New Project

[Judge Lead]

One method of reducing stretch is to use painters masking tape. Use the 2" wide stuff and you will get more coverage and it does not mar the leather as much when removing it. You can use the 'contact' sheets, but I find this is awkward to remove successfully or even using a Rubber cement and gluing it onto old xray sheets (DON'T use contact cement - it would be a real bugger to get off )

Hope this helps.

Regards

[JD Alan]

Blue masking tape to be specific. It comes off way easier than regular tape.

Will, it may not be Cowboy, but it is mighty fine leatherwork, and a holster. Thanks for the pic, it gives the fragment some context.   

[Gun Butcher]

 Heck Will ,you ain't hijacking the thread yer just adding more info and I like it Your style really intrigues me. You seem to lean toward the " less is more " school of design and you make it work. Yer not afraid of spaces with nothing in them and I appreciate that. Course if I could dye my Items like you do it might work for me . GB

[JD Alan]

GB, thanks for that support of Will's input. I'm also impressed by his dyeing skills.

Will, I'm going to assume that you used some sort of resist on the tooling part of that holster. It sure looks good. JD

[Marshal Will Wingam]

Thanks, pards. It was really simple. I just dyed up to the light areas with a paintbrush first. Then I filled the larger areas with one of those cotton-tipped daubers. I colored it completely first then started dabbing it on with the brush where I wanted the dark spots. I'd let it dry some then dot them again, letting a little overlap happen to make it interesting. until it was the way I wanted. I finished with russet antique finish to mellow the whole thing. I don't remember beyond that but I probably finished with a light coat of oil or conditioner.