New Belt

[Nightwolf]

I have been away from the bench waaaay too long working on my Masters Degree. Finally had some time off this summer to finish this belt for my wife, who has been beyond patient and understanding in waiting.

Critique is welcome, this was my first attempt dying the leather this way, and I am very happy with how it came out.

[RoseWolf]

Beautiful work, the roses are dang near perfect and the coloring really makes the whole thing pop. What type of dyes and process did you use?

[Nightwolf]

I used fiebings red and green dyes.

The process was easy, but time consuming. I thinned the dye down to 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 strength. (each in their own sealed jar)

Then I started with the lightest color (yellow for leaves, not green)

Next step was to apply each progressively darker dye in smaller areas to give it a natural/realistic look of highlights ajnd shadows. So the darker areas were dyed 4 times.

[RoseWolf]

Dang, that makes it even more impressive. Thanks for sharing the technique, going to have to find a project to try it on.