New finish technique

[madbean]

This is something I just started so I can't recommend it yet, but it does look promising. Someone may have tried this before but I don't recall seeing it.

Leather dye on a bare, unfinished enclosure. This is just red. But, dye colors can be mixed! Took less than 10 minutes. More on this soon.

[BrianS]

Are you planning to put a clear coat on it? It does look pretty cool and 10 minutes to do it is fabulous.

[nzCdog]

This is awesome!  Be interesting to hear more about this, spraypaint is a pain

[pickdropper]

I wonder how laser etching would work with that

[galaxiex]

Looks very cool! 

Great idea, thanks for sharing!

[madbean]

So it is not fully drying. Kind of not surprising since there is probably little absorption into the metal so it sits on top. Trying a hair dryer to speed it up. It may require a clear coat to seal. More soon!

[juansolo]

Cure it with FIRE!


Doubt it'll work, but it'd be awesome if it did...


Fire makes everything more awesome.

[davent]

Cure it with FIRE!


Doubt it'll work, but it'd be awesome if it did...


Fire makes everything more awesome.

I tried fire to relic some Tayda stompswtich nuts like i've always done with other stainless parts ...



To be fair Alpha nuts responded the same way. Now I use gun metal bluing to age stompswitch nuts. Jack nuts- fire.

dave

[madbean]

I applied some envirotex. It changed the color a bit but also made it pop quite a bit more. But, because the dye never fully dried the sides ended up running off some of the color. So, it's not quite what I was hoping for but does look pretty cool.

I did not do any sanding or cleaning of the enclosure beforehand and that might have made a difference actually. Allow the dye to absorb more into the metal. Probably a spray clear coat would not run like the envirotex. We'll see how it looks in a couple of days after it is fully cured.

[mjg]

That looks beautiful - almost like it has a caramelised sugar glaze on top! 

I'm hungry now.   

It does look awesome though.  I'm keen to see other colours. 

[madbean]

One nice thing - it takes almost no dye to do a coat...even several coats. I bet an 8oz. bottle would last for 30 boxes or more. I'm using Angus Leather Dye.
One bad thing - oh boy do you gotta wear gloves. This stuff will stain your skin like no one's business.

[wgc]

That looks cool. Maybe it doesn't dry as much as absorb into the leather, and possibly react with some of the proteins. No idea really, just hypothe-phisizing.

But maybe a coat of shellac on the raw box before dye might give it something to sink into?

[madbean]

The shellac is a great idea, wgc. Thanks, I will try it next time.

I'm getting really impressed with this. The vibrancy of the color and texture coming through the dye is very pretty.

[pickdropper]

Have you ever tried the leather dye on a light colored Rosewood fretboard?  Assuming you like dark fretboards, that is.

[madbean]

Here's another approach- mix the dye directly into the Envirotex. This could work for etched enclosure, probably even flat painted ones for a color tint.