Fire Dancer Leather Bracers

[swivelsphinx]

Very pretty. Are you using ink or stain for your color? brush or airbrush?

If I were going to consider *one* thing on construction, I don't know how long your friend's forearms are. Most men have longer/ wider muscled forearms than their female counterparts. Dancers/Firespinners move around fairly rapidly, often swinging their arms in circular motions. bending at the elbows brings the bottom edge down towards softer tissue which *can* get sore when pressed due to constriction (regardless of the presence of sleeves). I usually like to end my vanbraces 3/4 down the forearm on the inside for this reason. I used the "Cowboy Cuff" available from Tandy for my first Vanbrace model. They were a very practical design, and easy to modify.

Thanks for posting!

[Jarl]

Very very nice! I'll tell you now...if I was walking around a show and saw those I would easily drop whatever kind of money those were priced at!

Question for you though: How did you get the colors to be so vibrant? (or perhaps the better question would be is it paint or what, and if so what kind?)

Hahaha, sorry for the noobish question, I just really like them

[ElVaqueroMuerto]

Thank you all for your comments. My color work is a combination of leather stains and dyes and acrylic paints. Rather than use Cova Color or something like that, I use artist acrylic paints. Golden is my favorite brand. The flames, for instance, were dyed with Eco-Flow Cranberry first (I always put a dye or stain down first, never acrylic on raw veg-tan). Then I added thin coats of Light Magenta. Then I went in with Quinacrodone Magenta and did a watery, light random pattern. Then, within that pattern, I went a bit heavier, again in a random pattern. Finally, I went with un-watered dabs of paint, which gives the intense magenta. Then I went in with Eco Flow Antique Black and blended the black into the magenta. I also put a few black dabs inside the magenta flames, to darken them up a bit and intensify the color effect.

And that is how I did the flames.

If you want to get into using more acrylic to intensify your color work, I recommend taking a few scrap pieces of leather and dyeing each one with a different stain or dye. Then take your acrylic paints and put a light coat on a small area of the dyed/stained leather. The dyes and stains will soak into the acrylic, changing and modifying its color. So these "color chips" are so you can figure out what the final result will be when you mix certain dyes/stains with different paints. I also recommend spraying each chip with leather sheen, as this can sometimes cause the dyes to create different colors in the acrylic from when they were first put down. For instance, when you put white acrylic down over Feibing's Black, it generally stays white. But add Leather Sheen and, for whatever reason, the white becomes blotchy with pinks and purples. It is really very odd. Only experimentation will show you what the final product will look like.

Also, might I add, brush-on finishes are no good for intense color jobs with lots of variation in dyes/stains/colors. At least in my experience, I have found that, especially when stains are employed, the brush-ons tend to pick up color and transfer it to other color sections, resulting in color contamination. That is why I use the spray. For those of you in California who, like me, cannot purchase the spray because of rediculous environmental laws that did nothing to curb pollution by big companies but screwed the little guy royally, contact me. I am going to Arizona to see family in October and will happily bring you back a can or two.

Hope this helps!

VM

[ClayB]

VM,

You do a really great job on you coloring and I just wanted to thank you for sharing some of your tips. I know there are lots of us here that are always wanting to learn more about different coloring techniques that work on leather and this post has some interesting things to try. Thanks!

[ElVaqueroMuerto]

VM,

You do a really great job on you coloring and I just wanted to thank you for sharing some of your tips. I know there are lots of us here that are always wanting to learn more about different coloring techniques that work on leather and this post has some interesting things to try. Thanks!

Why thank you. I really enjoy the community here and want to give back a bit. I am going to start providing more technical information in my postings so that others can weigh in and learn from my techniques and processes and so hopefully I can develop them even more.

VM

[John D]

Just found this while looking at cowboy cuff topics. Amazing! Simultaneously makes me want to hang up my leather working permanently and try to experiment more. Astounding! Thank you for sharing.

[TinkerTailor]

I have performed with fire for years, mostly staffs and swords, some whip work. I would totally have worn your braces, however, I have made a few sets of crude bracers for myself one thing i found was it was crucial to fit the wrist well. It needed to go as low and snug as possible onto the hand without causing any movement restriction, because both staff and poi need alot of wrist flex and rotation. I think your design may prevent the hand from bending back a little, however that would depend on the dancers style. I rarely burned my hands or wrist but the middle of my forarm has been branded a few times (while not wearing any armour).

Some "dirt twirlers" look at the soot marks and scars as badges of honor. Hard to explain to your work however...

If you make another set, I would make them more of a straight cuff.