More on the bracers
Now that Xmas has passed, I can tell you about two of the gifts I gave away this year – Phoenix and Dragon bracers. Here’s a couple of pics:
Dragon…
…and the Phoenix
Notice these will have laces instead of buckle straps. I did not have wrist measurements for the recipients, and lacing them gives much better adjustment. For colors, the Phoenix is going to be dyed black and then the bird will be painted red, possibly with some orange and yellow highlights if I’m feeling daring. The Dragon gets a medium brown background with the dragon itself dyed black.
For that, I’m using the brush dye method, and here’s what it looks like at phase 1:
Astute observers may note that the dyed version doesn’t have grommets yet – that’s because I screwed up the dye process on the first attempt. I dyed the dragon and the background with the brush method the first time, but the brown dye just does not cover evenly, and I could not find a way to smooth it out for the life of me. This time, after I have soaked all the black I can into that dragon, I will apply a few coats of resist and then use a wool dauber to spread the brown dye right over the top.
And if that doesn’t work out, the next one gets dyed brown first and then I’ll paint the damn dragon on.
I like your latest tooling designs… one of my leatherworking mentors told me to neatsfoot oil the leather before dying for a more even dye job and it seems to work a little better (less streaking if you’re using water-based dyes like I am) – are you using water-based dyes for your projects or is there something you like better?
From the little dye experience I have, I prefer spirit-based dyes, they have given me no problems. My local leather supply guy swears by the oil-based dyes though, and they do offer a few more color selections so I am trying to make them work.