KGV Report post Posted August 23, 2014 Hi all! Haven't posted in a while, life gets in the way of leather working sometimes, haha. I'm getting back into leathercrafting and I saw some crazy stuff recently, glazed natural leather. I looked for some to order but the only one I've found is from japan and the shipping outweighs the cost of the leather, so I started to look into hand glazing it myself. I've seen a few people that have done it but they keep their process secret, which left me at a dead end. If anyone here has ever done it or can point me in the right direction as to where to find techniques, materials, and tutorials I'd be extremely grateful! Thanks all! Best Regards, Kevin Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DavidL Report post Posted August 23, 2014 I know waterhouse leather has glazed leather at 15 dollars a sq foot and they thin for free. leather glazing I've only seen on youtube and it was done on a big machine that moves back and forth(could of been heated) and I don't think they used any oils or liquids. Maybe a slicker with cotton wrapped around it may work? I also have had cheap transparent glue end up on dyed vegtan and it looked shiny so you may want to try that but I don't want to lead you in the wrong direction or mess up a lot of leather so try it on some scrap first. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KGV Report post Posted August 23, 2014 Thanks for the information! I'll look into it, I've got scrap lying around so i'll try that, I've no clue what else could be used, maybe a heated wax of some sort? I'm going to try everything I can, thanks for your contribution David! Kevin Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DavidL Report post Posted August 23, 2014 heres a video if you haven't seen it with the machine for reference Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KGV Report post Posted August 23, 2014 Thanks David!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hi Im Joe Report post Posted August 23, 2014 Have you thought about a boxwood burnisher. I think you could duplicate that result with something like that. Valerie Michael references one in her book. It just looks like a lump of boxwood with a handle carved out on one end...basically the shape of the head of that machine in the video David posted. You could definitely rub it onto the leather and get some burnished or glazed effect. Good luck! I want to see the results. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KGV Report post Posted August 24, 2014 Helps a lot joe! I'm going to get a cheap one and try it out! That video is insane and aside from using some cloth to rub across the surface, the boxwood burnisher seems like my best bet. Thanks to both of you! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hi Im Joe Report post Posted August 25, 2014 Good luck man! Can't wait to see what you come up with. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DavidL Report post Posted August 25, 2014 Im with joe on this one, I'm interested in what you come up with. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jk215 Report post Posted August 26, 2014 (edited) Im actually going to be giving this a go myself in the next few weeks. There are very few resources online and almost none that involve hand glazing. The only info you will find is about using a glazing jack like in the video above but thats not practical for small scale use. I tried locating a "glass rod" heavy enough to maybe mimic the action of a glazing jack but I dont think I could leverage enough pressure to be effective. So I settled for a glass burnisher from Tandy that I just got delivered. I know leatherworkers who do a lot of tooling use them to glaze the surface before casing. I think combining this action with some hand stuffing should make some really nice glazed leather. Im going to attempt hand hot stuffing with some waxes, tallows, oils and glazing after that. Ill try to remember to post my results. Good luck! Edited August 26, 2014 by jk215 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DavidL Report post Posted August 28, 2014 I was looking for screen printing supplies and I saw a t shirt heat press that would work on leathers with waxes and oils or adding them onto vegtan. Could we worth a chance but may not work. Around 230 on amazon.com. Helps a lot joe! I'm going to get a cheap one and try it out! That video is insane and aside from using some cloth to rub across the surface, the boxwood burnisher seems like my best bet. Thanks to both of you! Im actually going to be giving this a go myself in the next few weeks. There are very few resources online and almost none that involve hand glazing. The only info you will find is about using a glazing jack like in the video above but thats not practical for small scale use. I tried locating a "glass rod" heavy enough to maybe mimic the action of a glazing jack but I dont think I could leverage enough pressure to be effective. So I settled for a glass burnisher from Tandy that I just got delivered. I know leatherworkers who do a lot of tooling use them to glaze the surface before casing. I think combining this action with some hand stuffing should make some really nice glazed leather. Im going to attempt hand hot stuffing with some waxes, tallows, oils and glazing after that. Ill try to remember to post my results. Good luck! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thefanninator Report post Posted August 29, 2014 (edited) Have you thought about a boxwood burnisher. I think you could duplicate that result with something like that. Valerie Michael references one in her book. It just looks like a lump of boxwood with a handle carved out on one end...basically the shape of the head of that machine in the video David posted. You could definitely rub it onto the leather and get some burnished or glazed effect. Good luck! I want to see the results. Yes, Joe is right. In the video they are just burnishing the leather. As Joe said Valerie Michael mentions it in her book. If you don't own the book, you should. Edited August 29, 2014 by thefanninator Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PRLeatherworks Report post Posted October 23, 2017 Looks like this thread hasn't had any attention for a while but since I'm looking into this process as well, I thought I would share this link in case anyone is interested. Haven't had a chance to try it yet but I'll post the results when I do. http://homeguides.sfgate.com/leather-glazed-105873.html Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kiwican Report post Posted October 24, 2017 lol I did this by accident when I first started leather work, I used the plastic slicking wheel Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kiwican Report post Posted October 24, 2017 Take a look at this video, lots of history here and a bit about what you are asking about Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sgrand Report post Posted June 30, 2018 I'm a newby here. Glad I came across this post. I need to glaze fairly large pieces of leather. The glass slicker shown in videos I found below do a good job but it's slow going. I thought. is there a way to get a glass cylinder on a drill? Anyone know of such a thing. Slotted hardwood gizmos on drills are used for edge burnishing. Guess I could find a way to put a larger wood cylinder on a drill -- not exactly sure how. Probably won't work as well as glass. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Much Thanks Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
