Experimenting with resists

[Johanna]

There are times pictures say a thousand words. The idea of "resists" is to coat part of the design with Neat Lac (or some sort of Shene which will prevent the antique from penetrating the leather) in order to bring out the contrast. These two pictures are from Dave Howell, Tandy Manager in Nashville, used with permission. Note the differences are subtle, but present.

Johanna

[pepin1948]

I recently used the new Tandy Block Out for the first time as a resist, and was very pleased with it. I put their Antique (liquid) over top.

[B.J. Mantell]

I use a lot of the super sheen. Most of the SCA fighters in my area wouldn't wear leather because it wasn't as shiney as the metal armor. Now they get me to carve things into their leather armor, antique then cote it with super sheen that way they can have an aged battle hardened look and be shiney too. Oh the vanity.

[wes]

Could you discuss the illustrations a little more? I would like to understand what is being shown and my ignorance is hindering me quite a bit.

Edited September 2, 2006 by wes

[Johanna]

Antique finish is water based and dye is not. If you use something like Neat Lac, you can seal the leather to where it will not accept Antique (much) and provide a contrast to emphasize something, in this example, a flower. Dye will absorb through (thus cover up) all the above mentioned products, so resisting techniques are not used with an all over dye bath afterward, only antique. Antique lets you play with the color- you put it on, wait for some to absorb, wash it off, decide if you like it, do it again, and eventually you get the effect you want. Afterwards, you seal the leather with a finish.

Dye is a "horse of a different color" (sorry, couldn't resist!). You apply dye all over with daubers, or selectively with a paintbrush (I like triple ought sable brushes, and as you touch the dye to the leather, you let the leather pull the dye from the brush, or you will ruin hours of carving with a splotch.

Hope that helps.

Johanna