Oil Dye, Acrylic And Resolene?

[Rookey]

Hi all,

I've been searching for a bit but can't seem to find any direct answers to my question... but I guess every piece of leather is different! :-)

I'm making a motorcycle bobber seat, and have just ordered some Fieblings oil dye, some acrylic paint for details and resolene. My understanding is that oil dyes will penetrate more deeply than a water-based dye giving it a stronger colour and tone but is more harsh on the leather.

I am dying the leather a charcoal colour, painting with white (and braiding in white lace), then sealing in sprayed on resolene. Is that the correct way to apply resolene over water-based detail paints? Will the oil dye bleed into clothing after using resolene (which is obviously a worry being a butt will be place on it for relatively long periods!)? Will the dye bleed into the braid too? I know it sounds like a silly question, but should I be using resolene both before and after braiding?

Thanks for your help :-)

Dave

[Bob Blea]

Hi Dave,

I've never made a seat myself so I am not talking from experience, but I will take a stab at this. I would dye the seat and then buff it until I was not getting any more rub off from the dye. Then I would apply the acrylic paint details, then I would seal it with Resolene. Once you have done all that I don't think you will need to worry about dye rubbing off, but maybe I'm overlooking something.

Bob

[Rookey]

Thanks Bob. Is resolene the right thing to use to seal something that's hard wearing? Is it water resistant?

I think that once it's all on there, it "should" be ok but my worry is with heat, water etc.

Thanks for the reply

[Cyberthrasher]

Thanks Bob. Is resolene the right thing to use to seal something that's hard wearing? Is it water resistant?

I think that once it's all on there, it "should" be ok but my worry is with heat, water etc.

Thanks for the reply

Resolene is both water and UV resistant. It's among the BEST choices for outdoor use like that. Just remember the difference between resistant and proof . After that, it all comes down to aftercare and how much the customer cherishes the item.

[Rookey]

Awesome, thanks

[Harag]

I'm starting out with dying and acrylic paints and have asked the same question. With the help of Cyberthrasher and some others I'm going to do the following order... though I can't say how it will turn out as I've not done it yet.

With resolene - You MUST water it down 50/50 split

1. Dye with Pro Oil dye

2. Allow to dry 24+ hrs

3. Buff, buff and buff again, then get a clean cloth and buff again - repeat until the clean cloth is still clean after buffing.

4. Apply a light coat of the 50/50 resolene

5. Dry for 1-2 hrs

6. Apply another light resolene coat

7. dry for 1-2 hrs

8 apply another resolene coat

9 dry for 24+ hours

10. Once really dry, you can then paint with your acrylic paints on the resolene.

11. Wait for it to really dry well - say 24 hrs.

12. Add "varnish" to the painted acrylic area only (not the dye areas).

13. again wait for it to dry - 24 hrs?

14. repeat resolene steps above, over the acrylic area with a final coat over the whole acrylic and dye - drying between each coat

15. again dry... 24 hrs?

16. Add conditioner - something like Mink Oil or snow proof

17. Dry / buff / give to client

As I say I've not done this, just asked the same question as you. Though I might have put too many "resolene" steps in the above. The important bit seems to be all the drying time in between, so might help if you have other projects on at the same time...

[Jazznow]

You have to experiment with resolene. 4 layers is more than I ever did. If ou put to much resolene on you will get a sticky surface.

Another point: I used acrylic paints ones. It were no leather acrylic paints but normal artist paints. I have one in a very bright brown, looking like natural leather (this one is from a scrap booking supplier) and a golden one from an artist shop. The golden one reacted with the resolene, it turned out looking like copper (which I was actually looking for, so not bad for me). So you should experiment on scrap pieces before trying on your project.

[Harag]

Thanks for pointing out the number of layers, it does seem a lot, but they should be very light. I'll also experiment with it, as I said I've not done it before either.

I had a feeling you can use other acrylic paints on leather, been told that the model / citadel paints are good, was also wondering what the difference is between them all so I'll make sure I test them. I did note in the list I provided (#12) to add varnish to the top of acrylic painted area before resolene, I forgot to mention why. I've been told some acrylics react with resolene hence the varnish in between them.

[Bob Blea]

I don't think you will have much problems with the Resolene since it is acrylic based as well, but I am told the solvents in Neat Lac / Clear Lac / Wyosheen will disolve acrylics, so if you are using one of those you can have problems. On another post here Spinner recommended using Acrylic Matte Medium as an over coat on acrylic paints to protect them prior applying the lacquer based finishes like Clear Lac.

Bob