[Chitin]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I didn't know I needed to finish it first...

Will Super/Satin shene work? Or someone mentioned Neat Lac, what about Neat's Foot oil?

If someone knows a good tutorial for this online, that would be great!

[Johanna]

You don't HAVE to put any Shene or Neat Lac or finish on the leather before you antique it, unless you want the "resist", which means the antique doesn't absorb into the areas you treated.

Leather absorbs water and chemicals at different rates, even different places on the same hide will accept dye differently. If you used nothing under that antique, I would take the piece to the sink and wash it, getting off as much antique as desired. If it won't come off, check the bottle and be sure you didn't accidentally use a dye. After antique is applied is when a finish coat is essential, or the piece will eventually get wet and bleed. Don't worry if the leather gets soggy, it will dry out. Just don't lay it in direct sunlight.

Johanna

[Billsotx]

Chit,

I'm obviously not much of a carver/tooler but I've been messing with this antique thing trying to figure it out because I like the look. If you're trying to get this look, it was done with a resist. For a resist use one of those sheens, lacs, leens or a wax before you apply the antique. Basically you want to try and protect (coat) the highspots and not cover (coat) the low spots, that is, get it down into the impressions because you want the antique to penetrate there. Coating the highspots lets them "resist" coloring or discoloration if you want to call it that. There's a post or two on this elsewhere on the forum that is more detailed. Without a resist I've found that antique is just another sort of dye, except you can wash a lot of it off like Johanna mentioned. Try that on scrap. If the area you're applying it to doesn't have some carved or tooled impression, it'll just look like a piece of leather some grease monkey wiped his hands on. No offense to the grease monkeys on this site ... lol! ... Oil finish will not serve as a resist from what I've experienced. If anything it preps for better penetration of the antique.

Edited February 9, 2007 by Billsotx

[Leather Bum]

Bill,

I think I see exactly what you mean by trying to resist only the high spots while keeping the resist from penetrating the low spots. . . and that basket stamp sample you showed looks like it has this effect. How did you do it?

LBum

[Billsotx]

Bum,

I used Resolene as a resist and finish. I cut it 50/50 with water and then applied it in two light coats using the "block dye" technique. Spread in one direction along the lines of what you're covering - in this case follow the lines of the basket stamp. Working with 50/50 mix and the lighter coats gives me more control - better to have too little than too much. To me the two coats are kind'a like that ol' measure twice, cut once - you can always add more, but it's heck unadding it ... lol Wipe the excess off your cloth and work with a light hand. You're goal is working the high spots not smearing and daubing it all down in the impressions. I use a stiff material (old bedsheet) instead of a soft one that will get down into the impressions. On a larger piece, I'm messing with a belt right now, I'm going to apply 3 or 4 coats just to make sure I get all the high spots covered. If you're object is to mass produce stuff, this method probably ain't for you. I suppose you could force dry the finish but I don't like putting leather in an oven. Hope this makes sense; if not let me know.

[Billsotx]

I had to bug-out for awhile, but I as hoping I'd get back here and add some more to the above post, but it won't let me edit it. Too much of a time span I guess.

Anyway, when applying the antique over the resist, concentrate on getting it well down into the impressions you want to color (or discolored) and wipe it away from the high spots pretty quickly - as you go if you will. On a small project you can cover the whole thing and then go right back to wiping it away on the high spots, but on a larger one you'll have to remove it as you go. (Incidentally, I believe paste is more forgiving time-wise, than liquid. I haven't tried gel, but I understand that's available. Seems like someone put that in another thread.) Gettin' back to it - work randomly and backtrack at bit so you don't end up with a patch-work look, i.e. overlap where you stop & start again. Not unlike the resist, you can always add on more antique and that's easier than taking it off if it sits too long. If you hit a high spot that's holding too much antique try using water to remove it'; depending on where and how big a spot; that might be a damp piece of cloth wrapped around your finger like when we spit-shine boots or just a damp q-tip. Have that handy when you start the antique application. Dampen with water, as Johanna mentioned you can wash it off and water will remove - "somewhat" - almost, for all practical purposes (is there a lawyer in the house) ... lol!

Maybe Johanna or one of the other moderators can cut 'n paste this post into my earlier piece. Let me know Bum if you have questions and if you try this I'm open to feedback. Everytime someone asks me something, I learn something. Buena suerte amigo......

