Need Advice

[bkeller]

I am fairly new to leather working and I need a bit of advice. I have only done a few "simple" projects so far and am in the process of making my wife a purse (my first "big" project). I have all the pieces cut and ready to stamp/carve. I am just doing a simple pattern on the front and back of the purse. I would like to dye/color the recessed, stamped, areas, and possibly the gussetts and shopulder strap of the purse a few shades darker than the rest.

The questions I have are:

1.What would be the best dye to use? and the best way to dye the purse so the dye/color doesn't "bleed" into the other areas?

2. What is the best finish to put on the purse? I want to make it so that it is protected from any discoloration from rain, sun snow etc.

3. Should I put any kind of lining, I have a side of garment grade sheep skin, inside, and if so what is the best way to do it?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

Brad

[bkeller]

I am fairly new to leather working and I need a bit of advice. I have only done a few "simple" projects so far and am in the process of making my wife a purse (my first "big" project). I have all the pieces cut and ready to stamp/carve. I am just doing a simple pattern on the front and back of the purse. I would like to dye/color the recessed, stamped areas, and possibly the gussetts and shopulder strap of the purse a few shades darker than the rest.

The questions I have are:

1.What would be the best dye to use? and the best way to dye the purse so the dye/color doesn't "bleed" into the other areas?

2. What is the best finish to put on the purse? I want to make it so that it is protected from any discoloration from rain, sun snow etc.

3. Should I put any kind of lining, I have a side of garment grade sheep skin, inside, and if so what is the best way to do it?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

Brad

[hidepounder]

bkeller,

I would use a Fiebings or Angelus spirit dye to do the background of the tooling. You could use the same color spirit dye for the gussets if you wanted, but my recomendation would be not to dye the gussets and to apply an antique finish to the entire purse after you've dyed the background of the tooling. As for the the lining, there are a couple of ways to go. You can glue your lining pieces to the back of the exterior pieces or you can fabricate a lning that attaches at the top opening of the purse and just hangs inside. I would glue to the flesh side and then assemble everything....that's considerably easier to do in my opinion.

Hope this helps...

Bobby