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Hello!

I am just starting out, and for my first project, I am trying to make an underbust corset with a crescent moon and star design (Mord Sith cosplay from the Sword of Truth series). I attempted the basic design on a scrap piece of 4/5 oz veg tanned, but I have not purchased any figure carving tools yet, so I attempted using my set of modeling tools to tool it with very poor results. With that being said, are there some basic figure carving tools that I should invest in which will be useful in many different projects? I am thinking of getting a midsized pear shader (P217 Craftool Pear Shader Stamp) and a square shaped beveler (B200 Craftool Beveler Stamp). Also, the main body of the underbust will be oxblood red. I have Fiebing's Leather Dye in Oxblood for that. The moon and star need to be yellow- I have the EcoFlo Cova Color in yellow. My question- should I dye it all with the oxblood so I don't get weird streaks from trying to work around, and then do several coats of the yellow over that? Or should I avoid dying an area that needs to be painted?  I have attached photos of the inspiration for my costume as well as my first attempt at the moon and star design. I know I need a lot of practice on scrap :)      

MordSithShow.jpg

crescentmoonstar.png

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You will need a backgrounder as well. I have been looking for the same answers as you about dyeing and painting. From my research so far it looks like dye let DRY completely (About 24 Hrs.) Then paint in successive colors of thinned acrylic paint till desired color, then LET DRY completely. Condition and LET DRY COMPLETELY, (Round about then I started to see a pattern) and finish. And guess what before the final buff?

Were I you I would get an eyelet set as well if you don't have one.

Posted

Figure carving tools/stamps are a sub-set of all the stamps.  What you are looking for is the main stamps used for most floral carving to do the moon and star.  A medium to small beveller, might want to get both a smooth and checkered style.  Looks like you need a swivel knife, or need to get yours sharpened and make sure you are casing the leather correctly.  For floral carvings, add pear shader, (checkered, smooth, and vertical lines are all nice to have).  A camouflage stamp, veiner, and a couple versions of background stamps.  And the list just continues to go on and on.  But you can do a lot with about 5 stamps.

Tom

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Very many people on this board dislike the Eco-flo (water-based) dyes. Those water-based dyes don't hold their color like the spirit dyes do. You should definitely use your tooling test scraps to also test dyes. 
I wonder if perhaps you wouldn't rather use yellow acrylic paint instead of yellow dye, to get a brighter yellow?

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Posted (edited)

Oxblood ends up pink for me. I would look at Mahagony to get closer to the color you're  looking for. Get the Fiebings pro dyes 4.oz bottle $5. And run some tests and practice. IMO 

Edited by Mattsbagger
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Posted

Thank you everyone! I am attaching a photo of the supplies I have so far. I did end up buying the B200 beveller (smooth).

22 hours ago, northmount said:

Figure carving tools/stamps are a sub-set of all the stamps.  What you are looking for is the main stamps used for most floral carving to do the moon and star.  A medium to small beveller, might want to get both a smooth and checkered style.  Looks like you need a swivel knife, or need to get yours sharpened and make sure you are casing the leather correctly.  For floral carvings, add pear shader, (checkered, smooth, and vertical lines are all nice to have).  A camouflage stamp, veiner, and a couple versions of background stamps.  And the list just continues to go on and on.  But you can do a lot with about 5 stamps.

Tom

I have a swivel knife but I think I need a lot more practice making nice clean cuts. I have sharpened it on 600 grit sandpaper and I have stropped it with white jeweler's rouge on the rough side of some scrap leather. So far, I feel like the leather on either side of the cut kind of bunches up when I'm making the cut, then really bunches up when I start using the beveller. I am guessing this is because my leather is too wet, does this sound right? I am also having a hard time getting the beveller to move at a steady pace and to hold the swivel knife line. I think part of that may be that I might not be cutting deeply enough. 

16 hours ago, DJole said:

Very many people on this board dislike the Eco-flo (water-based) dyes. Those water-based dyes don't hold their color like the spirit dyes do. You should definitely use your tooling test scraps to also test dyes. 
I wonder if perhaps you wouldn't rather use yellow acrylic paint instead of yellow dye, to get a brighter yellow?

I thought that the Cova Color was an acrylic paint- it is water based, though. Are there spirit based acrylic paints that I would have better luck using?  

 

12 hours ago, Mattsbagger said:

Oxblood ends up pink for me. I would look at Mahagony to get closer to the color you're  looking for. Get the Fiebings pro dyes 4.oz bottle $5. And run some tests and practice. IMO 

Thanks for the heads up with the oxblood! I had purchased a 2nd bottle of it at Tandy yesterday- looks like I should exchange it for the Mahagony! I will certainly practice on some scrap first. If neither color is quite right, should I mix the dyes, or do a coat of one and then a coat of the other?

 

On ‎6‎/‎26‎/‎2017 at 7:58 AM, Grumpymann said:

You will need a backgrounder as well. I have been looking for the same answers as you about dyeing and painting. From my research so far it looks like dye let DRY completely (About 24 Hrs.) Then paint in successive colors of thinned acrylic paint till desired color, then LET DRY completely. Condition and LET DRY COMPLETELY, (Round about then I started to see a pattern) and finish. And guess what before the final buff?

Were I you I would get an eyelet set as well if you don't have one.

I do have an eyelet set! I also got a set of speed hooks before I realized how hard they would be to set without some pretty specialized equipment. I'm going to check the forums here to see if someone has a good solution on how to set those, otherwise I may ask my local cobbler if he would set them for me once I get all the holes punched. 

 

I really appreciate all the input! 

Caitlin 

materials.png

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Posted

One more suggestion - you might want to consider a star stamp. There are several sizes available at your local Tandy's.

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3 hours ago, Sofaspud said:

One more suggestion - you might want to consider a star stamp. There are several sizes available at your local Tandy's.

Haha I know it's that bad!!!! I had assumed that the stamps would be too small, I wanted a star about an inch across on the actual piece, but I have not actually looked on the Tandy site. It would probably be a wise idea. Now if only they had a 4 inch crescent moon.... :lol:

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