How Do I Dye/paint An Intricate Belt?

[TomG]

I am still struggling with a tandy pre-stamped belt. It is the one with the spread winged eagle on it. I have dyed the whole thing black, but am not trying to paint the eagles a metallic silver. I need to put the paint just on the raised surfaced of the eagle and not let it flow into the cuts and valleys.

I have used a very lightly loaded brush on one of them but it either does not apply enough acrylic to the surface and looks sort of washed out, or it flows into the valley, messing up the texture of the image.

Any tips or tricks for doing these better? I am not steady eough to paint every single line on every eagle on this thing.

Thanks

Tom

[ClayB]

There are a couple different things that might help you get the effect you are going for. With acrylic paint, I would try using the dry brush technique. To do that, you apply paint to your brush, then rub just about all the paint off of the brush on scrap leather or paper towel before applying it onto the leather. The drier your brush is, the more you'll have to "scrub" paint out of it onto the leather you want colored. With the brush dry, the color stays onto the surface of the leather and wont go down into the cuts.

The "block dying" technique might also help you achieve the look you are wanting. There are a couple tutorials here on LW. Here's a link to one done by Kate. I'm not sure how well that it will work with paint, but as with most coloring techniques, you will need to practice on scraps first to see what will give you the results you are looking for.