Smoothing Back Of Leather

[Harag]

Hi all

I've bought some carving tools and some 1/2 price bookmarks to practice on, I'm hoping to then paint the front of the bookmark, but I have a question about the sides & back.

The back of the bookmarks are rough, how do I smooth these down, what do I use? am I right in saying.

1. don't dye/acrylic paint ???

2. Add "Tan Kote" then buff (with what?) when dry

3. Add Resolene to add water resist

Sides:

1. again, dont dye/acrylic paint

2. Add "Gum Traganth" - then buff (with slicker) when dry.

3. Add Resolene to add water resist.

both:

#1 - What if I want the sides and back to be the same colour as the front? when do I make the back smooth?

Many thanks.

[PutnamLeather]

The sides and back are basicaly the same, sand with sandpaper like you would with wood. Then burnish, I like using sadlesoap, some people use gum trag, but after it looks like you want it to you should be able to paint or dye it however you want. The gum t acts like a resist though so it might be hard to dye after. Bob park has a great tutorial about how to finnish edges that is the best I've ever seen. And like they say, practice makes perfict.

[Harag]

Many thanks for that, the one key thing you said was to burnish it before I paint/dye, I wasn't sure on that part. I'll take a look at the bob park tutorial,