Help with bleeding...stains, that is

[SouthernCross]

I like to make up holsters and various pieces with a "faded" or "sunburst" stain pattern.  For example, I'll stain (by spraying) a piece yellow using Fiebing's Pro Dye, allow it to set a while, and then airbrush around the outside using a darker brown color, and finally finish it up by airbrushing a really dark edge (usually black) on it.  It will look really good at that point, but after 24 hours or so the colors bleed or blend together more than I like, resulting in a more muted color scheme.  If I do a nice, dark, black edge the following day it's not so nice and dark anymore.

What are some ways I can help avoid the colors merging together so much?  Should I mist a coat of Resolene or Tan-Kote on the piece in between each color step...or something like that?

I have attached an example of what I'm talking about; however, it looks pretty good here but didn't look quite as good the following day.

[tearghost]

Can you show a pick of it the next day?.

As it looks in this picture its really nice.

I do a sunburst effect also and yes I do a light coat of mixed 50% water/50% resolene in between each color. 

[battlemunky]

I've yet to try sunburst with my airbrush yet. Only having done it by hand I know it takes a lot of rubbing to blend them in. Maybe you could do a test piece and after you finish your black edge and roll up a paper tower pretty tight and dip the end in isopropyl alcohol and then rub the ever living hell out of the blended areas in a circular motion.

[SouthernCross]

2 hours ago, tearghost said:

Can you show a pick of it the next day?.

As it looks in this picture its really nice.

I do a sunburst effect also and yes I do a light coat of mixed 50% water/50% resolene in between each color. 

No,  I don't have a picture of it afterwards....because once it became "ugly" I stained it all black.

 

I'm guessing the 50/50 light coat in-between will solve my problem.  How long do you let the stain dry before you mist it...and how long after you mist it do you put on your next color of stain?

Edited November 22, 2017 by SouthernCross

[SouthernCross]

14 minutes ago, battlemunky said:

I've yet to try sunburst with my airbrush yet. Only having done it by hand I know it takes a lot of rubbing to blend them in. Maybe you could do a test piece and after you finish your black edge and roll up a paper tower pretty tight and dip the end in isopropyl alcohol and then rub the ever living hell out of the blended areas in a circular motion.

I don't want more blending - that's my problem - I want LESS blending.

[tearghost]

50 minutes ago, SouthernCross said:

No,  I don't have a picture of it afterwards....because once it became "ugly" I stained it all black.

 

I'm guessing the 50/50 light coat in-between will solve my problem.  How long do you let the stain dry before you mist it...and how long after you mist it do you put on your next color of stain?

I use a hotbox and it goes in there for 3 hours with each layer that I put on it. So I do my base coat dry it for 3 hours in my hotbox, do my layer of mist back into hotbox for 3 hours, do my edges back into the hotbox for 3 hours and then I do my finishing top coat. All my dyes and resolene is applied by using airbrushes, I have 2 one is for dyes the other is only for resolene. 

I've never had any bleeding or blending of my dyes using this technique.   

[SouthernCross]

Thanks for the info, tearghost.

[SouthernCross]

BTW, tell me more about the hotbox, tearghost.

[tearghost]

3 hours ago, SouthernCross said:

BTW, tell me more about the hotbox, tearghost.

It's a wooden box I made with a door on the front, a heat light attached to the top and a hole about 1/8 of a inch larger then the bulb, a fan is attached to the side with a hole cut out to draw air in and circulate the air and I've attached wooden dowels on the inside to make shelves/hanging bars, because I make an assortment of products I needed to have shelves that I could lay things on or hang from I also made the dowels to be taken out and reattached when needed. 

I use the hotbox to speed up drying time, and when I use Aussie Leather Conditioner or bees wax I heat up the leather with the hotbox and after it's applied I put the product back in to help the pores open and the wax to melt into the leather.

Before I had the box sunburst dying took about a week to do cause I let each stage dry for no less then 12 hours, now it's done in max 2 days. 

I'm hoping in the new year to make a new one it will measure 4 feet long 12 inches deep and 2 feet high it will have 4 heat lamps 4 fans, 1 shelf and 3 inner walls that can be removed individually to make  different size compartments with different temps.    Here's a pic of the heat lamps I use

Edited November 23, 2017 by tearghost

[SouthernCross]

Gotcha.  Thanks.