Painting/coloring Stingray?

[Turkish]

I am trying to color the white diamond on a stingray pelt red and been having a hard time finding something that won't just scratch off right away. Any ideas?

[Tiara]

I've dyed shark teeth and alligator scutes with leather alcohol dyes. It takes soaking them for hours to days to get the degree of saturation I want. The teeth soak up the dye from the root end much more than the enamel surface. The bone suckes it up from the pores in the scutes. Since the stingray star is polished calcium deposits, it might be worth trying dye on it. I'd take a small scrap, polish part of it to get some of the deposits and soak that in dye to see if you get anywhere.

What have you tried? how much wear and tear will it get?

I'm messing around right now with some scraps. Using a dremel sanding wheel to polish the tips to bring up a white spot. This is on the small nubs over the main area of the skin. I'm experimenting with clear acrylic fabric medium--lumiere paint extender. and mixing in powdered pigments or diluting the lumiere paints. I mix in either pearl ex mica powders or automotive powder coating powders. If not exposed to a lot of friction it wears well without heat setting, is water resistant but not water proof. heat setting may make it more durable as well as more water resistant. I've done quite a few belt buckles and cuffs this way. Diluting the medium with water can give translucent effects.

The other new method I'm messing with is to use heat activated embossing powders. This is basically a powdered heat activated adhesive. I've gotten some interesting effects with mixing some of the mica/auto powders into clear fine embossing powder. It's applied with embossing 'ink' some are slow drying glycerin based and some are heat activated--what I've used so far. I'm working on getting fine layers on the raised patterns of stingray, snake and the like. best result for this partial effect is to use the 'ink pad' a sponge with the fluid in it rubbed lightly over the leathers, have the powder in a thin layer in a pan, hit the ink with the heat gun, quickly set the leather ink side down in the powder, lift, tap off the excess and hit it with the heat gun until it melts. The minimum amount of time needed to get the powder to turn molten is best. more and it starts to bead up.

I've used this for some buckles, cuffs and hair clips, nothing with much wear and tear. I've been using the palette brand stamp and stick ink/glue pad as it is the heat activated one available locally from hobby lobby. which also carries some of the embossing powders. lots of embossing powders from different companies such as ranger but bo nash 007 bonding powder is the same stuff and you can add any very fine pigment as long as the heat won't affect the color. oh, forgot, there are also alcohol dyes that can be added to the embossing powder such as ranger ink. haven't yet tried leather dye mixed in with it, let dry and applied. not sure if the heat gun will affect it.

For the low abrasion and limited flex applications I've tried, the embossing powder has worked well. The acrylic medium does also. diluted I can get a thinner layer and more translucent. Depends on the effect you want. Neither rubs off with a light touch but doubt either would wear well with a lot of friction.

[phil7153]

This might not be the "proper" way, but I have colored white stingray with sharpie before and then sealed it after drying. It has worked for me.

[Turkish]

So far all I have tried is a multi-surface dacrylic (Americana) After leaving it sit for a week and it still being able to just peel off with a light fingernail scratch I am tempted to take a heat gun to it as the instructions on the bottle say the for glass/ceramic to put it in an oven 325F for half an hour. The hide will be cemented to a flat board but will see some moderate wear and tear so I would really like this to be a sturdy coating.

[Tiara]

The heat gun will help. I've found thin layers are better, diluted with water if need be. Let it dry, hit it with the heat gun and it will be stronger. One thing about this is it will be easy to reapply if needed. But I find that sort of solution irritating.

Not being the type of woman who wears nail polish, but thinking of various things that might work, nail polish may be your best solution.

There are also craft glues and resin mediums that dry clear. Some are interesting in that they are self doming and optically clear enough to act like a magnifier and can give a jewel like depth Phil's idea of a permanent marker topped with a resin that will add some depth and durability might be interesting.

[Turkish]

I already had a couple coats of the americana paint on so I whent ahead with the heat gun last night. Looks like it worked for what I am looking for. If I ever come across this again in another project I will definitely try some of the suggestions. Thanks for the advice!