High Light 3D Stamps

[retiredff]

I lurked here for a while and have just started experimenting with dyes and antiquing (been practicing my stitching). Many post there work here and use 3D stamps, PARTS of the stamped area are darker from dye or antique and other parts are natural looking. Is this done with resist alone or something else I haven't discovered yet?

Can I cover a project with a light color stain or dye, then resist parts then antique the whole thing? As an example; using any 3D stamp, stamp the project, apply light color dye to the whole piece, resist the areas the you want, the apply a darker dye or antique. Does this work?

I read here some people water down the antique paste, I didn't realize it is water based. Maybe I should read the label.

I'm really looking for ways to enhance the color of the 3D stamps I have while dying the rest of the project. If I use a stamp then dye it brown or black it almost disappears, I want it to stand out.

Thanks

Tony

[retiredff]

Does anyone use 3D stamps on your leather projects? If you do how do you bring them out? When I dyed the piece of leather with a stamp design it sort of disappears or blends in.

[texback]

A couple of ways to highlight are to apply a resist to the areas you want to keep lighter and let it dry well before you proceed. Resolene mixed 50/50 with water or a liquid latex painted on the areas you want lighter colored are a couple that come to mind. I use either a fine tip brush or airbrush to apply resolene depending on what I want to stand out. I think there are other ways that some of the folks on here use. I haven't used the liquid latex but I understand you need to paint several coats to build it up, then dye or highlight and then carefully peel the latex off when dry. You can dye a lighter color or leave the leather its natural color either way. A word of caution about using resolene.....in my experience spirit based dyes will cut the resolene and I ended up with the whole project dyed the darker color. Do a search on here for block dying or highlighting. I know I have seen some threads with this information. Maybe some folks with far more experience will chime in. Hope this helps.

[retiredff]

I tried pro clear from SLC and I didn't let it dry long enough. I'm going to try tonight applying a resist to a paper town then press my 3D stamp onto it then using an arbor press the stamp into cased leather. After 24 hrs. I see what happens. I found some latex some have spoke of here, I'll get some. I'll search for block dying, I've read threads about the highlighting.

Thanks for the reply. I knew there had to be a solution, I am a newb and haven't figured a lot of this out yet.

[retiredff]

I found a tutor on block dying and I also read about reverse block dying. Is this correct:

say I have a piece that has a centered celtic symbol and I want parts of it red and the rest of the piece black.

1 - dye celtic symbol red and wait till dry and buff

2 - use a lighter color of acrylic paint and daub into the design hitting mainly the lower portions of the design

3 - reverse block dye and remove the lighter color from higher parts of the design and let dry

4 - dye rest of piece black excluding the design

I suppose I could also reverse this and paint the acrylic into the recessed areas then block dye the symbol?

Is this correct? Should I use latex to protect the design after block or reverse dying and the symbol is done before dying the rest of the piece - just in case?

Hopefully the acrylic paint will adhere to the dyed part of the symbol. Can I use any finish I want or because of the paint/dye is there something else I should use?

Thanks

Tony

Edited December 15, 2014 by retiredff

[retiredff]

Nope, won't work. The paint sticks to the dyed part.

[Grey Drakkon]

Have you tried dying and then very carefully going over it with a light grit sandpaper? That might highlight the raised areas, but would probably change the texture. It's something to try, anyways.

[retiredff]

Here is my problem. I'm a retired FireFighter and have a stamp of a FireFighters Maltese cross. Normally these are RED with a silver (black may work also) outline where the deep outline depressions are. I'm trying to duplicate this color scheme on leather. For some reason this cross is baffling me. I have celtic symbols and I can see how to do these by dying a light color first over the whole stamp then block dye the raised parts. I can't figure the cross out.

Thanks

[Grey Drakkon]

If it's a silver background, have you thought about using silver leaf? You would stamp as normal, dye the cross red and not worry about any bleed over onto the background, and then paint the background with sizing, let it get tacky and lay on the silver leaf. It works great on leather, made a mask completely covered in it: http://ranasp.deviantart.com/art/Complete-Silver-Dragon-Mask-5411318

[retiredff]

is this technique very time consuming and expensive?

I may look for a different color combination where I can use a hi-light stain.

Thanks for the info, I will look into it.

The mask looks great.