How would I spiffy up a belt?

[Seamus]

I have a belt that I bought quite some time ago. I don't wear it incredibly often, so it's still in near mint condition. It's plain, though. The edges are burnished and the belt is dyed black, but there's no sort of decoration (unless you count the buckle, loop, and rivets). Given that this belt is a "finished" product, is it still possible for me to hit it with some stamps, etc., and end up with a really finished product? Or would any tooling I do not take?

[mendedbowl]

Hi Seamus,

If your belt is veg tanned and is able to take in water (if it isn't sealed with a finish) i would think you could tool it some. I'm not sure how it would look on a pre-dyed leather, i guess it would depend on what kind of dye was used and how deep it penetrated. but you could always dye it black again if it's water based dye and runs when you wet it.

if you search the forum you can find lots of examples of very elegant swivel knife finger cuts to use...also you could consider adding conchos, spots, or some other type of bling.

good luck with your project,

ken

[Rawhide]

It depends if it's veggie tanned or chrome tanned. If veg tanned, and the sealer allows water to pass, you may be able to stamp it. If it's chrome tanned, you can only add some crystal rivets or maybe some conchos.

[HorsehairBraider]

You could punch a bunch of holes in it and do some applique braiding. That looks pretty spiffy and it doesn't matter how the leather was tanned or finished.