Antiquing Leather

[ctkroper]

IV seen some saddles an other items that were antiqued I'm wanting to know the process an wat the best kind to get? I like how it highlights the tooled leather!!

[TwinOaks]

Best I've seen on this is go to youtube and look up Keith valley saddlery.

....and it doesn't highlight the tooling, it darkens everything else:)

[hidepounder]

Antiquing is easy. Apply NeatLac or another sealer and apply to the leather. This seals the leather so that when the antique is applied it will have even coloring. When the NeatLac (resist) is thoroughly dry, apply Fiebings paste antique (which ever color you prefer) and wipe the excess off. Follow by polishing with a trimmed wool skin...insuring that all the residue is completely removed. When the antique finish has thoroughly dried, apply a final sealer (like NeatLac) over the entire project. NeatLac will remove some of the antique finish so it is important to wipe a light coat on...discarding the wool skins which have residue on them and replacing them with clean ones. Once you have a light coat of NeatLac applied and have allowed it to dry you can follow up with a more thorough coat which doesn't "lift" the antique finish off. This is the most common method that the pro's that I know are using.

Hope this helps...

Bobby

[alb]

Bobby - approx how long are the various drying times?

Thanks,

Ann

Antiquing is easy. Apply NeatLac or another sealer and apply to the leather. This seals the leather so that when the antique is applied it will have even coloring. When the NeatLac (resist) is thoroughly dry, apply Fiebings paste antique (which ever color you prefer) and wipe the excess off. Follow by polishing with a trimmed wool skin...insuring that all the residue is completely removed. When the antique finish has thoroughly dried, apply a final sealer (like NeatLac) over the entire project. NeatLac will remove some of the antique finish so it is important to wipe a light coat on...discarding the wool skins which have residue on them and replacing them with clean ones. Once you have a light coat of NeatLac applied and have allowed it to dry you can follow up with a more thorough coat which doesn't "lift" the antique finish off. This is the most common method that the pro's that I know are using.

Hope this helps...

Bobby

[hidepounder]

Bobby - approx how long are the various drying times?

Thanks,

Ann

Hi Ann.....

I probably wait a half an hour or a little longer for the NeatLac to dry before I apply the antique and I often use a hair dryer to speed up the process. It's takes less time for the antique finish to dry. With it I continue to use clean pieces of wools skin to remove the residue until I can no longer get color off the leather. Because of the normal process of constructing the project, it is usually a day or more before I apply a final finish over the whole project. Hope this answers your question....

Take care....

Bobby

[alb]

Thanks very much. I tend to rush things and the results show it. The hair dryer idea is great.

Ann

Hi Ann.....

I probably wait a half an hour or a little longer for the NeatLac to dry before I apply the antique and I often use a hair dryer to speed up the process. It's takes less time for the antique finish to dry. With it I continue to use clean pieces of wools skin to remove the residue until I can no longer get color off the leather. Because of the normal process of constructing the project, it is usually a day or more before I apply a final finish over the whole project. Hope this answers your question....

Take care....

Bobby

[Vince]

Hi,

I try to antique my tooled leather and cannot managed to get the result I see on all the picture in this forums.

I used lac kote from fiebings as sealer on my tooled project. I applied it with paint brush and also with a piece of an old teeshirt as I thought this will prevent the lac to get too much into the cuts.

Then I applied the antique past (sheridan and tan color). In both cases I ended up with only the cuts colored and all the parts that were sealed remained uncolored. I guess that the lac seal it preatty well.

I don't understand how you manage to get the antique past coloring sealed part? Do I miss something, do you guys antique or dye before applying the lac?

I bought the book "sheridan style carving" cause I thought that book would provide me more details, but It explained exactly the same process you are describing. But it does not work for me.

I would like to get the same result as I can see in the sheridan pictures exposed in this site.

Any help would be appreciate.

Ann did you managed to get the antique working ?

Vicne

[hidepounder]

Hi,

I try to antique my tooled leather and cannot managed to get the result I see on all the picture in this forums.

I used lac kote from fiebings as sealer on my tooled project. I applied it with paint brush and also with a piece of an old teeshirt as I thought this will prevent the lac to get too much into the cuts.

Then I applied the antique past (sheridan and tan color). In both cases I ended up with only the cuts colored and all the parts that were sealed remained uncolored. I guess that the lac seal it preatty well.

