Getting Opaque Finish

[Orerockon]

Hi guys I have dome some leather work in the distant past (as in a "crafting class)". I am now trying to get serious with belts and I have what I am sure is a really basic question. I found a technique in another post that I would like to use http://www.johan-pot...r.com/ll/?cat=7 and I'd like some feedback before I continue. First I got a few of the pre-embossed belts and I am trying a gray/black finish first on a piece of the end. I didn't really get anything other than a murky stain with the Fiebling's gray color, without the Fieblings pre-dye treatment. I did notice that the treatment took off something that looks like a brown dye, but that might just be some of the natural color of the leather being dissolved? Is the pre-dyeing a good thing to do in general?

Then I brushed on the gray on both treated and untreated segments and got the murky hazy stain, so I kept letting it more or less dry and doing ti again until I got the solid gray color I was after. Is this a stupid thing to do? After I get a solid color (assuming it can be done without ruining the belt), I would like to coat just the very top of the raised parts of the leather with a opaque black like in the blog I found above. I had bought the Fiebling's acrylic assortment but that doesn't look like I can get the effect I am after without painting it all on by hand. I would like to use the technique of brushing over the a wood block and cloth and get really the exact look in the first example on the blog. If that can't be done, I would want a very dark opaque black in the recessed parts, I looked around here and I guess that would be done with an antiqueing stain? I might want to do both the highlighting and the antiqueing if i get ambitious.

Finally I would want to paint in just a few isolated raised areas. Then I want to repeat the process on other belts with different dye and highlighting and/or antiquing. Also, is there a finish that is best for opaque dyes where the leather isn't visible anymore, or do I even need one? Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

Edited November 7, 2013 by Orerockon

[Orerockon]

Whoops one more question, if you are antiquing and painting acrylic over the dye, do you ant to paint the acrylic first or after the antique stain? I plan on resisting the base dye as in the page above.