Check book cover

[carr52]

I haven't done a basket weave for awhile so I thought I'd give it another shot. Also thought I'd take a pic of it before I screw it up trying to put a finish on it. I thought I was happy with the finish on the last couple of projects but when I saw the pics. Bummer. I'll just have to keep working on it. At least I didn't get the basket weave all over the border as much this time. I think I need to do something else to that border though. Camouflage maybe.

Tom

[Dually]

Hi Tom, nice work. Real consistant lines with your B/W. Its subjictive of coarse, but I prefer a little more angle when stamping at an angle. (sounds redundant huh?) A border would really add, and the great thing is, its really open to the imagination. Camo is just one option. And I think we've all had finish nightmares.

[HARVEY]

"Before I screw it up trying to put a finish on it."

Aah, a man after my own heart. My standard saying is "No project's ever finished until you screw it up in the final stages." Trying to get the right finish, for me at least, is always grief. I've read a lot of what others have posted on how to get the right finish. I think maybe I'm missing that gene. Talk about aggravation and frustration. BUT . . . hang in there.

AND . . . nice basketweave work.

Harvey

Los Angeles

[Luke Hatley]

A +........ yes use the camofloge tool.........put a resist down then antique it.

[carr52]

A +........ yes use the camofloge tool.........put a resist down then antique it.

When you say a resist what do you mean? The only thing I've ever done is used super sheen and it doesn't allow much stain to get in or the Eco-Flo block out finish?

Tom

[Luke Hatley]

super sheen would act as a resist. then apply fiebings antique paste then buff the antique

off.

the antique will be in all the depressions.

[rustyriggin]

Nice tooling, I like the floral with B/W, and I agree with Luke on the antique.

[carr52]

Alright, thanks guys.

Tom

[electrathon]

Practice on something you do not care about first. If you do not have a good coat of finish on the leather, you will have an icky dirty looking mess. If you do it correctly, it will highlite all of the crevaces and it will be pretty.

[rcsaddles]

Looks great, Tom. I'm looking forward to seeing the "finished" product. I agree with the practice on something you don't care about. My scrap box is getting low because of that.

Joe

[carr52]

Well here it is finished. Didn't come out as dark as I wanted. Where did I go wrong? I put the resist on "super sheen" then put a coat of fiebings Sheridan brown on it and buffed it off. I like the way it fills in the cracks and highlights the basket weave but I would rather it came out just a little darker. I used a calf skin lace which I have only used once before so I punched holes instead of slits. I found out the first time that calf skin doesn't like being squeezed through tight places.

Tom

[electrathon]

Very good on the lacing.

[carr52]

Very good on the lacing.

Thank you. I kinda like it too. The calf skin feels different. I don't think it will be as durable as the pro lace but I still like it. Have to take the good with the bad I guess. How can I get the color darker? Should I leave the Fiebings on longer before I buff it off?

Tom

[pete]

you didn't do anything wrong. The leather was really light when you started and by putting on the resist you merely "blocked" the leather from taking on any color. I would have put on a nice coat of neats or my favorite, Bick's and chocolate dye mix. After you got the leather that color that you wanted THEN put on the resist. The Sherdian brown is NOT a very dark color and you sure can't expect it to color the overall project- THAT"S WHY you out the resist on! It's SUPPOSED to color the impressions and cuts- that;s all

Looks nice anyway and good color choice on the lacing.

pete

[carr52]

you didn't do anything wrong. The leather was really light when you started and by putting on the resist you merely "blocked" the leather from taking on any color. I would have put on a nice coat of neats or my favorite, Bick's and chocolate dye mix. After you got the leather that color that you wanted THEN put on the resist. The Sherdian brown is NOT a very dark color and you sure can't expect it to color the overall project- THAT"S WHY you out the resist on! It's SUPPOSED to color the impressions and cuts- that;s all

Looks nice anyway and good color choice on the lacing.

pete

Ok I get it now. Color it the color I want then resist the project and apply the fiebings paste. Thanks.

Tom

[electrathon]

Ok I get it now. Color it the color I want then resist the project and apply the fiebings paste. Thanks.

Tom

Yes, the antique is only to fill in the low spots, it is not to color the whole piece. It looks good what you did.

[ClayB]

Tom,

Something else you might try (on some scrap first) is to use antique without a resist. It will darken all the leather some, but still be deeper in the cracks and depresions. When I first learned to color leather, we didn't use a resist before using antique. You can also thin the antique (Fiebings) with Tan Kote to make it easier to work with, and somewhat lighter. If after you apply it and the high/smooth spots of your carving are darker than you want, wipe it down with a damp sponge and Tan Kote again and it may remove more of the antique. Just a damp sponge will take more of it off the high spots too. Just some ideas to play with. There are lots of different ways to color leather and you just have to do a lot of experimenting to see what you like and what works for you. It's a good way to use up some scraps cuz your gonna find some things that just DONT work too!

You've been putting out some nice projects lately.

[electrathon]

You've been putting out some nice projects lately.

Praise from one of the masters, very cool!

[carr52]

Thank you, all. I could not have have come as far as I have with out your help. So any praise goes to you.

Tom