Leather Corset (First time tooling - advice/critique welcome!)

[Sleepywise]

10 hours ago, toxo said:

Excellent answer. I hardly do any toolng so not best placed for that but Yin knows what he's doing. Your corset reminded me of the steampunk movement which I love which might be a bit strange for an oldie but I love people expressing themselves without the ironmongery.

I think there is often quite a bit of overlap between steampunk and renfaire styles since both have roots in historical fantasy! My home faire always has steampunk themed weekends, and it's fun to see what people dress up as. 

And I don't think there's an age limit to loving these styles! In fact, some of the best costumes I've ever seen are from the older patrons who have the time, money, and love to create truly beautiful, one-of-a-kind ensembles. I think that's part of my love of these movements--when you're at a faire or a convention, there's not usually judgement or derision. You're just surrounded my a bunch of people who love dressing up and looking awesome and living out new personas. I hope that when I'm 100 (fingers crossed :P), I'll still be rocking leather corsets and steampunk glasses. If you love steampunk, I highly recommend you go for it! There are some wonderful people in the community. :D

[toxo]

1 hour ago, Sleepywise said:

I think there is often quite a bit of overlap between steampunk and renfaire styles since both have roots in historical fantasy! My home faire always has steampunk themed weekends, and it's fun to see what people dress up as. 

And I don't think there's an age limit to loving these styles! In fact, some of the best costumes I've ever seen are from the older patrons who have the time, money, and love to create truly beautiful, one-of-a-kind ensembles. I think that's part of my love of these movements--when you're at a faire or a convention, there's not usually judgement or derision. You're just surrounded my a bunch of people who love dressing up and looking awesome and living out new personas. I hope that when I'm 100 (fingers crossed :P), I'll still be rocking leather corsets and steampunk glasses. If you love steampunk, I highly recommend you go for it! There are some wonderful people in the community. :D

Ha Ha! I'm a bit too old fashioned but I love to see others enjoying themselves. You don't say where you are but here in Kent UK there's a Historic dockyard nearby and it has some enormous buildings. Once a year they hold a steam and Transport show and Steampunk takes over a whole building. Here's some pics from a few years ago. Don't know how mwany I can get in but i've shaved em to the bone so not brilliant pics.

[YinTx]

2 hours ago, Sleepywise said:

Thank you! Do you mind if I ask a few follow up questions? Would you apply the antique just to the beveled areas/background then? And then remove the resist? And also, is there an alternative to the acrylic finish or a way of applying it that keeps the matte tone of the original leather? My preference is for a rougher finish and all the finishing recommendations I've seen end up glossy or satin.

I applied the Pro Resist to the backgrounded areas to make sure the antique did not stick to it, since I wanted the red to show through.  Then I applied the Tan Kote (as resist) to the entire piece.  Apply the antique to the entire piece, and wipe it off.  It will settle into the beveled areas and the cut areas.  Allow it to stain the leather there, then clean it out with Tan Kote again and wipe well.  Allow it all to dry, then apply a finish coat to seal it well.

To keep the finish from being less glossy, use a Matte Acrylic finisher.  The piece I did had a high gloss finisher.  Matte still has a bit of a shine, but not too bad.  The more you do and the more you experiment, the more you will find techniques that work for you.  As many leatherworkers as there are there are as many techniques!  I alter mine almost every project to fit the look I am trying to achieve.

YinTx

[JayEhl]

Hi,

I'm still a noobie, but I'll share with you how do this part.  A warning:  Not sure if this the best way but it seems to work for me.

After tooling:
1)  dye (usually the areas I tooled with a backgrounder)

2) dye the rest of the background leather sometimes with a separate color to separate the tooled background work.

3) after letting everything dry for a few hours (usually overnight) I apply a coat of Pro Resist very carefully with a paint very gently with a paint brush over everything. Sometimes I use a damp sponge if there isn't any delicate dye work that I don't want to smudge and let that dry.  

4) Sometimes a second coat, but this time with a damp sponge.  Being frugal, on the second coat I've also used a mixture of Resolene reduced with 50% water -- (not even sure if that's good so I'll rely on someone else to tell me how that can be improved) (And, Okay, I'm a little cheap)

5) I apply gel with a damp sponge and work that in back and forth in circular motion clockwise and then counter clockwise and wipe off excess.   Experimenting here I've found the dye in the gel is a nice color tone and in several instances didn't bother dying anything outside of the tooled areas I've painted.  

6) Letting that dry I use something like Fiebings atom wax or Eco-Flo Supersheen as my finishing clear coat so nothing rubs off.

7) Depending on the project I'll assemble with glue (gluing both sides) and waiting a few minutes for it to become tacky before tacking down and letting that dry and do the final assembly with stitching by hand (don't have a sewing machine, yet.. ).  when I was out of glue I've also used some of the wife's double stick tape she has for quilting and it works, too.

7) I'll sand the edges smooth and burnish the edges sometimes repeating with higher grit to make it really smooth and use edgecoat for the finish.

Most of my work is in the evenings so letting things dry isn't hard but I do understand being anxious and impatient.  So something else this craft has really taught me is patience.   I have lots to learn and best of all I'm having a blast (and it keeps me off the streets at night!) 

 

Cheers!

    

 

[Vascarl]

Angelus has a product that called Duller that can be mixed in with any of their products to make the finish look matt rather than shiny.