leather paints and dyes

[bunn]

Does anyone out there know about colouring or painting leather?

I have what was once a blue collar with gold bits but is now faded, and a black collar that I'd like to decorate in silver. I am wondering if it's possible to dye the blue one back to a truer blue, and what sort of paint would be most durable to create a pattern on a thick leather surface. Any tips or links would be appreciated!

Comments

[king-pellinor.livejournal.com]

Leather dyes tend to be pretty robust - the main problem is getting them out of the bits of leather you don't want dyed (like your own skin). I think www.leprevo.co.uk do some - I've found them very handy for leather bits in the past.

I'm not sure about silver colouring, though. I'm more into getting some of the fittings from Le Prevo and hammering them on.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Hmmm - the daisy decorations would do for the hammering onto the blue collar and would look good - but how do you know what size of rivets to buy, or am I missing something?

[king-pellinor.livejournal.com]

Simplest way is to drop them an email.

If you use their tubular rivets you should probably use the double-ended ones, or the insides might catch.

[chainmailmaiden]

I've dyed several pairs of leather shoes with leather shoe dye and it's always worked quite well. You tend to have to use several coats though, otherwise it can look patchy. The other problem is the colour can rub off on your skin for a while, so you may end up with a multicoloured Mollydog :-)

I tried using a fabric glitter glue pen one time to decorate some shoes, unfortunately the leather surface was too shiny and so the pattern just fell off when I wore them. You might be able to get something that would work in a haberdashery store, but I'm not sure whether you'd have any good ones near you. If you get stuck the following link is from a website I've used for sourcing craft supplies in the past.

http://www.craft-fair.co.uk/suppliers.cfm?SubCatno=190

[the-marquis.livejournal.com]

Depending on how much the collar flexes or is rubbed you might be able to get away with painting the silver on and then varnishing it to make it shinier. Otherwise I'd suggest the shoe dye for the leather itself, or talk to some of the viking re-enactor crafts people as the people that have been at Sarehole Mill (with the TS) have been busy making leather goods with worked-in designs and they use vegetable dyes.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I was thinking of silver paint and a varnish for the black collar where I want to make a curvy design - any suggestions about what sort of paint though?

I was thinking - as chainmailmaiden says above -that standard fabric paint would probably not stick well enough.

[king-pellinor.livejournal.com]

You can always take the top of the leather off with a sharp blade, so the paint has the rough inside of the leather to stick to.

[chainmailmaiden]

That sounds like a very good idea, I'll try that next time too :-)

[the-marquis.livejournal.com]

I'd have used ordinarily modelling enamel or acryilic paint, and as Pellinor says you're best off roughening the surface to give the paint a key. Ideally a white base coat will help the silver show up if using paints.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I have a good set of gouges, so I should be able to make an indented pattern OK.