Enhancing Carving With Colors

[bex DK]

I've been working on getting better at leather carving. I'm not up to the skill level many here have, but I am getting good enough that I hope to be able to slowly start selling some projects (the hourly wage I end up with would be ridiculously low, but it would pay for the hobby...). The thing is that it might help to enhance some of the carving with color to make it more appealing to regular people.

Normally I would spend a long time reading and researching before I buy anything for doing this, but we have a bit of a crisis at the moment. Our local leather store is in the process of closing, so we need to buy NOW... if they even still have what we need... because otherwise the price will go way up with shipping from other locations.

So any tips for what I should get to start out with? We're thinking more just to enhance the carving as opposed to fully coloring things in... like to darken a background or foreground object... that sort of thing. But where to start?

I am going to look for the Coloring Leather book, but the book selection here is pretty limited even before things getting sold out.

The only good part of it is that the shop owner likes us and is likely to give us a good deal on buying a bunch of stuff... but she is already sold out in much of the tooling leather. :-( we're too slow.

So any tips for the basic essneitals would be great as would pointers to online tutorials. Library has very limited options in leather books as well. (the curse of being in Denmark.. even on interlibrary loan there isnt much of this sort of thing)

[joet]

I've been working on getting better at leather carving. I'm not up to the skill level many here have, but I am getting good enough that I hope to be able to slowly start selling some projects (the hourly wage I end up with would be ridiculously low, but it would pay for the hobby...). The thing is that it might help to enhance some of the carving with color to make it more appealing to regular people.

Normally I would spend a long time reading and researching before I buy anything for doing this, but we have a bit of a crisis at the moment. Our local leather store is in the process of closing, so we need to buy NOW... if they even still have what we need... because otherwise the price will go way up with shipping from other locations.

So any tips for what I should get to start out with? We're thinking more just to enhance the carving as opposed to fully coloring things in... like to darken a background or foreground object... that sort of thing. But where to start?

I am going to look for the Coloring Leather book, but the book selection here is pretty limited even before things getting sold out.

The only good part of it is that the shop owner likes us and is likely to give us a good deal on buying a bunch of stuff... but she is already sold out in much of the tooling leather. :-( we're too slow.

So any tips for the basic essneitals would be great as would pointers to online tutorials. Library has very limited options in leather books as well. (the curse of being in Denmark.. even on interlibrary loan there isnt much of this sort of thing)

Sorry to hear about your local leather store closing, we here in the States had the same problem several years ago when Tandy decided to go warehouse only. Lucky for us that the stores re-opened as some leather people were giving up with their hobby.

Your question will receive many answers, and so this is my suggestion. Dyeing the background on many designs really brings out the tooling. Another thing to think about is using a antique paste, or gel; as well as using something like a Hi-Liter. It all depends on the design, the artist, the buyer, and the latest trend. Sometimes dyeing a flower completely will add beauty to the design, and other times it will detract from it. Probably the best method would be to buy paint/dye and experiment. Getting the coloring books will help you also make up your mind about any given design or project. If you can't get the dye or paint from your local leather store, try going to a store that carries art supplies. Most acrylic paint works on leather. Hope you get many more answers than mine. Best of luck to you in your search to improve your craft.

[leatheroo]

hey bex, Peter Main has a great book on how to color leather and is quite cheap...it can be ordered from his website by emailing him. He accepts paypal. Have alook around his site and be amazed.

[bex DK]

Do acrylics allow the natural texture of leather to show through?

Is coloring leather around carving basically just painting with one product or another? I suck at painting...

I've tried doing some searching and I've seen some really nice works where either the foreground or the background is colored just slightly... so it still looks like leather but it is very enhanced. Is that acrylics or dyes or what?

ClayB, are you around? I've seen a lot of things of yours with the slight coloration that I really like. Do you mind telling what technique you use? It would give me a hint for getting started.

with this shop closing, I feel really lucky I can order from Tandy in the UK, but the shipping gets quite expensive. I also hate not being able to feel the leather. I don't have a real sense for the different weights and we've mostly just gone into the shop and looked at the hides until we found one we liked then got a big enough piece. Sounds like the attitude on this forum to tandy leather is pretty mixed, which makes me even more nervous.

We've also requested a catalog from a further away place here in DK that seems to have a lot of leather and the right kind of supplies, but it hasn't come yet. The shop had been supposed to close THIS WEEKEND (we only found out two weeks ago...) but now it is extended for a few more weeks, but she told my husband most of the leather is gone. We are going this afternoon and hoping to get at least some of the things we really want.

[joet]

Do acrylics allow the natural texture of leather to show through?