I don't understand how you manage to get the antique past coloring sealed part? Do I miss something, do you guys antique or dye before applying the lac?

I bought the book "sheridan style carving" cause I thought that book would provide me more details, but It explained exactly the same process you are describing. But it does not work for me.

I would like to get the same result as I can see in the sheridan pictures exposed in this site.

Any help would be appreciate.

Ann did you managed to get the antique working ?

Vicne

Hi Vince,

It sounds like you are doing everything right. I am not familiar with Lac Kote from Fiebings. I use use NeatLac. Maybe the Lac Kote won't accept the color very well I don't know. It does sound to me like you might be putting the lac Kote on a little heavy. Most of us use a piece of trimmed wool skin to apply out Neatlac and work it in rather thoroughly. I noticed that you didn't mention oiling your project before sealing it with the Lac Kote. I always oil lightly and let it absorb for a day before sealing. That provides a little color also. I like olive oil. Many use neatsfoot oil. Which ever you use be sure to apply it very lightly and evenly with trimmed wool skin. I use Fiebings Antique paste....it sounds like that's what you are using. I apply it heavily, insuring that it gets into all the cuts and crevices before wiping it off. Some of the colors do not color the leather very much. Tan is way too light for me and Sheridan Brown doesn't make much color either. In order for those colors to show you must eliminate the lac Kote and apply them directly to the leather. That works fine except it is very difficult to even coloring. The colors have a tendency to blotch due to the various surface textures in the leather. They will also highlight any marks or scratches on the leather, which aren't so prominent when you use a resist (Lac Kote)first. I use Light Brown quite a lot when I only want to highlight the cuts and depressions without making a big change in the color of the leather. If I want a little darker color I will use Mahogany. So I think that if you apply your Lac Kote with a trimmed wool skin and use a darker color you outcome will be better. I hope this helps...

Bobby

[Vince]

Hi Vince,

It sounds like you are doing everything right. I am not familiar with Lac Kote from Fiebings. I use use NeatLac. Maybe the Lac Kote won't accept the color very well I don't know. It does sound to me like you might be putting the lac Kote on a little heavy. Most of us use a piece of trimmed wool skin to apply out Neatlac and work it in rather thoroughly. I noticed that you didn't mention oiling your project before sealing it with the Lac Kote. I always oil lightly and let it absorb for a day before sealing. That provides a little color also. I like olive oil. Many use neatsfoot oil. Which ever you use be sure to apply it very lightly and evenly with trimmed wool skin. I use Fiebings Antique paste....it sounds like that's what you are using. I apply it heavily, insuring that it gets into all the cuts and crevices before wiping it off. Some of the colors do not color the leather very much. Tan is way too light for me and Sheridan Brown doesn't make much color either. In order for those colors to show you must eliminate the lac Kote and apply them directly to the leather. That works fine except it is very difficult to even coloring. The colors have a tendency to blotch due to the various surface textures in the leather. They will also highlight any marks or scratches on the leather, which aren't so prominent when you use a resist (Lac Kote)first. I use Light Brown quite a lot when I only want to highlight the cuts and depressions without making a big change in the color of the leather. If I want a little darker color I will use Mahogany. So I think that if you apply your Lac Kote with a trimmed wool skin and use a darker color you outcome will be better. I hope this helps...

Bobby

Hi Bobby,

First of all, thank you for your answer, reading your comments, the result I get start to make more sense to me.

Like you mentioned I used the antique past tan without any lac on my project

and again like you mentioned I ended up with marks ans scratches highlighted too :-( by the way I guess there is nothing I can do to remove it ?

In any case should I apply bag kote to it before I seal the project ?

Here is the last test I have made using Lac kote applied with teeshirt and sheridan antique, you are certainly right I have put too much lac, I'll try to get wool skin to apply lac and darker antique to see if I get better result.

Regarding the lac, I did not managed to get NeatLac in Europe, this product does not ship to europe easilly cause it is flammable the only lac I managed to get was Lac Kote (http://www.abbeysadd...ail.cfm?id=L026).

I hope the result is only due to the amount of lac I use and does not come from the product itself.

Thanks, I guess I need more practise and test.

Vince

Edited July 15, 2011 by Vince