Distressed Look With Dye

[MrLentz]

I was wondering how one might get a dyed look similar to the one below? Is it dyed and dabbed with a sponge or some other technique?

[Angster]

I haven't done anything quite that drastic, but here's something you might try.

I'll take veg tanned leather and wet the surface. Then I'll abuse it (fold it, twist it like I'm trying to wring it out, and so on). This will give you all of the fold marks and wrinkles. Flatten it back out. Then I'll take a rag, get some dye on it, and rub most of the excess off on a piece of scrap leather. That allows me to 'dry brush' the dye onto my wrinkled leather. The dye will only be picked up by the high spots on the leather.

When doing this technique, it's important to remember to get most of the dye off of the rag. You can always do it again to apply more dye, eventually getting the look you want.

However, it almost looks like the belt was dyed then sanded(?) to remove the dye from the surface ridges. Not sure how well that would work or if something else was done along those lines.

Hope this helps.

Edited November 4, 2011 by Angster