Multi Color Staining - Any Tips You Could Give Me?

[jmkjmk2]

So I have traced and carved a dragon on a wallet similar to the one below. No I did not do this fine piece of work - wish I could. I'm to the staining part and was looking for any tips on staining with mulitple colors like this. Where can I go to find some instructions? I really love when leather fades from a dark to a lighter color. Just not sure how to do it. Never been taught and never seen it done. Do you think this is all airbrushed on? Any help would be great. Thanks.

[Oldtoolsniper]

I made this sheath to replace the rotted one behind it. This sheath was dyed with an airbrush.

Those lineish marks around the black in the example picture you provided would be pretty easy to do with an airbrush. Fading from one color to the next is easy too. Just remember in most cases you can go from light to a darker color but not from darker to lighter.

Couple of things I have learned.

Sometimes dyes will blend and change colors. If you apply red over yellow for a sunshine fade you may end up with a green so always test on scrap. The base or leather has a color too so test on scrap.

Tooling changes how the dye absorbs.

Leather absorbs the dye and each piece will do that differently. Save scraps of that leather to practice your colors on each piece will be different in how it takes the dye.

I keep a note book on how I mix the dyes so I can replicate to colors in the future. I mix by drops, not real scientific but I'm not building the guidance system for a rocket either.

I'm not an airbrush artist, I can't even draw. The artwork is done already and you are simply coloring it not drawing it with the airbrush.

To paint a chair black you do not need to be able to make the chair, you only need to be able to apply the paint to the chair and it will look just like a black chair.

I use the alcohol based leather dyes so the solvent is alcohol.

I also use Non Grain Raising wood dye as well. I use the alcohol based becuse it's the same solvent for my leather dyes and that way I'm not trying to mix water based and alcohol based dyes together.

Wood dye and wood stain are two different animals. Wood dye is color and wood stain is pigment. Dye enters the leather and stain sits on top. I use the NGR dye becuse there are a lot more colors and you can mix them for different shades. I'm also very familiar with them from woodworking.

Dye changes the color of the material and pigment covers up the material or sits on top.

I only had wood dye when I started and since it dyes my fingers, clothing, wood, concrete floor and everything else it gets on I figured it would work on leather. It does for me. If it's right or wrong I'm sure is a long discussion that ranks up there with Ford vs. Chevy. Who cares as long as it works, it does for me.

Trade name is below parentheses. I buy it from wood workers supply.

(Behlen Solar Lux NGR Dyes, BehlenWood Dye

HIGHLY FADE RESISTANT COLORS.

Premixed, non-grain raising NGR SOLAR-LUX is ideal for use under any top coat)

Edited July 4, 2015 by Oldtoolsniper

[JLSleather]

Nice discussion Oldtoolsniper. I THINK I do some okay leather work, but I knew a guy 'back when' certainly had something to say about color. He DYED his own woodwork which, as you said, is not a 'sit in on the top' thing. You could cut the leg off one of his chairs and that was the color ALL THE WAY THROUGH. Fascinating. Don't even get me started about how he curved wood (permanently) with steam and some clamps.

Crap. Now that I think about it -- Jim really made what I do look like a little kid with a crayon! But then I've always loved real wood.

But, back to the airbrush thing ... I've been meaning to put something up on the site showing some very basic airbrush techniques. I certainly would want to include this "fade" thing everyone talks about - perhaps if we get EVERYONE doing it people would give that a break Genuinely SIMPLE to do - and anyone who knows Gibson guitars knows it's been around a LONG time (Gibson called it a "sunburst" in teh 50's).

There are a LOT of effects to be had with even the most basic equipment. The little pic attached was done to show a few of these 'results', plus my little one wanted a place to keep his jig heads. Remember that little bag.. Tandy usedta call it a "wander" bag. For size reference, it's shown here with a spool of 3/32" lace...

OH! I should perhaps add that is NOT TOOLED at all .. just some Fiebings spirit dyes sprayed here 'n' there ...

Edited July 4, 2015 by JLSleather

[Oldtoolsniper]

I'm pretty much convinced if you can use a can of spray paint you can airbrush. The only difference is cleaning and thinning what you spray. The beauty of the alcohol dyes is that you don't even have to be that clean conscious with them since they will clean up even after they dry with alcohol.

A good example is water based paint, once it drys water will not remove it so it must be cleaned from the airbrush before it dries. This holds true for most of the acrylic leather finishes, they thin with water but cannot be reactivated or removed with water once they dry.

The dyes for the most part are the easiest and most forgiving of all the things I have ever used in an airbrush. Even if you let them dry in the airbrush they wash right out with alcohol. I don't let them dry in the brush but it has happened to me by mistake.

[Oldtoolsniper]

JLS,

I can't paint a fish. I do paint fishing lures all the time but the shape of the fish is already there I'm just coloring it just like the black chair analogy.

This is a test piece that is in my truck toolbox to see how well the components hold up to real world wear and tear. It was painted with acrylic $.89 paint from Hobby Lobby. The top finish is future acrylic floor finish cut 50% with thinner (water). I made the conchos from the state quarters, Silver solder and Chicago screws, the idea came from this site but I don't remember who.

The Buffalo is a large stamp I own and again the finish on the stamping is a test as well.

The stamp is a bunch of animals inside of the Buffalo to make up the Buffalo. I'm still trying to figure out how to make them stand out. But that's a whole other subject.

Edited July 4, 2015 by Oldtoolsniper

[JLSleather]

Cool! I'm not much on the blue background, but I ONLY say that because it's shorter than saying I like the REST

[Oldtoolsniper]

I'm with you on the color. I used it to see if I would get bleed through and to see if the floor finish top coat would yellow it.

This whole thing is a scrap done to torture test the products used.

It's now riding on the dashboard and cooking in the sun in my truck.

I'm not sure what the difference between "Leather Paint" and "Craft Paint" is besides the price. $4.99 and up for leather paint and $.89 for the same amount of craft paint when it's not on sale.

Same thing with leather dye vs wood dye with the same solvent. Wood dye has more colors to use in mixing and there is a handy dandy color mixing wheel that is also for sale at woodworkers supply that really cuts down on the experimenting when attempting a new shade.

Marketing is amazing and here is my point. The most expensive paint on the planet has got to be fingernail polish. Some of it is $8.00 an ounce, using math for Marines that is $1024.00 a gallon since there are 128 ounces in a gallon. Even that craft paint is expensive stuff when you break it down that way.

[Oldtoolsniper]

On the airbrushing side of this I used it to apply the blue with no taping it off, I wanted the color to blend to the edge and not be a sharp cut off or line like you would get if the stamping were taped off.

I've used fingernail polish, ink, automotive paints, floor finish, craft paint, food dye, wood dye, lacquer, polyurethane, varnish, spar varnish, shellac, pre-catalyzed lacquer, polyurethane, varnish, spar varnish, shellac, two part clear coat, all of the oil based paints that come in quarts, gallons etc, rust oleum type stuff, contact cement and have determined that an airbrush is just another way to get the product applied to the object. You need to clean your airbrush the same as a good quality brush, if you don't well that's on you.

Is an airbrush always the best way, no. It's just another way.