please help?

[jspade]

I started tooling around about Oct. of last year. I'm starting to get it finally and I'll post some pictures when I'm not to embarressed. But my question is could someone please help me or explain to me the art of dyeing, staining, and highlighting after the work is done. I've used block-out and I think it has worked one time. The other, it darkened the leather to much. Anyway thanks for the great site and for helping out all us newbies....

Frank

[wolvenstien]

jspade, First off, welcome to the leatherworker....

Second... if you are anything like most of us, you will never get over being embarrassed of your work... so post the pix anyways... you will get good criticism, no one here will say anything negative with the intention of hurting you. Post your pix, you will get great help in improving your style.

Third... coloring, dying, finishing.... I bought a DVD at tandy titled: "Dying & Finishing with George Hurst" and I watched it several times. It taught me the basics, but it left me with a lot of unanswered questions too.

Are you near a Tandy store? They have a compatibility sheet that is free, that also helped me out greatly.

I cant scan it, but here is a copy: COMPATIBILITY CHART

Use the chart to tell what can go over what... Like this: I carve a flower, and I want to use Fiebing's Antique Finish, but I dont know what to use over to seal it. So I look at the chart and it tells me that the following are ok: Super Shene, Super Shene Spray, Satin Shene, Block-out Resist & Top Coat, Neat-Lac Leather Finish, Leather Sheen, Leather Sheen Spray, Institutional Finish, Acrylic Resolene, Saddle-Lac Spray Balm W/ Atom Wax, and finally Tan Kote. The only finish listed that is not compatible with the Fiebing's Antique Finish is Carnuba Creme. Now you have to pick a finish from your supplies... lets say we pick Acrylic Resolene, so we go back down the list and check the "special codes" and we see that we get an AB code... A: Will pick up some color. B: Remove excess ANTIQUE from smooth surfaces & allow to dry or FINISH may streak, crack and flake off. So now I know that if I want to continue to use the Resolene, I need to follow the special instructions.

Now... whats covered in the DVD I mentioned but not on the chart is other uses of Block-out... since you didnt go into detail, I am only assuming you used blockout as a finish... So lets say we are doing another carving of a flower. We want the surrounding of the flower to be brown, and the flower to be red, with green leaves and stem. We use any dye... I have tandy dyes (not the new eco stuff) and I use a small paint brush and paint the red, then clean the brush with thinner and then do the green. I then clean the brush again, and get the block-out and use the blockout over all the flower areas I dyed. I go over a few times to make sure I didnt miss any parts. Then after I allow the block-out to dry, I get the antique brown out and apply it over the whole piece of leather. but I then go back and wipe it off especially over the area of the flower. The blockout will wipe off a little bit which is fine as it has done its job to protect the dyed area from getting colored by the antique. Then you apply a finish that is compatible to both the antique and the type of dye you used to dye with.

Most times I personally use a small piece of leather to test everything on to see if I will get the outcome I am expecting to get. I am not sure what you mean when you say the blockout made your leather darker..... blockout if not supposed to soak into the leather, just stand on top of the leather.... so i cant explain that to you. Might have something to do with the leather itself.

For the most part, it is something you have to learn for yourself, no one here can sit and explain the art of dying and finishing.... they can explain how they do it, but thats about it. You have to learn the basics, and then build from there and learn your own art.... you can get good tips and tricks from some of the awesome artists here....

LOL, looking back at this... I am embarrassed to hit the post button... but... I am going to...

Be well, and again, welcome to the leatherworker forum!

Mike

AKA

Wolvie

[jspade]

thanks for the help Wolvie....When I said the leather got darker...the first time I used an Eco-Flo leather dye and the second time when the leather got darker was Fiebing's Prol oil dye "light brown" and light it wasn't....LOL...Hey thanks for all the help and the vote of confidence I'll get some pictures and post .....Thanks again

[wolvenstien]

Something you will notice with dying, and I think this applies to all types of dye, be it oil dye, water based, or what have you, that you can apply it thinly, and it will go on light; dip your brush in the dye, then blot the brush on a scrap piece of leather or on a paper towel, and then apply to the project. You will notice that is is lighter, but the more coats you apply, the darker it gets.

There is a technique (which I do not know) of going from one color to another, and in doing so the color has to get lighter and lighter until it starts to change to the new color then that new color starts getting darker....

[howardb]

Frank,

Going through this pain myself on a project. I talked at length to a leather mentor last evening, and got similar advice.

I had taken a class on painting (dying) leather at the IFOLG show last fall, and so that part I have figured out. But what's next? How do I protect, seal, etc.? Anyway, my friend sent me a quick list, but the products he mentions, I don't have. So that was why I bugged him yesterday.

His advice? Try it out on some scrap and see what works. There aren't too many wrong answers, and a whole lot of right ones. So last night, I pulled out some tooled scrap and threw some paint (dye) on it and let it dry. This morning, I rubbed some neatsfoot on it & tonight I'll see what damage that did. I'll probably set up a test piece so I can figure it out scientifically, but hey that's fun for me! I'll post a thread if & when I get that done.

Hope it helps some.

Brent

[jspade]

Hey guys thanks for all the help.....I'll do just that "practice" LOL.... once again thank you all.....

[BillB]

I have found that making color palettes using scrap leather of the quality and tanning that I normally tool an invaluable tool to understand the results of the dye. Here are the palettes that I have at my bench for reference:

File 1 is a palette I made back in the 70s. I have kept it as a reference and to see the affects as the leather darkens with age.

File 2 is a current palette of the Oil and Alcohol base dyes (Tandy & Fierbing's)

File 3 is from the new Tandy Eco Flow Highlighters

File 4 is of finishes that I use or preservatives in the case of Lexol (Non Darkening Blend)

The two books I have for reference are:

Coloring Leather by Al Stohlman (Stock No. 61942-00) published by Tandy

The Main Technique of Coloring Leather by Peter Main, published in 2006 by The Australian Leather Craftsman Publications (available from his web site at www.petermain.com)

Both books have good. Peter's explains the techniques of going from a light shade with spirit dye to a darker shade with the same dye. Both have very good comparison charts of dye colors and thinned and straight, over coloring (one color over the other and then reversing the combination actually yields slight changes), and finish affects.

Don't be afraid to experiment. I look forward to seeing some of your work. We all want to help and grow this art form.

Edited March 2, 2008 by Johanna
reduced pic sizes