Cowboy cuffs to match existing rig

[pepin1948]

Andrews_rig_01.doc

I'm making cowboy cuffs for someone who sent me these pics of his current "rig". I was thinking of using Tandy's Saddle Tan Antique but now am not so sure...I know an exact match is impossible, but would like to get close...

Andrews_rig_01.doc

[ClayB]

Holly,

I know a lot of people say not to do this but you might try just oiling the leather with pure neatsfoot oil. Rub it in really good, let it soak in to even out and then apply neatlac. Rub the netlac in also really well with a piece of sheepskin. I use that on quite a few projects and it comes out about the color in your picture. I haven't had any problems with it cracking or anything else.

Clay

[pepin1948]

Due to time constraints, I had to go ahead and make an estimated 'guess'...but I'll keep your suggestion for next time, as it sounds great to me!

[CitizenKate]

Some tricks I discovered for matching colors...

If the customer sends you a photo, there is too much variation in the way different monitors and softwares will display colors, so I ask the customer to send me a physical color sample.

I do some small dye samples that I think will match the color of the sample, then photograph them together with the customer's sample and load them into Photoshop, or any software program that will give you RGB values of your color samples. Then I compare the RGB values of both samples, and that tells me what to add or remove from my dye formula to get the right color. (See the attached photos.) The last time I used this method, I was able to pretty much nail the color.