Painting Small Letters

[JerseyFirefighter]

I can agree with both assertions. If you are using a brush, the thickest of the paint gets dispersed along the center of character and gets dragged out to the edge. If you are using a needle bottle, I tend to outline the letter first. Wait until you encounter the dreaded air bubbles! You will learn that sometimes even with the needle you should cautiously use your first few seconds to paint towards the middle to avoid a messy bubble. Now as it pertains to an air bubble and sometimes big oops spots take a little bit of experience, and quick thinking. Black and White leather are much more forgiving than say a walnut, tan, or natural leather. 

[Squilchuck]

How well do needle-tip applicators work with Feibings dye for coloring letters? --John

[retiredff]

19 minutes ago, Squilchuck said:

How well do needle-tip applicators work with Feibings dye for coloring letters? --John

I don't know about the dye but with 2:1 (reducer:Angelus paint) it's a disaster. It was way to thin so I would imagine dyes would be the same. I haven't had time to test with non reduced Angelus but my guess would be any thin liquid won't work very well. I know this because I had some reduced Angelus that was handy so I used it.

Edited September 20, 2017 by retiredff

[CaptQuirk]

@retiredff- I have not tried it yet... with leather. I just haven't done much lettering. But, this is the approach I would take, and have in other media.