Help With a New Airbrush

[TN Mongo]

I just purchased an airbrush and compressor.  I want to try airbrushing dye on some of my leather projects.  I am brand new to this so I have a few questions.

1. Do I need to thin my dye down anymore than I normally would?  

2. I've heard that the dye does not penetrate as deeply as it would when using a wool dauber.  Should I apply several coats of dye with the airbrush to make sure I get enough penetration of the color?  

3. The directions for the airbrush suggest paint thinner as a cleaner after using an oil based paint.  I normally use Fiebing's Professional Oil Dye.  Should I use paint thinner to clean the airbrush when using this type of dye – what about alcohol as a cleaner?

Any pointers would be very much appreciated!

[outrider]

Best thing I can recommend...play with it...try it out.  Actually I should talk...I bought one about a year ago and it still sits in the box unopened...hehehe

[TN Mongo]

Outrider,

You're no help!  Bring your's over to my house and we'll play with them together.

[outrider]

If you think for one minute I want you spraying that thing at me your sadly mistaken.....

[Cutter Carl]

I have not used an airbrush for leather dye but I can tell you this from expirence.

You will need to practice with it for awhile.  The trigger on a airbrush is variable You push down on the trigger for air and pull back on the trigger for the medium (paint, dye, etc.).  It takes some practice to get it down as you have to vary your trigger finger movement it 2 directions at the same time and also move the air brush with the same hand.  You also need to play with the pressure from the compressor to find what works best.  Sometimes you want a lot of air and a little medium, sometimes less air and more medium and sometimes full air and medium. 

I would go to the art store.  Find a good book or two or airbrushing.  There are some great textbooks sytle guides that will cover all the basics and then move into more advanced techniques.  The art store salespeople can line you up with art board for practice.  I would suggest working with some premixed airbrush paint at first then once you have the basics work with some water colors.  A good book will have practice exercises to learn technique and control.  Leather dye will fall somewhere in between airbrush paint and watercolor.  I would think you would have times you want to thin the dye more for certain effect and times when less thinning would be needed.  It is a trail and error to get what you want. 

Airbrushing is really neat and you can do so much with it.  As you learn trigger control and use of masks and stencils your art is limited only by what you can dream up. 

Alcohol will work for clean up on alcohol based dyes.  That is another thing you will learn with a good book is proper cleaning and set up.  Nothing will screw up an airbrush or make it harder to use than improper cleaning.

Hope this helps and have fun with it. 

[TN Mongo]

Thanks Cutter.

[Doc Arroyo]

Clean the airbrush with what ever solvent works for the media.

A trick given to me was to wet the surface of the leather with a light coat of "solvent" before spraying the first coat.  It opens the pores and seems to get a more even spread of the dye.  BUT, I have used mine with a water soluble dye, and don't know how the leather would react with a coat of alcohol.  You might have to work fast before it dried.

It is a great to to spray and play with to get used to it.  Here's luck!