Is coloring leather around carving basically just painting with one product or another? I suck at painting...

I've tried doing some searching and I've seen some really nice works where either the foreground or the background is colored just slightly... so it still looks like leather but it is very enhanced. Is that acrylics or dyes or what?

ClayB, are you around? I've seen a lot of things of yours with the slight coloration that I really like. Do you mind telling what technique you use? It would give me a hint for getting started.

with this shop closing, I feel really lucky I can order from Tandy in the UK, but the shipping gets quite expensive. I also hate not being able to feel the leather. I don't have a real sense for the different weights and we've mostly just gone into the shop and looked at the hides until we found one we liked then got a big enough piece. Sounds like the attitude on this forum to tandy leather is pretty mixed, which makes me even more nervous.

We've also requested a catalog from a further away place here in DK that seems to have a lot of leather and the right kind of supplies, but it hasn't come yet. The shop had been supposed to close THIS WEEKEND (we only found out two weeks ago...) but now it is extended for a few more weeks, but she told my husband most of the leather is gone. We are going this afternoon and hoping to get at least some of the things we really want.

I'm not Clay B, and I can only speak from experience or from what I've read. Most of the work I've done on background dyeing I would use a spirit (alcohol base) dye, which allows the leather to show. Some water based paint will also show the leather if it's thinned enough as to make it more of a 'wash' than anything else. I haven't really done much work with the new Eco-Flo products from Tandy, but from what I have used it doesn't cover up the fibers of the leather. Experiment and see what works.

[bex DK]

I'm not Clay B, and I can only speak from experience or from what I've read. Most of the work I've done on background dyeing I would use a spirit (alcohol base) dye, which allows the leather to show. Some water based paint will also show the leather if it's thinned enough as to make it more of a 'wash' than anything else. I haven't really done much work with the new Eco-Flo products from Tandy, but from what I have used it doesn't cover up the fibers of the leather. Experiment and see what works.

Thanks. We picked up a couple more colors than we had and she had pretty many in stock, so we can go back in a few weeks. I am pretty sure they are the equivalent of spirit dyes. Also found the "Coloring Leather" Stohlman book (not How to Color Leather...) and that helps some. Looks like the spirit dyes are mainly the effects I am interested in, althogh I should get some antiques if she has them next time we go in. The hubby has some ancient Tandy something-or-others... probably Cova but I haven't dug them out. So I can mess with that some too if they are still any good.

Turns out I can order the Peter Main one from Norway, so that will save me shipping and customs hassle. Have to wait a little before I do that, because the hubby is already overwhelmed by the cost of the heavy hide we bought today for spur and slobber straps... It was the last the shop had.

So now I need brushes and to get some small pieces carved to experiment on. I am thinking maybe I should make some key rings as experiments... less to throw away if really screw up.

[joet]

Thanks. We picked up a couple more colors than we had and she had pretty many in stock, so we can go back in a few weeks. I am pretty sure they are the equivalent of spirit dyes. Also found the "Coloring Leather" Stohlman book (not How to Color Leather...) and that helps some. Looks like the spirit dyes are mainly the effects I am interested in, althogh I should get some antiques if she has them next time we go in. The hubby has some ancient Tandy something-or-others... probably Cova but I haven't dug them out. So I can mess with that some too if they are still any good.

Turns out I can order the Peter Main one from Norway, so that will save me shipping and customs hassle. Have to wait a little before I do that, because the hubby is already overwhelmed by the cost of the heavy hide we bought today for spur and slobber straps... It was the last the shop had.

So now I need brushes and to get some small pieces carved to experiment on. I am thinking maybe I should make some key rings as experiments... less to throw away if really screw up.

You mentioned antique. Some of the very first coloring of an item 35+ years ago was using the antique paste from Fiebings. Loved it so much that the paste goes on almost everything I do. I use the tan color the most, but have started to branch out to the Sheridan brown and found a source for it on line. I have some of the antique gel from Tandy but have not tried it yet; but I have seen the results of somebody elses labor and I like what I see. It's just that I haven't worked my courage to try it yet. Now that I'm teaching classes to kids in our 4-H program I'll have to break down and learn how to apply it so I can show it to them. Using a spirit dye on a project and then applying the antique will really enhance the designs. It will change the color of the dye, but it is usually for the good, not the bad. The magic word is "experiment". Keep all scraps of leather to practice coloring and how to use new tools. And don't throw away those screwed up pieces of leather. They can be used for practice; or as a reminder not to do that again. Wish you the best in your search for an inexpensive replacement for what had at one time been a handy source of supply.