How To Make It Look Something Like This

[ReneeCanady]

This SHOULD be easy right? No. I am having a hard time getting something to have that much of a drastic color difference as his flowers do in this pic. I have tried resisting and then dying over the entire project darker in color. I guess I don't understand how the dark gets in the groves/tooling if you have resisted it? I thought the solution was antique gel from tandy. I bought the med brown which was darker than I was looking for, but still, it didn't give me this result. Can someone help me with the trick please

[chancey77]

The paste is much better than the gels. And having the right applicator of Wool scraps will help as well...

[electrathon]

My guess is that the main brown background id brush dyed with fiebings dye. Let it dry. Seal the whole piece with neet laq. Antique it all with fiebings paste antique. Seal it with tan-kote.

[ReneeCanady]

Thanks all! I will give it a go!

[mototech7]

Hi Renee where did you get that picture? Its amazing work!

[ReneeCanady]

From this site on my Facebook news feed. I love those color combo's!

[cjdevito]

You could get this effect with the tandy gel antique, if you really wanted to use that. Resist the floral carving and the basketweave, apply the gel. The gel dark brown is about that color when applied heavily to unresisted areas.

Both the gel and the paste aren't really coloring the unresisted leather so much as accumulating/pooling in the cuts and tool marks. But also, with the gel especially you'll usually get some bleed through of the antique dye color into the resisted areas if you don't apply multiple coats of your resist.

[Feraud]

My guess is that the main brown background id brush dyed with fiebings dye. Let it dry. Seal the whole piece with neet laq. Antique it all with fiebings paste antique. Seal it with tan-kote.

Excuse the silly newbie question but why seal the whole piece with neet laq before applying the antique paste?

I assumed the neet laq was a final sealant? I know I am missing something important in this particular process!

Thanks.

[JLSleather]

It looks like the area arround the floral and the strap have been dyed, not stained. But this is guesswork - probably best thing to do is ask the person who made it!

[Cyberthrasher]

Excuse the silly newbie question but why seal the whole piece with neet laq before applying the antique paste?

I assumed the neet laq was a final sealant? I know I am missing something important in this particular process!

Thanks.

When you seal the entire piece with your finish coat, you're stopping the antique from coloring the leather. An antique is designed to sit inside the tooling and not actually color the leather. After you antique, you finish it again to seal the antique into the tooling, otherwise you risk it wiping out with use. You can use many different finishes for a resist. The two I use are either neatlac (clearlac now) or Fiebing's Resolene. I've also been hearing a lot of good things lately about RTC Sheridan Resist, so I've been thinking about giving it a try as well.

So:

1.) dye

2.) seal with finish to "resist"

3.) antique

4.) seal again to protect the antique

[Feraud]

Ah, got it. Thanks for the explanation!

[electrathon]

When you seal the entire piece with your finish coat, you're stopping the antique from coloring the leather. An antique is designed to sit inside the tooling and not actually color the leather. After you antique, you finish it again to seal the antique into the tooling, otherwise you risk it wiping out with use. You can use many different finishes for a resist. The two I use are either neatlac (clearlac now) or Fiebing's Resolene. I've also been hearing a lot of good things lately about RTC Sheridan Resist, so I've been thinking about giving it a try as well.

So:

1.) dye

2.) seal with finish to "resist"

3.) antique

4.) seal again to protect the antique

Very good explanation

[ReneeCanady]

Thank you so much everyone! I guess I was under the same impression as Feraud. I couldn't get it thru my head that if I actually sealed it how the antique would get in there

[Cyberthrasher]

Thank you so much everyone! I guess I was under the same impression as Feraud. I couldn't get it thru my head that if I actually sealed it how the antique would get in there

Be sure to show us what you come up with

[mototech7]

i just got some rtc yesterday! i did a test run and it seems so much easier to use than resolene, what i have been using lately!