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