Antiquing & Resist Issues

[Destrier]

Thanks everybody - I might give Super Shene another chance, since apparently it will work for George Hurst... plus I already have some! That BeeNatural stuff looks like it worked really well on the betta - I will most likely try ordering some of that soon.

I don't really mind how the fox & rabbit design turned out, it just wasn't what I had originally planned, so I think I'll leave it as-is. I just finished carving another piece though and so I'll try SS again or maybe pick up some Block Out. Unfortunately Tandy is the only local store so unless I wait a few weeks for shipping I'm stuck with their products, and living in Canada shipping is always a cost factor too.

[Cyberthrasher]

I read in a different thread to apply antiquing only over the areas that you DON'T want resisted

Was this a miss-statement? If not, I think you may be a little confused on the use of a resist. Resist is supposed to stop the antique. So anything that you don't want to have the antique color has to be resisted. Regardless of how much resist you put on, the antique WILL get into the cuts and tooling, which is part of what it's supposed to do. But, on top of that, you'll find that Super Shene isn't a resist to be used with gel antiques. It pretty much only works with the eco-flow Hi-Lite in my experience.

remember the steps.

Dye

resist with finish of choice

antique

reapply finish to entire project

Edited February 22, 2013 by Cyberthrasher

[Destrier]

Was this a miss-statement? If not, I think you may be a little confused on the use of a resist. Resist is supposed to stop the antique. So anything that you don't want to have the antique color has to be resisted. Regardless of how much resist you put on, the antique WILL get into the cuts and tooling, which is part of what it's supposed to do. But, on top of that, you'll find that Super Shene isn't a resist to be used with gel antiques. It pretty much only works with the eco-flow Hi-Lite in my experience.

remember the steps.

Dye

resist with finish of choice

antique

reapply finish to entire project

Sorry, I had originally tried to add a picture of what I was trying to say but it wasn't working. From something someone else had said (not in this thread, can't remember where it was now) I was picturing having to rub antiquing on to everything around the areas you didn't want to absorb the darker colour (like my rabbit and fox) and leaving those untouched and just couldn't see that working very well, plus then you wouldn't get the darker contrast on the carving in the rabbit and fox. I apologize if that's as clear as mud... I'm not very good at trying to convey what's in my head sometimes, would you believe my other hobby is writing?

Hmm, good to know about the Hi-Lite - I do have some of that kicking around, maybe I'll try using that instead of the gel antique. Since they kind of seem to be the same idea, what's the difference between gel antique and Hi-Lite?

[Cyberthrasher]

I'm not very good at trying to convey what's in my head sometimes, would you believe my other hobby is writing?

Hmm, good to know about the Hi-Lite - I do have some of that kicking around, maybe I'll try using that instead of the gel antique. Since they kind of seem to be the same idea, what's the difference between gel antique and Hi-Lite?

Yeah, I'm not very good at getting my brain to spew thoughts very well either

There are times where people use the antique to color an entire project on purpose. Here's a good blog post showing some differences. The meat of it that I went looking for right now is about 2/3rds down and is titled "Using Resist - For Antiquing". This is actually from the leatherlearn.com website. I'm not sure why the finish archive links here, but they have all kinds of stuff for beginners and refresher courses.

http://www.johan-potgieter.com/ll/?cat=8

Honestly I can't say why Super Sheen doesn't work with antique gel - I've never tried it myself but time and time again I've heard people say that it WILL NOT work.

[cmantz]

I am also new to leather work and trying to get the hang of the stains, resists, antiques, finishes etc.

I quickly found out that I am not a fan of Tandy's Eco stuff or their gel antiques. And I really don't like the All-in-One from Tandy. I tried some of that followed by the gel antique on my first job and it did not work at all...the gel antique stained areas of the leather darker where apparently the all-in-one didn't protect good enough.

I have been using the Fiebings Acrylic Stains and then I use the Fiebings Leather Sheen if I want an all over coat before I antique. Or I use Super Sheen if I want to resist an area. Then I use the Fiebings antique paste. I found it works much better than the gel antique. Then of course follow up with the Leather Sheen as a top coat.

I am not completely happy with acrylic stains for a dye and would like to try some of the different dyes..but thats another story.

Good luck...keep experimenting

Chris

[Tina]

What you need to block out parts of your project is an art medium called "Art Masking Fluid". Winsor&Newton and Daler Rowney makes one.

This is a type latex fluid that you paint on to what you would like to block out and when done you just peel it of. It does not leave any stains on the leather. I use the light yellow collored one, makes it easy to se where the maskig is at. Clean brushes with white spirit...Paint2 layers of it on to the leather.

I enclose a picture where I have blocked out every natural color leather that's left on the piece, then I used the old style of Tandys antiquing. To be sure not to disturb the surface I have used an airgun for the acryllic finisher. Good Luck with your project :-)

[Tzalabak]

Brief aside: Tina, that piece is gorgeous!

[Destrier]

Brief aside: Tina, that piece is gorgeous!

I was just going to say that! That chamfron is amazing, and pretty much exactly the type of thing I'm aiming to do someday! My logo is a even a chamfron.

[Cyberthrasher]

Tina, I started using the liquid latex sold for modeling (I'm pretty sure it was your recommendation) and I LOVE IT!!!

The only complaint I have is that I'm not entirely sure it cuts down on my time because it takes a while to apply it perfectly. I'm sure I'll get quicker with it. It's just a matter of getting used to brushing on something that flows like dry Elmer's glue.

[Tina]

Thank You all for your comments, it's very nice when you hear someone liking your work :-)

Truth is that this masking fluid is not going to shorten your worktime, possible even make it longer but, the end result is going to be worth the hazzle using the fluid in my book.

Cybertrasher: I have only used the art masking fluid but I know of others here that uses the modeling stuff and recomend it and I'm farly sure it's a very similar product and one can use either one of them :-)

I have another chamfron laying around just waiting to get dyed/colored but ever since we moved from the US in to our new house in Sweden, most of my leatherwork has suffered...Right now I'm more painting walls and staircases, laying down floors and trimmings than anything and hopefully I can get back in the leather saddle by the end of summer.