Finishing Order

[Louro]

I got a project to finish, the problem is that I will like to dye the leather light brown and apply paint to a section of the project. Here is where I'm confused; Shall I paint the project first then dye, or dye the whole project then paint and apply the finish. For dyeing I will be using Fiebing's Dye or eco-flow gel and for paint I will be using eco-flow. Thanks for your help.

Lou

[drphil]

I got a project to finish, the problem is that I will like to dye the leather light brown and apply paint to a section of the project. Here is where I'm confused; Shall I paint the project first then dye, or dye the whole project then paint and apply the finish. For dyeing I will be using Fiebing's Dye or eco-flow gel and for paint I will be using eco-flow. Thanks for your help.

Lou

Hey Lou,

I only have done this once, but what I did was to color the leather first. I used Eco colors for a Rose carving and it turned out very nice. The color is really like a paint. I put it on first and then dyed the rest of the piece. The dye did not mess up my piece since none of it penetrated the color. It seemed to work well. I do not know if that is the way it is typically done or not, but it worked nicely for me. Also, the finishes worked nicely over the color as well. Hope it helps!

[Spinner]

One thing to consider when painting leather that is to also be dyed is whatever color the leather is under your paint will come through in "tones" unless you layer the paint on heavy. Opaque and Solid pigment colors will fare better but any color that is opalescent or translucent will portray the 'base' color in it's overall tone. Consider it like this: painting white over browns will cause the white to look greyed out or muddy until it has enough layers to block out the base color. Black dye over tan leather will have a warmish tone to it which is why dying the leather blue before dying black will help give it a more natural looking cool tone.

Long story short, it takes a bit more work but if you can keep the areas to be dyed and painted separate (doing them one at a time and not over one another) will keep your colors more true, especially if you lighten the leather beforehand by using Oxalic Acid or lemon juice. Here are a few examples:

Before paint - notice how light the leather to be painted is (yeah, there was an oops in the upper right corner of the anchor I had to go back and lighten):

After acrylic paint was applied:

Hope that helps,

Chris

Just for fun, here's another two examples using the same process:

[SpecialKaye]

That is some most excellent work. On the POW-MIA, did you brush the white, flow it, or airbrush? Though, for the life of me I don't see how you could have airbrushed it.

[wizard of tragacanth]

Sorry, I have nothing to add to the conversation. I was just driving through and I had to stop and say... CHRIS... THAT IS JUST AWESOME WORK!

[Spinner]

That is some most excellent work. On the POW-MIA, did you brush the white, flow it, or airbrush? Though, for the life of me I don't see how you could have airbrushed it.

Thanks, the white was a combination of airbrush & paint brush. Using handheld masks (aka business cards cut to shape) you can mask off the larger portions as you go making it easier. I also use an Iwata CP-S airbrush which can be dialed down to a hairline so that helps as well (not that I could actually paint a straight hairline but that's not the point. ) Basically fill in the major portions and then using the same consistency paint do touch-ups and fill-ins by hand.

The sub & water/night fades were all done with airbrush as well. In the lower section, only the numbers and foam spray on the water were done with brushes.

On the pin-up, that one is almost all paint brush with the airbrush being used for the shadows and the cricket was about 50/50. For paint I use Golden Fluid Acrylics thinned with Golden Airbrush Medium.

Sorry, I have nothing to add to the conversation. I was just driving through and I had to stop and say... CHRIS... THAT IS JUST AWESOME WORK!

Thanks WoT!

[SpecialKaye]

Thanks, the white was a combination of airbrush & paint brush. Using handheld masks (aka business cards cut to shape) you can mask off the larger portions as you go making it easier. I also use an Iwata CP-S airbrush which can be dialed down to a hairline so that helps as well (not that I could actually paint a straight hairline but that's not the point. ) Basically fill in the major portions and then using the same consistency paint do touch-ups and fill-ins by hand.

The sub & water/night fades were all done with airbrush as well. In the lower section, only the numbers and foam spray on the water were done with brushes.

Thanks for that input. Gives me something to shoot for eventually. I don't have much leather experience but I do own a couple airbrushes and compressors that I have never used. Looks like I'll have to learn how to plug them in. Again, thanks.