Harag Report post Posted April 10, 2013 Hi all Just getting into the world of leather working, I'm looking at making medievial bags, pouchers, book covers etc. At the moment I've placed an order for some basic carving tools as I'm looking at learning carving/tooling first as I currently don't have a lot of room for going into item making just yet (and to spread the cost of setup over a few months). With my order I've ordered some blank "bookmark" leathers about 1.5 x 9 inch in size as these were on 1/2 price offer (still waiting for the full order to arrive). I was just going to use the bookmarks to practice tooling on, but now I've thought about painting them with a brush and acrylic dye. I'm not an artist and never done anything like this before so it's a big leap into the unknown for me. 1. Casing / tooling 2. Arcylic Dye 3. Oil Dye 4. Finishes From the above list I understand #1 but 2-3 I have some questions on if I may. I'm going to buy a kit of acrylic dyes - 11 colours in the kit and some "resolene" - http://www.leprevo.co.uk/photos/acrylic_pack.htm - so my first question is 1. After tooling, when painting the bookmarks do I paint the edges and the back as well, eg to colour them "green" or whatever colour? 2. After painting I then apply "resolene" to it. do I apply this all over, even if I haven't painted the back (depending on answer to 1). And do I wait for the initial paint to completely dry? 3. Now bookmarks are very small, but if I did some small tooling on a large piece of leather say for a bag then when I apply the oil dye to the leather, do I go over the acrylic dye with this or around it all? or do I apply oil dye (even the tooled) first then paint on the acrylic colours over the oil dye 4. Finishes, what are the basic steps for finishing.. a) case & carve, apply oil dye c) finishes? - They seems to be different finishes - http://www.leprevo.co.uk/finishes.htm Any tips, advice, links will be much appreciated Many thanks Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jaymack Report post Posted April 20, 2013 Good question. I don't know the answer, but I've been dyeing firsm and then acrylic paint. I then resolene, and antique. i go over the acrylic paint again just to highlight the areas that have darkenend, and finally spray on fiebings finish. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Matt S Report post Posted April 20, 2013 Are these mediaeval style bags supposed to be historically/period correct? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Harag Report post Posted April 20, 2013 Yes and no... for things like LARP (live action role playing) mainly. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Matt S Report post Posted April 21, 2013 Well I hope it goes without saying that acrylic paints and, to a lesser extent Fiebing's oil dyes, aren't period correct. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Harag Report post Posted April 21, 2013 Agree, at the moment I'm just playing around with tooling bookmarks to see what I can do, so the painting isn't just for bags. It's all a learning experience. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
