Tattered Flag

[indidana]

I took on an order for a burnt/tattered flag on a phone case. I told the guy I'm not good at realistic, at all, and this would take me some time and a lot of work. I'm about to refund his money because I just can't do it. I cannot paint shadows, and for the life of me, I dlcant figure out how to paint a burn along the edges of a tattered flag. I've tried using my wood burner but it just melts the paint and still leaves me hopeless with painting shadows. I hate to do it, but I think I would be better off giving him his money back. How embarrassing.

The first photo, all I've done is painted red, white and blue. The second photo is my attempt at painting the burn. I gave up. Laugh all you like, but I TOLD the guy I'm not good at this shit. He said he has faith in me and that we could figure something out he would like.

[King's X]

Hey, I am proud of you for going outside of your limits. But you did a fine job! You can always take a lighter to it if you want to provide some charring OR you can cut out the voids and filigree with thin black leather.

[indidana]

Thank you. I didn't think to filigree. It still doesn't solve the problem of shadows on the flag, though. He wants it to be darker. Beat up.

[SamB]

Hi Indidana.

Why don't you try the other way around? I mean, use the wood burner first and then paint it. In the burned areas, thin the paint (you used acrylic paints, right?) just to give it a slight coloration. And by experience, I know that the paint (I used dye, though) won't stick the same way as in the rest of the leather.

I don't know if you're experienced or not with burning leather (I'm not just made a few tries), but just in case check this free tutorial by Lora s. Irish:

http://www.lsirish.com/tutorials/pyrography-tutorials/pyrography-leather-journal/

The only problem is that you'll have to start a new case.

And the filigree is a great idea!

Sandra

[MikeG]

_Indiana,

_{To be honest, it doesn't look that far off to me. Maybe the colors are just too bright for a tattered flag. I believe if you make the white more yellow, brown or gray and mute the red and blue with a little white you will be much closer to the final effect you are looking for, and as you wash the colors out you may feel a little better about it. Good luck with it and my bet is you will be much more critical of the final product than your customer. The basic work is good.}

[mikekratz]

I took on an order for a burnt/tattered flag on a phone case. I told the guy I'm not good at realistic, at all, and this would take me some time and a lot of work. I'm about to refund his money because I just can't do it. I cannot paint shadows, and for the life of me, I dlcant figure out how to paint a burn along the edges of a tattered flag. I've tried using my wood burner but it just melts the paint and still leaves me hopeless with painting shadows. I hate to do it, but I think I would be better off giving him his money back. How embarrassing.

The first photo, all I've done is painted red, white and blue. The second photo is my attempt at painting the burn. I gave up. Laugh all you like, but I TOLD the guy I'm not good at this shit. He said he has faith in me and that we could figure something out he would like.

I was in the same boat as you a while back. this is what I ended up with. I did the coloring using block out and antique gel and was happy with the finish.

I cant figure out how to put a picture up??

[electrathon]

I am not a color guy (still think leather should be any color, as long as it is a shade of brown) but what I see is that your colors are way to bold/intense. They need watered or thinned a lot. Almost transparent. For the tattered effect I would use a dremel to damage the edges, your holes are far to clean cut.

[buzzardbait]

Thin that paint way way way way down, and build up to the final color. When you paint the shadows, wet the brush then brush the paint out on scrap or paper until there is just enough paint left in the brush to make a faint mark when you scrub the brush on your work and repeat until you reach your desired shade. This dry brush method works best with short bristles. I use old worn out brushes and trim the bristles. This method will trash a good brush

[rickdroid]

There is a post from yesterday "Patriotic Holster"

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=67838&hl=

that has a flag theme that I believe looks like what you are trying to achieve. The colors are muted making it look like it might have been around during a battle. Give it a look and if it is what you are after ask the maker how he achieved that look.

[indidana]

Thank you all so much for your advice. Sadly, I refunded his money, but I plan on trying to master the damn case anyway.

[mikekratz]

just figured out how to put a picture on

[TheCyberwolfe]

In the model-making world, a cup of coffee is a great way to 'age' an object. Never tried it on painted leather myself, but perhaps worth a try.

[indidana]

I can't imagine that it would work on acrylic, but I could be wrong. Im going to give it a shot.

[buzzardbait]

I use the antigue gels over acrylic paint quite often to age a project. Just make sure your acrylics are completely dry before you antique. Then seal with Super Sheen

[AndyL1]

I did one similar to this. Instead of painting in the white just leave the stripes natural and use a diluted dye for the red. Right now your colors are too bright and saturated to give the illusion of something worn out and yellowed. Plus, give your edges a more ragged look. I also made some depressions with a modeling tool so the antiquing would have places to settle in and give a bit of a mottled appearance.