[Russ Poyer]

Since I have not chimed in on anything since I joined in Jan. & I don't want to seem a snob, I'll drop my 1 1/2 cents on my fav. fin. for deep relief caric. style senics. These are always made with one feature protruding from the carving about 1/2 to 2". Always either a quartz rock or in round st.Bernard,
many times both, since both are important to me. These are mounted in a deep shadow style frame made by putting 2 or 3 frames together to get enough behind the glass.
ANYhow, on fields, green sprouts or fallow, or freshly turned loam or clay I love the look I get from Fiebings leather dye. it goes much deeper than weed finish, and gives a deep, rich look with just one app. After it dries you can buff it up to almost a sheen with 4x, then spray varn. to keep the look
Someday when I learn how I'll include pic.'s of my stuff, Russ

[squbrigg]

Welcome aboard Russ. Good to have a fresh approach here on finishing. Leather dye, haven't tried that! Good to have you with us.

Bob

[xsailer]

I would love to see pictures. I've often wondered about leather dye results. I would think you could easily see the wood and carving characteristics since there are no opaque additives within the dye. Too bad you can't post pictures. I intend to try some of it on some scrap wood, just haven't got around to it yet. One of the problems I thought I might encounter with dye was the bleeding form one color to another.

[Paul_Guraedy]

In 1996 I took a power carving class with Marlen Downing. We were carving a bald eagle and when painting time came Marlen brought out his air brush. Instead of paint he was using leather dye. Worked perfectly both in the airbrush and in showing off the carving detail of the eagle. I have often thought of trying it with a brush. It should not be too different to watercolor, which is my preferred medium.

I am not too concerned about bleeding on birds; but, would like to contain it on habitat. Do you use brushes for application? Do you use stop cuts to help keep it "inside the lines"? It would be great if you could give us a little more detail on your technique.

[susieq]

Many years ago I did a lot of leather work and still had the supplies laying around when I took up wood carving (still have the stuff even now). I tried the leather dye on my first santa but was afraid of using the color undiluted. I thinned it down with the denatured alcohol and applied it with a brush in small amounts. I was not real happy with the results but I never tried it full strength.... maybe I will give it another shot. I can see that if you just wanted a slight tint to some nice grained wood you could ad color without covering the grain up.

[Eddy Smiles]

Dog Gone! Wouldn't you know it? A while back going through a closet I ran across my old leather working kit. The leather finish was all dried up and the cap on the dye was so rusted that I was afraid of getting it on something so I threw the lot of it away. Had I even an inkling that leather dye would work on wood I sure would have hung on to it. Oh well! Too soon old and too late smart! Where's my sign?

[Russ Poyer]

I use my dye full strength, brushed on with a lite touch. It will bleed a LOT depending on wood type,etc. so you have to stay away from your line untill you can gage the run, then just sneek up on your line accordingly.
At full I get a deep rich color,you really can't blend the colors or you just get yech. I had a mishap on my med brown awhile ago(wich I would call dark) and lost most of it to the floor, I stretched what was left with denatured alcohol by about 60% and still got a rich, freshly plowed field look
I'm sold on it and will only use it more in the future
Russ

[BobD]

Just be sure to add a clear coat with UV inhibitors to preserve the color! The leather dyes are not designed for wood, and the more vivid colors tend to fade over time.

BRAINSTORMING ON!!!!:
Hmmm...just thinking out loud here...what if you thickened the dye with something and made a paste of it...would that make it more controllable? BRAINSTORMING OFF

Bob

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

yep, thickening it would make " paint" lol, oops already been done

[Russ Poyer]

I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but this is my second post, saying the same thing, that has not shown up. I hope it's not going to one of you & your thinking what an iidiiiot! I guess I'mon the wrong thread!
Anyho,again. There are 2 types or dye for the 2 types of tanning (maybe more) plus a whole slew of extras. When I can afford to, I think I'll get a bunch of different stuff to play with to see what happens. I just read on the box that it works best damp (on leather) I wonder what would happen on wood, would it control the bleed, or make it worse?
Gosh, I hope this one post, I hope all 3 DON'T