by Derian » Fri Mar 08, 2013 9:41 am
If you want everything to look grey, you're going to need to seriously dilute black dye (or paint everything). Dye will be much easier, but harder to get the color you're looking for effort-wise.
I'd say get some of the USMC black Fiebing's spirit based dye. Dilute the **** out of it with rubbing alcohol and test on scrap leather. You're probably going to need significant dilution. I'd hazard a guess of like 20:1 alcohol:dye, but you'll need to play around with it.
With scales, I would follow this process to finish them:
- Cut all scales
- Punch the lacing/rivet holes
- Do any tooling/designing on the leather
- Dip dye in your diluted dye to the appropriate color
- Paint the accents with paint pens (metallic paint pens are usually really good for this)
- Seal with your sealant of choice
- Lace/rivet
For any larger pieces, follow the same process, but either brush on or airbrush the dye. You'll want to run separate tests with this as the dye will be applied quicker or slower depending on method compared with the dip dying. Dye won't end up looking like it's painted on; your only worry will be streaking if you brush it on and don't use enough dye or apply it improperly. If you're brushing, the best method is to apply it using small circular motions. Above all, don't hesitate to test extensively on scrap leather.
- Derian -
"An octopus has eight arms, three hearts, five *, two Super Bowl rings, a beak, and the power to solve crimes."