Looking to naturally darken some leather.

[grimwulf]

ya I'm very happy with the turn out, even if it was to lighten as drying more i wouldn't mind, or even darken a shade after time, i have now oiled everything i own , even if not to darken but more marble or artistically age in some ares.
one question, has anyone tried painting or drawing patterns or designs with neatsfoot oil on leather and let it sit heavy were you would paint the design? I'm thinking this could open up a whole new world of adding artistic touches to things if it works right

[Peter Remling]

one question, has anyone tried painting or drawing patterns or designs with neatsfoot oil on leather and let it sit heavy were you would paint the design? I'm thinking this could open up a whole new world of adding artistic touches to things if it works right

Painting probably won't work if it's a garment. Once the leather is flexed the paint would chip off. Certain fabric paints will flex however they will look too modern.

I have used embroidery thread on leather with decent results. This is a bow case I did a number of years ago:

[grimwulf]

thats really great work.
i was thinking tho of painting with the oil so it stains the leather in the pattern so it looks kinda faded into the leather rather than a real paint to anything .

[Elleth]

The oil will seep a bit, so I doubt you'll get a clean line if that's what you're after.

It might be possible to do some kind of resist like silk painters use, but I've never tried it - I certainly can't think of a way offhand that wouldn't just stain the leather differently.
You MIGHT also be able to get a clean line for your painting by scoring the outlines as if you were going to tool the design - the break in the surface of the leather (maybe wtih a piece of thin plastic stuck in the cut as a barrier?) might stop migration of the oil.

I have with modern dyes mostly managed to get clean lines along tooling edges - dye the stamped background one color and leave the border around it another.
I'd bet with something like an ink or vinegaroon and some time you might be able to duplicate that effect.

Couldn't hurt to experiment on scrap - you might come up with a new artform!

[Manveruon]

Personally, I enjoy using a woodburner to add designs into leather. The technique is called pyrography, and you can find a lot of info about it online.

[Ringulf]

Pyrogrophy is a great way to go, but make sure you practice it a bit in a spot that is unobtrusive or another peice of the same leather. Pyrography works well on leather, but you must take into account that the parts you burn will shrink a bit. It is not normally a large amount but that depends on the size of the pattern and wheather you are burning lines or shading large areas.
On the other hand the oil stamping method has quite a bit of merit and I have used it before on quivers when I wanted a dappled leafy pattern. Taking a sponge and cutting it to the leaf shape you can put just the right amount of oil into the sponge and "stamp" a dappled pattern of leaves, (you can vary the size and intensity to get more variety and I would start toward the bottom of whatever you are working on.) Make sure you load the stamp heavy toward the lower edge and stamp lighter toward the top of the leaf, and it will look as if the bottoms of the leaves jutt forward and the tops fade in to the distance, quite a nice effect, and it is rather subtle so it does not look like "Camo".
This also works well wilth some acrylic paint in a slightly lighter shade than the leather itself but it is less subtle and must be done lightly to achieve the right effect. combining the two proceedures can give you a very interesting pattern.

[Elleth]

Resurrecting this thread to note: I did just try tooling leather belt straps in a walnut dye bath as an experiment. This is the result, next to a natural piece of tooling leather. Neither has been oiled yet.
I suspect the belt will get a nice deep chocolate brown once it's oiled: I'll post pics when I get that far.

walnut_dyed_leather.jpg (127.77 KiB) Viewed 11213 times

This is the interesting thing: I also tossed in a pouch I started on ages ago and wasn't happy with, just to see what would happen.
This one HAD gotten a light coating of oil I think. Granted it's also a lighter weight of leather, but that doesn't seem to have been the cause (other pieces of the same hide that went in are much lighter). I think the oil helped the dye permeate the leather of the pouch much better. (The pouch is still a little damp so it will lighten a touch, but the difference is surprising in person.)

walnut_dyed_oiled_leather.jpg (122.44 KiB) Viewed 11213 times

Next time I boil up the walnut juice I'll try a proper experiment.


CAUTION: most of you probably know this, but for those that don't: don't let your dye bath get too hot if you're doing leather: unless you WANT it to shrink down to a hard little chip. : )

[Ringulf]

Taking a sponge and cutting it to the leaf shape you can put just the right amount of oil into the sponge and "stamp" a dappled pattern of leaves, (you can vary the size and intensity to get more variety and I would start toward the bottom of whatever you are working on.) Make sure you load the stamp heavy toward the lower edge and stamp lighter toward the top of the leaf, and it will look as if the bottoms of the leaves jutt forward and the tops fade in to the distance, quite a nice effect, and it is rather subtle so it does not look like "Camo".

I just realized that I reversed the technique when I wrote this originally, this would work with a lighter paint but witth a stain or oil that would darken it you want the oil loaded toward the top so as to deepen the shadows.