Rock Report post Posted January 22, 2013 Good Day everyone, just want to let you all know that this forum is been so a great help for me, pretty much every questions I had in the past has been asnwers by reading. The GF think I'm obsece....lol The answer I'm looking for is I have to make a few belts and the clients want the Fiebings Leather dye (USMC) and the letters red. How do I do that, hand paint each letters reed very carefully with a brush then very careful the black? Or anyone get a better and faster Idea? it is for a fire Dept, ( radio Belt) so I know I have to use oil dye well I guess. Any help will be appreciated please Rock Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
electrathon Report post Posted January 22, 2013 Dye the whole belt black. Carefully paint in the red letters. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dwight Report post Posted January 22, 2013 Just in case you missed electrathon's post, . . . dye the whole belt black. Carefully paint in the red letters. One caution with USMC black, . . . make sure you BUFF that belt from end to end, . . . edges, . . . both sides, . . . then do it again. USMC black is a good dye, but it leaves a ton of unused pigment on the surface of you item, . . . it has to be buffed off. Go to the tandy store, . . . get some Eco Flo red, . . . be sure to put whatever top coat you are using on the belt, . . . then paint in the red. You should be good to go. May God bless, Dwight Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dirtclod Report post Posted January 22, 2013 Before i dyed it all black i would try it some scrap just make sure the red will cover. In the past i have had trouble using one color over the other. Now i do the paint / dye around letters or whatever. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cyberthrasher Report post Posted January 22, 2013 (edited) Before i dyed it all black i would try it some scrap just make sure the red will cover. In the past i have had trouble using one color over the other. Now i do the paint / dye around letters or whatever. That's pretty much what I do. I have my doubts that red dye would ever cover USMC or any other black dye. Usually I just spray the entire piece the color of the lettering (red in this case) and then brush the black around the letters. I just ordered some liquid latex to try using that as a mask so I can color the letters and then run over everything with black using my airbrush. But, you will definitely want to buff that thing until your arm feels like it's going to fall off. Usually I do my belts with a natural back, but the customer wanted all black on this one, so that had me worried the hole time knowing that he wears khakis. Needless to say, I buffed and buffed and buffed and buffed and then made sure it was sealed really well with Resolene and buffed some more to make sure there wasn't one bit of pigment coming through. Edited January 22, 2013 by Cyberthrasher Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rock Report post Posted January 22, 2013 Wonderful Tks so much now time to get to work, again the team come together and provide outstanding answers God bless you all Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JLSleather Report post Posted January 22, 2013 I DO hope you're taking the advise of those members who suggested you try this on scrap first. Don't even need to be letters, really, just dye a piece black and then put the red over it. "Wasting" a piece of scrap may well save you some aggravation. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cyberthrasher Report post Posted January 22, 2013 Yes, definitely use scrap!! I'm working on a project right now and I decided to try out some new dying techniques, so I did a quick little sample of the blue flames I'm supposed to be doing on a small strip that I'm going to use for an amp handle. The blue came out HORRIBLE and had I done that to the real project I'd be down a couple hundred dollars in labor having to start over from scratch. But, since I used the small scrap, I'm just gluing it up anyway to use as my amp handle prototype as planned - no losses Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GlenH Report post Posted January 22, 2013 Red dye over black won't work; I've tried it. Your best bet with the letters would be to use acrylic paint (e.g. Cova Colors). Then apply Tandy's Antique Gel Black over the whole thing and wipe it off. That'll fill in the areas around the red and help with any of those "grey" areas that you get with USMC Black. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
electrathon Report post Posted January 22, 2013 Dye the belt. Paint the letters. Red dye will not cover. Red paint will. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rock Report post Posted January 23, 2013 Yes, definitely use scrap!! It is way cheaper that way.. Been down a few $$$$$ before, ""projects gone wild" it is amazing how fast we learn from our mistake. Again thank you Will be visiting Tandy this week. BTW going to Arizona for the leather craft show can wait to escape the cold Canadian winter. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
