Newbie Help On Staining, Please

[Kerryanne]

I am a longtime lurker, so, first of all, thank you for all your previous help. Secondly, I am sorry if these are silly questions, but they are things I am struggling with.

So far, I have made a pretty bad belt and a functional dog lead. I made them with minimal tools. I have now bought a few cheapie tools so I can start to learn and improve. When I have a bit more money I really want to invest in better tools. I have caught the bug.

My questions are initially to do with staining.

1 - I want to make more dog leads. In the shop bought ones, both sides of the lead have the same colour of stain - in fact, they have the top bit of the leather on both sides (if that makes sense. Can you stain the furry side of the leather? The lead which I have just made is about 3-3.5mm which is quite nice. Would I be better trying to find two 1.3-2mm leather strips, staining them and gluing them together and then stitching it? What do you proper leather folk do? If anyone knows of a youtube or tutorial for improving this I would be very grateful.

2. Does anyone have any experience with acrylic dyes like Angelus Acrylic? Are there other options for nice bright vibrant colours - pinks and blues and greens? Would they be any good on dog leads? Can you use them in a spray gun?

Thank you very much, I am very grateful for your help.

[dirtclod]

Yes you can stain / dye both sides of the leather. The grain side / smooth side will always look the best though. I'm not sure how thick the leather your talking about using is. I don't understand MM's to well and i'm to tired to look for conversion chart...LOL. If you glue two pieces topgeather the botton pice needs to be cut a little wider. Glue both togeather and then trim, you may need to sand the edges some depending how well you cut the extra off. I don't make and leashes for sale but the ones i have made for my dog i used one piece of leather. He didn't care. But to resell finished on both sides could be used as a selling point.

I use Angelus dyes and really like them. The dyes are nice bright colors for the most part. I use red, blue, burgundy, ox blood, green, purple, and pink sometimes. I like them a lot better than Febings dye. The acrylic's are paint i think. Not something i would use to color a whole leash with. I have never used a air brush so i can't say about that. Their are people on here that do use airbrushes though. Maybe one of them will answer that question for you.

[Kerryanne]

Thank you so much for your help. I think I will buy some cheap leather straps and have a go at different techniques, at least now I know it is possible I have only looked at Angelus acrylics, so I will have a look at their dyes as well.

Another thing I fancy doing is getting two bits of leather and cutting holes in the top bit and then slot different material in between. Might be a bit too complicated. I wish to goodness i could find a leather class under £500 in Oxford. Not that I don't think I they aren't worth £500 but I just don't have it!