I can't resist! No, literally...

[battlemunky]

This may look ok but its several shades darker than I wanted. The basket weave is supposed to be yellow... I dyed it to my satisfaction and then gave it a few hrs to dry and added a coat of TanKote, let it dry for a about an hour to where it wasn't tacky or showing any signs of not being wet and applied another coat and gave IT another hour.

I applied dark brown Fiebings paste antique and got what you see in the photo. I don't think it's anywhere close to ruined but I really liked how the yellow popped and couldn't wait to see it with the antique in the streaks I made on the weave. All dyes used are Fiebings Pro.

That's the back story. The only thing I can really think of having done anything different would be to wait overnight or something. Maybe add another coat and let it dry more? I see some folks with ridiculously good resists and I want that but how.

Any ideas are welcomed and appreciated. 

[Alaisiagae]

How long did the paste sit on the leather before you wiped the excess off? The longer it sits, it will typically penetrate the resist more. I took a Tandy class where the staff member showed the effect of different resists with different products. Columns: Antique Gel, Antique Paste Hi-Lite. Rows: Untreated, Neat-Lac, Fiebing's Pro-Resist, Satin Shene (it might have been Super Shene), and just dye (blue). As you can see, Pro-Resist and the Shene did better than Neatlac to resist the paste (the resists were applied to the butterfly).

Edited August 31, 2020 by Alaisiagae
uploaded better photo

[battlemunky]

4 hours ago, Alaisiagae said:

How long did the paste sit on the leather before you wiped the excess off? 

I rubbed it in for maybe 30 seconds and then turned to grab paper towels to wipe it off, so maybe a minute in total. 

[terrymac]

The biggest problem I can see is Tan Kote is not normally used a resist. You are far better of using Clearlac or Fiebings Pro Resist

Terry

[Alaisiagae]

7 hours ago, terrymac said:

The biggest problem I can see is Tan Kote is not normally used a resist. You are far better of using Clearlac or Fiebings Pro Resist

Terry

I suspect even Resolene would work as a good resist, though I've only worked with its cousin, Super Shene. One would have to do head-to-head testing to see which product (Resolene vs. Pro-Resist) performs better.

Battlemunky, you may want to apply and wipe off the paste even faster - if you have some scrap leather, you can set up some experiments: different numbers of coats of Pro-Resist, and different sit-times for the paste. If you decide to do that, I'd be interested to hear about your findings! I've had bad luck with Fiebing's Antique pastes personally, I've got Tan and Mahogany. When I use them, it's a 50-50 chance that some or all will turn a waxy pale color within a few days or months. The guys at the Tandy store couldn't figure out the cause.

Edited September 1, 2020 by Alaisiagae

[battlemunky]

Yeah, I need to do some experiments...

[terrymac]

The key to using Fiebing antique paste is using wool shearing, either real or synthetic.  If you are trying to remove with any kind of towel, you aren't getting it all.  I learned the hard way. Tandy sells synthetic wool with as.pads or by the yard. The pads can get expensive, by the yard not to bad.

Terry

[YinTx]

Put some Tan-Kote on a wool pad and go over it again.  This will lift more of the antique out of the leather, and may lighten it up a bit.  Tan Kote 50/50 for me works well as a resist when I want some of the antique color to get into the leather.  Pro Resist keeps more of the color out of the leather.  The old Neat Lac works well in that regard as well.  Here in the South where it is really humid, I leave the resist on overnight to dry, and sometimes do a second coat and let that dry overnight as well.

Do you have any examples of work that you want to be able to emulate?  And I still experiment or do a "test run" on a small piece using the identical leather almost each time I do something, particularly if it is a large or difficult item to make sure I am going to be happy with the results.  Surprises suck sometimes.

YinTx

[battlemunky]

1 hour ago, terrymac said:

The key to using Fiebing antique paste is using wool shearing, either real or synthetic.  If you are trying to remove with any kind of towel, you aren't getting it all.  I learned the hard way. Tandy sells synthetic wool with as.pads or by the yard. The pads can get expensive, by the yard not to bad.

Terry

I use scrap saddle bark for applying and paper towel for removal. I can use it for both and see.

 

57 minutes ago, YinTx said:

Put some Tan-Kote on a wool pad and go over it again.  This will lift more of the antique out of the leather, and may lighten it up a bit.  Tan Kote 50/50 for me works well as a resist when I want some of the antique color to get into the leather.  Pro Resist keeps more of the color out of the leather.  The old Neat Lac works well in that regard as well.  Here in the South where it is really humid, I leave the resist on overnight to dry, and sometimes do a second coat and let that dry overnight as well.

Do you have any examples of work that you want to be able to emulate?  And I still experiment or do a "test run" on a small piece using the identical leather almost each time I do something, particularly if it is a large or difficult item to make sure I am going to be happy with the results.  Surprises suck sometimes.

YinTx

I basically follow Don Gonzalez's approach. He seems to have zero issues and his resisting works great.

 

I'm going to get pro resist too. Maybe try some mop & glo as well. Luckily it wasn't ruined, just a bit darker that I wanted.

[terrymac]

I also use paper towels to get the majority of the paste and then follow up with wool to get the paste out of cuts , impressions.

Terry

[Leather20]

This isn't a tip, but that basketweave and the coloring is gorgeous!! I love how natural it looks

[battlemunky]

1 hour ago, Leather20 said:

This isn't a tip, but that basketweave and the coloring is gorgeous!! I love how natural it looks

Well thank you very much! It took about 6 hrs to lay out the basketweave pattern and then to tool it all. While it still isn't perfect, it did turn out good but I really wish it had the pop that it had with the yellow. Lots and lots of teensy swivel knife cuts.

[IdahoB]

On 8/31/2020 at 2:28 PM, battlemunky said:

This may look ok but its several shades darker than I wanted. The basket weave is supposed to be yellow... I dyed it to my satisfaction and then gave it a few hrs to dry and added a coat of TanKote, let it dry for a about an hour to where it wasn't tacky or showing any signs of not being wet and applied another coat and gave IT another hour.

I applied dark brown Fiebings paste antique and got what you see in the photo. I don't think it's anywhere close to ruined but I really liked how the yellow popped and couldn't wait to see it with the antique in the streaks I made on the weave. All dyes used are Fiebings Pro.

That's the back story. The only thing I can really think of having done anything different would be to wait overnight or something. Maybe add another coat and let it dry more? I see some folks with ridiculously good resists and I want that but how.

Any ideas are welcomed and appreciated. 

I struggled with the same issue. I watched every video I could find and followed the process to a T but mine always came out much darker than I wanted. The single biggest breakthrough I had was to take a couple paper towels, fold them a few times to make a firm, flat rag. Moisten the outside layer with water, and use that to remove the antique. You want just enough water to help wipe the antique off without wetting the paste in the cracks and background. I was amazed how much past I could get off. Then you can fold that layer inside the pad and have a clean surface again. Don’t be afraid to buff the foreground, it will come very clean. Then, as already stated, the final coat of Tan-Kote will take even more off and make it pop. 
The second thing I did to get the result I was looking for was to switch to medium brown paste. It still gives great contrast in the tooling and finishing cuts, but doesn’t seem to stain through the vinework and foreground as bad, making it easier to get back to the original color. 

Edited September 6, 2020 by IdahoB
Spellcheck took control of my keyboard

[battlemunky]

Thanks @IdahoB!