Artistic Dying Method

[Chief Filipino]

On 1/8/2017 at 2:02 PM, bikermutt07 said:

Very scary looking mask.

If you don't mind me saying so (and maybe the pictures aren't doing it justice, I don't know) it looks like it needs some brown or rust in there to age it up a little more.

I only say it as a suggestion, because you wanted it to look aged. It looks awesome, but not old.

Thank you for the input! I am/was hoping the spots of the veg-tan color would come through and be enough. I guess I wanted it to look more moss covered than old... I will give the brown some consideration though sometimes I don't like the way something looks and I mess with it only to ruin the whole thing! sometimes knowing when to stop is a weakness of mine. 

[Chief Filipino]

On 1/8/2017 at 2:10 PM, Boriqua said:

Wow! That came out great. That is probably the best piece I have seen you post up here. Not saying the others weren't nice but this is another step in my opinion. Very nice!

 

Alex

Thank you! I am working on improving almost daily. I haven't posted much up here lately so it definitely makes it seem like a massive jump in skill level hahahaha. I need to add some more pictures to my gallery. If it wasn't for everyone like you on here giving the amazing tips, feed back, advice, etc I wouldn't be where I am at now. 

[Tob]

Yep I like it.  So how did you end up coloring it?  I am by no means nitpicking, just to me it looks like moss grew over it and stained it.  Well, let me say it this way, that is the story in my head when I look at it/interpretation.  Nature does some cool things if we slow down every now and then and pay attention.  And again to me, it looks like you captured a good touch of it.

[Chief Filipino]

 

13 minutes ago, Tob said:

Yep I like it.  So how did you end up coloring it?  I am by no means nitpicking, just to me it looks like moss grew over it and stained it.  Well, let me say it this way, that is the story in my head when I look at it/interpretation.  Nature does some cool things if we slow down every now and then and pay attention.  And again to me, it looks like you captured a good touch of it.

Yay! that was the look I was going for was that moss had grown over it. 

To color it I used a pear shader to add some texture in certain areas in addition to the tooling of the teeth etc. Then I used the water based  Eci-Flo "Forest Green" I got from the local Tandy, mixed it with distilled water... at a like 3:1 ratio (water to dye). 

I then hand scooped the mixture onto the mask randomly, trying to spread it out in some areas and letting it soak in some other areas. I would randomly wipe off the excess at random intervals and then just repeated that a few times until I was happy with the result. 

I also added some aging solution to the copper rivets to give them that aged look as well. 

Bikermutt was suggesting adding some brown into it to add an aged look but I'm honestly afraid to touch it and screw it up. 

[bikermutt07]

7 hours ago, Chief Filipino said:

Thank you for the input! I am/was hoping the spots of the veg-tan color would come through and be enough. I guess I wanted it to look more moss covered than old... I will give the brown some consideration though sometimes I don't like the way something looks and I mess with it only to ruin the whole thing! sometimes knowing when to stop is a weakness of mine. 

Nailed It! If it's supposed to look mossy you did it.

Fantastic job.

[kiwican]

Great job man! Your skill set has improved so much you should be proud of yourself

[Chief Filipino]

Thank you biker and kiwi! I still have a lot of room to improve and so many different projects I want to start but haven't gotten there yet. I greatly appreciate everyone on here!!

[silverwingit]

I'm glad you achieved your desired effect.

I just wanted to add to the texturizing and antiquing thread. Antiquing isn't the only way to go. 

Antiquing leaves the ridges light and the depressions dark. Sometimes you want the opposite effect. You can achieve some very interesting results using block dying instead of antiquing. Take a piece of 2x4 and wrap it in lengths cut from an old t-shirt. Staple the ends of the strips to the sides of the wrapped wood block so there aren't any exposed edges or wrinkles on the bottom of the block. Then dip the block in dye until it is saturated and with light pressure pass it over the leather such that it hits the "lands" and not the "grooves." You can take as many passes, overlapping them as you go until you get the desired shade. 

This is also a great way to apply an even coat of dye on a large piece of leather.

Michelle

[Chief Filipino]

7 hours ago, silverwingit said:

I'm glad you achieved your desired effect.

I just wanted to add to the texturizing and antiquing thread. Antiquing isn't the only way to go. 

Antiquing leaves the ridges light and the depressions dark. Sometimes you want the opposite effect. You can achieve some very interesting results using block dying instead of antiquing. Take a piece of 2x4 and wrap it in lengths cut from an old t-shirt. Staple the ends of the strips to the sides of the wrapped wood block so there aren't any exposed edges or wrinkles on the bottom of the block. Then dip the block in dye until it is saturated and with light pressure pass it over the leather such that it hits the "lands" and not the "grooves." You can take as many passes, overlapping them as you go until you get the desired shade. 

This is also a great way to apply an even coat of dye on a large piece of leather.

Michelle

That sounds cool! Do you happen to have any photos? Thank you!

[silverwingit]

Here's a zipper case that I block dyed. I hope you can see the natural features I was talking about.

MIchelle

Edited January 22, 2017 by silverwingit