Bill- I'm just letting you know I'm paying attention, but I'm not going to bother editing you. You explained all of that really well, thanks for helping!~Johanna

[Justis Cases]

I use an entirely different method to accomplish the same thing, except in reverse without using any resist. I use Fiebings antique dye ( not antique finish which I hate because it is so hard to handle on large pieces) availabe from S & T in St.Louis. I apply the dye with a sponge covered with synthetic shamie in a light circular motion as many coats as needed to get the color I want. I spray finish with Fiebings Leather Sheen which I have found to be much better than Resolene in that it dries waxy smooth without being high gloss or tacky, water resistant too!

[Johanna]

When I do resists I use Neat Lac. I sometimes use two coats, letting it dry in between. Then I get a wet sponge, a bucket of water and play with the color until I like it. I let it sit awhile and dry, then "wash it" and maybe do it again, or use a different antique...I play. Each hide acts differently, and absorbs unevenly. A benefit of using the antique finish is letting the grain of the leather show under natural colors, like Jack's case, above. It looks rich and pretty- admit it, it would look like plastic if he would have dyed it bright green instead. Antique can be used to rescue splotchy dye jobs, too.

I like to resist floral carving. I dye my backgrounds with a triple ought sable brush, then Neat Lac names or the scroll patterns or whatever, then antique the whole thing. For a finish, I like Leather Balm with Atom Wax, heavily buffed, or spray Neat lac (if the item won't see much flex)

Johanna

[Leather Bum]

Billsotx:

I used Resolene as a resist and finish. I cut it 50/50 with water and then applied it in two light coats using the "block dye" technique. Spread in one direction along the lines of what you're covering - in this case follow the lines of the basket stamp. Working with 50/50 mix and the lighter coats gives me more control - better to have too little than too much.

Thanks, Bill; that's a very interesting method. It seems like a much better way of staining than merely putting a resist all over the entire piece because the antique is able to actually color the leather instead of just sitting on top of the resist. I have actually tried this method (sort of; using Bee Natural RTC instead), but I have not had much success because I'd like to be able to stain a whole floral carving (in the Sheridan style); because it's so easy to accidentally get the resist where I don't want it (e.g. a flower center), I haven't found it very reliable (yet). . .

Thank you very much for the detailed explanation :D.

LBum

[Billsotx]

Chit,

I'm obviously not much of a carver/tooler but I've been messing with this antique thing trying to figure it out because I like the look. If you're trying to get this look, it was done with a resist. For a resist use one of those sheens, lacs, leens or a wax before you apply the antique. Basically you want to try and protect (coat) the highspots and not cover (coat) the low spots, that is, get it down into the impressions because you want the antique to penetrate there. Coating the highspots lets them "resist" coloring or discoloration if you want to call it that. There's a post or two on this elsewhere on the forum that is more detailed. Without a resist I've found that antique is just another sort of dye, except you can wash a lot of it off like Johanna mentioned. Try that on scrap. If the area you're applying it to doesn't have some carved or tooled impression, it'll just look like a piece of leather some grease monkey wiped his hands on. No offense to the grease monkeys on this site ... lol! ... Oil finish will not serve as a resist from what I've experienced. If anything it preps for better penetration of the antique.

The concho needed a new case as the first one, pictured above, wore out. It was 6/7 oz. veg-tan. The new one is 8/9 oz. I also finished it a little different as per a handout from Hidecrafters, Ft. Worth, TX. - once tooled, sewn and wet molded one coat of neats-foot was applied with shearling and allowed to dry overnight. Resolene was applied as a resist, two coats drying several hours after each coat and concentrating only on the highspots of the tooling and the untooled leather. Medium brown antique paste was gobbed on with shearling and left for ten minutes, then wiped off of the untooled leather and high spots of the tooling with a paper towel, then left to set overnight, and then it was wiped down thoroughly with a damp paper towel and thoroughly buffed with a bristel shoe brush and then left to set another 24 hours. Two thin coats of Tan Kote were applied with 4 hours dry time in between those coats and buffed after each coat with the shoe brush. I mark my shoe brushes as per the color they are used for so that I don't smear a dark color like black, on a Brit tan project or one I'm leaving natural or sun tanning. I'm hard on leather gear but I doubt that original light-weight case would have lasted anyone much longer than it did me - about 11 months is all. I applied two welts before stitching to compensate for the thickness of the heavier leather and it block the belt loop when I wet molded and burnished the inside of the case and it was a perfect fit. I like the top flap because one day in a heavy rain shower I was the only one on the range with a phone that wasn't drowned out; but now I keep a couple of baggies and a piece of plastic wrap in my gear bags just in case - improvised willy-peter bags for all you jarheads and ol' crotchers out there

The pix came out a lot darker that it really is. I'm taxed when it comes to photo editing so it'll have to ride as is . . . .