Sheridan Belt

[Tkleather1]

Well here is my first attempt at a sheridan carved belt. Overall I think it turned out pretty good but I am VERY unhappy with the dye on the letters. I dyed them and let sit for 24 hrs. and they looked nice and even colored. Neat laced the whole belt and let sit for another 24 hrs and they still looked nice and even then I antiqued and neat laced again and they looked like this. I dont know what the heck went wrong but now I owe him another belt.

This one got shipped because I promised it to him by a certain date but I told him I would build him another one and ship it as soon as it is done. He wasnt concerned about it but I just am not happy with it so I figure its the least I can do.

Tell me what you all think of everything else because I know the lettering looks horrible but it is getting redone as you read this.

Thanks for any and all input

Tim Worley

TK Leather

[King's X]

I had that happened to me on the last portfolio I did. It sucks! Especially, when you see other people work on here and the lettering comes out cool looking. Either way, you rocked on the pattern. You are coming along!!

Keep it up man!

[DUDDY]

Very nice....

[Tkleather1]

Well thanks guys I just am not sure what the heck went wrong with the letters. but I sure appreciate the Kudos on the rest of it.

Tim Worley

TK-Leather

[Double U Leather]

Really nice work. I've done a couple of Sheridan belts, and they sure didn't turn out that good. Good job.

[RWB]

Tim,

One thing you should try, before you totally scrap it, would be to re-dye your lettering. Go back over it with a darker color such as Feibing's Mahogany Dye. Not an oil dye just their regular spirit leather dye. I have never had that happen before so its unusual to me to see that happen. That dye should penetrate the Neat-lac, but it will take a little longer than usual. After you have dyed it and let it set for a day or two (just to make sure it's really dry) put a top coat of Tan-coat on it. When that it dry (30 min) apply a LIGHT coat of Neat-lac with a piece of wool skin, and try to rub it in without really scrubbing at it. The Tan-kote should prevent the Neat-lac from stripping the dye off. I have found that dye on top of Neat-lac is easier to strip off than if it's applied directly to the leather. Tell me how that works.

Ross Brunk

[JLSleather]

HEY, for what it's worth, I agree with YOU. I don't care for the letters, but the rest of the belt looks pretty good. So, I gotta ask ... why didn't you do the name in the same fashion you did the floral? This sounds like crap, of course, but it's intended as a compliment ... I LIKE the belt.

Sometimes I hear stuff around here about dyeing projects taking days, and I personally don't get it. Once the leather is dry, I brush in the background (if there is one), and paint the design immediately. Only thing I put on that ever sits more than overnight is neatsfoot, and that's only so it has a chance to penetrate and spread.

As for NeatLac, I had some bad experiences with it like 22 years ago and have never used it since (though I do rather like the SaddleLac). Then, I'm probably the odd man out in that I don't use "resist" (whatever that is) ... I simply don't paint where I don't want paint.

Any, that medicine from the dentist must be doing all that talking, but the bottom line is the floral looks GOOD.

[Tkleather1]

Well to answer your question JLS I did all the dyeing at the same time and I am wondering if part of the problem was the temp in the shop since I cant get it very warm this time of year. and if the dye didnt come off of the background because of the texturing of the bargrounder and the lettering being smooth I have always had trouble getting the smooth leather to dye evenly.

RWB I will try that and see what happens it turns out that I still have the belt because the wife didnt drop it off this morning as planned so I will try that tonight. And as far as the finishing process taking so long, I had other projects going at the same time and at a good stopping point of the others I would do the finishing on this one, and between going back to college and taking care of a family as my full time jobs there is not much time left in the day to get projects done and I dont like to rush through them so I would finish a little work a little and then come back to it the next night. I wish I could say evening but it is always NIGHT when I get to it.

Thank you for the compiments of the carving though as that means the most to me overall and I hate doing lettering. I need to practice practice practice.

Thanks for the advice and Kind words.

Tim Worley

TK-Leather

[TimKleffner]

Timooooooo

What color did you use on your letters? Some of the dyes will wash when NeatLac is applied. For me, when I dye my lettering, I use dark brown or chocolate. I have noticed that even med brown washes a bit and I've gotten uneven shades. I dye my lettering and background, oil [let set for 8 hrs] then NeatLac. I let it set till the next day. I'm with Ross, if you have any wash at this point, you can re-apply your dye [sparingly]. Then I antique then apply TanKote. I'm done then. You may want to try different colors and applying NeatLac on some scrap leather.

Nice piece

Happy tooling

Tim

Edited January 29, 2010 by TimKleffner

[Tkleather1]

Allright so here is the scoop I did re dye the lettering and I had to go to black to get it even but it looks alot better. I dinished with tankote and let it dry and then went over with neat lac again. it worked great and I thank all of you for the help. I will get a picture of it tommorrow and re post.

Tim Worley

TK-Leather

[Spencer G]

That's a great start. Here's something that would be a help, a Center Shader. It gives a little bit more of a refined look to your flower centers. I notices a marked improvement when I started using one.

Spencer

[wood]

Tim,

I wish I could say my first belt turned out that well. One thing I picked up along the way is to use a viener (that I thinned way down) to define the flower petal coming into the center. I agree with Spencer that a little texture around the center adds alot to the final picture, I use a vertical lined thumbprint (It probably isn't the best tool for it, but it's what I got). I'm no master tooler but these are just things I have picked up from others that may help. I really didn't have a good pic of what I was trying to say but here is a flower I did on a spur strap a while back that may just help as reference. Also study Mr. Parks work alot. You could stare at his stuff for hours and not pick up a lot of little things that just make it pop a bit more. Good decorative cuts on your petals adds a lot also. Great job, keep at it, you're well on your way. Take care, RW

[Tkleather1]

Thanks for your input wood. I do need to figure out how to run a viener. It is on the short end of my long list of tools to start using and learn to use properly. I do appreciate all the compliments though. I have been tooling other items for a few years now but this is the first sheridan belt.

Thanks again for all the help and the compliments.

Tim Worley

TK-Leather

[jeffroberts]

Well thanks guys I just am not sure what the heck went wrong with the letters. but I sure appreciate the Kudos on the rest of it.

Tim Worley

TK-Leather

Tim ;

Great job ! If you want to try something cool, put that belt in a plastic bag and tuck it away. Pull it out in six months and compare it to a a new belt !!

Jeff