Acrylic Dye Question

[JD Alan]

Howdy one and all. I want to make some spur straps in a bright color, like turquoise or light blue for a contrast against black boots. I've not tried anything like this before color wise so I'm wondering what advice you might have as to leather prep, the type of dye, and anything else I might need to watch out for. If you think it's not adviseable I'd like to hear that too.

Sharing any experiences you have in this area would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks very much, JD

[Irish Dave]

Back in my "hippie" days (god forbid) I used a Tandy product called Cova Dye for colored accent work. It was acrylic based and seemed to work OK at the time. There may be better products out by now as I haven't used that kind of coloring on any leather projects in 30 years.

[rickk]

If you are talking about using Fiebings Acrylic Dye, I have used it quite a bit. If something else, dunno anything about it.

Anyway, Fiebings Acrylic "Dye" is really an acrylic paint. It does not penetrate, it stays on the surface. It does stick pretty well, but is not really the right stuff to be used on a high wear item.

I use a small Paasche 62 sprayer when I use the stuff. It is water based, so it can be thinned slightly with water when spraying. It has a high gloss surface color. Unlike dye, where the more you apply, the darker it gets, the acrylic paint just gets thicker. Once you have complete coverage, stop there. A thicker coating will just be thicker, bit more intense. A thicker coating is more likely to crack.

I think that spraying is the way to go when using acrylic.  Rubbing it on like it is dye is just going to make a mess. If you were doing some intricate pattern, a brush would make sense, but if you are just covering the entire item, spraying is the way to go.

Often I will put a real penetrating dye of the same color down first, and then spray over it with acrylic. That way if the acrylic does crack it wont show unfinished leather underneath.

If you do choose to spray, some thoughts...

I have a really big compressor in the basement, set for 90 PSI on the outlet regulator. The entire basement is plumbed for compressed air (3/4" iron pipe).  There are air fittings every 5 feet or so. The pipe runs from one end of the basement to the other, and then runs out the back wall of the basement to give me compressed air outside as well.

Over my leather working area, I installed a secondary regulator and a water and oil trap. This feeds the sprayer. The setup removes anything bad that is in the main line and drops the pressure down to a more adequate level for the sprayer. I can adjust the pressure right at the work location. The secondary regulator keeps the sprayer inlet pressure really constant.

For drying, I took  about a foot of  2x12 and put about 100 finish nails in it. The nail head all stick up an inch or so. This lets me put the work piece down on something and not have the top and sides in contact with anything while it dries.

It isn't hard to use the acrylic stuff, but it does take some work to set up for it and a bit of experimentation to get it all the way you like it.

Rick

[JD Alan]

Thanks Dave and Rick, I do appreciate the information. I was indeed talking about Fiebing's Dye; I don't know what, if any color product Tandy has.

I'm trying to get some color on some plain black boots for B Western use. These are the only boots I can wear (lots of foot problems) so I thought by making contrasting color spur straps with a lot of spots I could get by.

The SASS rules say "Boots are required and must be of traditional design with fancy stitching or multi-color fancy design with with non-grip enhancing (i.e. "NO Lug") soles. Lace up boots and moccasins are not allowed.

I've found the only slip on boot I can wear anymore is a Wellington style, and I've not found any with "fancy stitching". I've considered finding some brightly colored thin leather and stitching it on the shaft, since it does not say where on the boot the stitcching of color needs to be.

I'm working on a double strong side rig that will qualify for B Western; I am determined to shoot in this class. 

Thanks again for the replys. JD

[rickk]

JD, here is a thought, and I have never personally done it, but...

If you were to stamp a pattern first, and then fill the stamping with acrylic's, it wound be recessed and someone protected from scraping/abrasion and not get scrapped off quite so easily. At the same time, it would reduce the amount of artistic ability required because you would just be filling in the stamped depressions rather than free handing everything.

Of course, this is all best tried on a piece of scrap that has been finished in a manner similar to your boots before you try it out for real.

Rick

[KidTerico]

JD  Fiebings has a red , a royal blue in there oil dye that works good, I have used it and the more you put on the darker it gets. Hears a example of the red. KT

[Wolf Tracker]

JD   KT has a good idea with the Fiebings-they have a number of colored dyes and you can mix them to get other colors.
This goes back to my youth but you can use acrylics, they are brighter, but they usually don't last on items that are used alot. If you put it on straight it will get to thick and crack or flake off. You can dilute the acrylic with a lot of water, around 75% water to 25% acrylic. This will allow some of the acrylic to absorb into the leather. You can then adjust how bright or rich you want the color with multiple coats.
The idea that rickk has should work too. I had seen on another sight where someone had done this but they used a resist on the leather first, I think it was either Resolene or Neatlac, then put the color on the leather and wiped it back off. It stayed in the cuts and tooling. The process was similar to how some people use antique pastes for their work. Hope this helps.
By the way, KT that is a very nice loking holster, I like what you did with those colors.

[KidTerico]

Thank you Wolf Tracker. KT

[GunClick Rick]

That's a bueatiful holster!!I was just talkin about it yesterday to my cousin.Remember the reason KT,she would have been 57 yesterday.

[FEATHERS]

JD, Tandy has this product.

[TN Mongo]

In the late 70s and early 80s I use to make a lot of belts that had multiple colors on different tooled designs.  I use to use different color Sharpies and then coat it with neat lac.  Once it was dry, I could would dye the rest of the belt.  I have a belt I made in 1979 and the colors still look pretty good.  Regretfully, the belt has shrunk over the years.

[JD Alan]

Wow, lots of great ideas, which is one reason I love this forum. You guys are awesome!

KT, that is indeed a great looking holster. Feathers, I was not aware of that Tandy Product. Also, thanks for the great spur strap link, I'd not see that before. Those have some great carving ideas.

The straps I'm making have a sort of oddball shape; their purpose beyond holding the spurs on is to allow some bling on the boots. When I gert them cut out I'll post a picture. I have the basic shape cut out using a pieece of thin split leather. The plan is to line the edge with spots and place a concho front & center.

Hopefully it will work. At the same time I'm working on a B western rig. I''m going to make it a Buscadero, using the pattenr KT drew out for me some time ago. I'm going to inlay some stingray in the holsters. Thanks to KT for the Buscadero pattern and the advice on inlays. He's a great one to help a pard out!   

Thanks again for the color ideas everyone, your advice is greatly appreciated. JD