Two-tone dye with a fade

[Tob]

New to the site and leatherworking in general.  I am going to do a leather rose for the better half and going to use purple and black.  She digs that kind of stuff.  She also does not like real flowers because they die.  

The question is how to dye the petals purple on the main "meat" of the petals and fade them to black on the edges.  Bear in mind I do not have or have access to an airbrush.  I have tried watering down the black, maybe it wasn't enough, but it left a line without a fade.

Any ideas or proper search terms to use?  All my searches keep turning up boot repair. I know it is going to be something that makes me palm smack my forehead, too.  So, now I ask. TIA

Tob

[DpMaquilon]

If you type this into YouTube "Block Dyeing Technique" you will get a great tutorial. Good luck and please post how it comes out.

[billybopp]

In a separate container, try adding a very small amount of black to the purple ... and incrementally add more black to get the fade you want - building up the color on the piece.  If the purple is too intense, you can thin it to achieve lighter shades and highlights as well.   Dying with color is a lot like painting with watercolor, if you're familiar with that.

Edited December 14, 2016 by billybopp

[Northmount]

Blot most of the dye off your brush so it is almost dry.  Sometimes called dry brushing.  Doesn't drop a glob of dye when you touch the leather, so no line where it spread out.

Tom

[Tob]

Thank you.  

The block dyeing technique is really really close to what I was looking for. There isn't going to be any tooling so i won't be getting that cool effect. 

I am not familiar with watercolor painting, but you have given me more of an idea of what I want to try. Light, bright center and darken to the edges. Think Tim Burton type colors. 

Again thank you for the tips. Now I just need to get my ideas out of my head and into the world.

[Tob]

update...

Finally got to finishing it. Used a combination of techniques. Eco-flo navy blue and red and coal black.  The black was pretty straight at the edges and the purple-ish was watered down and many coats added to change color.

 

[JerseyFirefighter]

pretty neat! How did you get all of the petals to stay? If you dont mind me asking what weight leather did you use?

 

edit: Started poking around and found a tutorial. I think the wife would appreciate the sentiment. Thanks for showing the finished product!

Edited December 25, 2016 by JerseyFirefighter

[Tob]

if the tutorial was from instructables...that would be the one.

[Northmount]

21 hours ago, JerseyFirefighter said:

pretty neat! How did you get all of the petals to stay? If you dont mind me asking what weight leather did you use?

 

edit: Started poking around and found a tutorial. I think the wife would appreciate the sentiment. Thanks for showing the finished product!

Would you fellows mind posting the link?  Others would be interested I'm sure.

Tom

[panchoskywalker]

I guess they are referring to this video.

 

 

Edited December 26, 2016 by panchoskywalker

[JerseyFirefighter]

15 hours ago, northmount said:

Would you fellows mind posting the link?  Others would be interested I'm sure.

Tom

http://www.instructables.com/id/Making-a-Leather-Rose/

 

I also swore to myself that I would make one of these in 2017 for myself.

 

http://www.instructables.com/id/Leather-Tankard/

[Tob]

I may have to give that a go as well.