The Crispin Colloquy

Rick,

PS....maybe the edge guide is meant to be used before gimping with the intention that a mm or two will be removed when the gimping is done.

Gee, now that I think about it, that makes sense on several levels. Of course it means adding a gimping allowance to your nett patterns. Which shouldn't be that hard.


Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

Ya know, I came to that same conclusion. It was actually pretty easy (visually) to gimp along the straight-cut edge after broguing.

I'm also pretty happy with simply rubbing black Kiwi shoe polish in with Pam's toothbrush and not really worrying about antiquing, at this point.

I'm not sure this glazed buffalo is the best candidate for antiquing anyway. Seems like th glossy finish is a done deal and not amenable to coloring on top of the gloss. I wonder if the Garlin-Neumann bunishable buffalo might be a better candidate. Any thought on this?

Rick,

Very nice...did you remove much leather along that edge during gimping?

Funny you should mention the burnishable. I have a student presently, who is using the burnishable...in green...and at odd moments I have been fiddling with antiquing it. I think it has real possibilities.

Seems like an almost naked finish buffalo. Now I mention that because to one degree or another crust is just the fully tanned...and often dyed sometimes in dark colours...but unfinished leather. So the burnishable might be reasonably considered a buffalo "crust."

Prime Leather also has a wax--I think it is called "Brush and Shine"--that is made to be used with crust and a yarn brush. As you may remember, I have a yarn brush and with a little sage counsel from the chemist at Prime I finally got the yarn brush conditioned so that it won't shed lint all over the boot. The green burnishable looks really, good with the Brush and Shine...much better actually than with an acrylic top coat.

As for the glazed buffalo, it might be amenable to the antiquing from Prime...as I said it is pretty powerful. But I think the burnishable, handled well, might be the better looking leather.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

Didn't have to remove much. I tried to use the cut edge as a guide and stay as close as possible to this edge, as opposed to trying to watch the brogue pattern that doesn't have such a clearly defined edge.

BTW, I am just using the standard presser foot (with one toe cut off) that came with my Singer 31. Seems to do Ok but probably a little more difficult to track than a roller foot.

DW,

Keep me posted on your results antiquing Garlin-Neumann burnishable buffalo. I have some on order and will do some experiments too.

- Rick

Hi Folk
The admin got me straighted out about pics Thanks! well here it goes
This is a brouging punch. I got two other pics I'll post if this works.
Tuesday I will look in by clinic for another punch.
Regards
Brendan

DW,

I would just like to thank you for deciding to venture into shoes. I credit your interest with pulling so many additional shoemakers onto the site. The information being offered has been superb and probably unobtainable other than in this format. Your trailblazing efforts in disseminating knowledge has added another significant store of information for other shoe/bootmakers to draw upon.

Joe Hall

T.J.,

Well shucks...

It ain't nuthin'...just going along as usual--'course that's why I get the big candy!

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

It's off topic but I second TJ.

DW,

I made a 2-3mm allowance for the gimped edge (just drew that in freehand). Then I used the tool to brogue. It's pretty easy once you get the rhythm of it.

Then cut the gimp edge as close as I could to the straight edge. All seems pretty straight forward.


Upper seems a little lacking without blacking the edges but... so far, so good.

Rick,

Looking good. I agree they will most certainly look better when you've antiqued them a bit. This is where the prime antiquing would really shine. It would stain right through the glaze on that buffalo. The darker thread, contrasting against the colour of the leather just begs for antiquing.

BTW, I read somewhere that...and this was just that one shop's opinion, not written in stone...that the stitching should be one shade darker than the leather. I was struck by such a handy and reasonable "rule of thumb" and thought I would pass it along. That said, breaking the rules is what elevates the commonplace to the next level.

Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

I've heard that thread color guide before too. In this case, I am mimicking examples shown in HMSFM where they have a similar tan with black thread then antiqued or at least edge darkened.

Although, now that I look closer, maybe the thread is only black because of the antiquing. In any case, it ends up black. I'll keep myself aware of this issue for future experimentation.

I'm not getting too elaborate with this first pair of brogues. Just tipping my toes in the water.

Rick,

I thought you might be interested in seeing this...the green is burnishable buffalo with a brown antiquing and Brush and Shine final polish; the amber is burnishable with a brown antiquing and Brush and Shine; and the taupe is glazed buffalo with a dk. brown antiquing and B&S.


Tight Stitches
DWFII--Member HCC

Looks promising. What is Brush and Shine?

I talked to the guy at Randall Leather Machinery about their perforating machine:


This baby gimps and brogues simultaneously. It goes for $4950.00 new (none used available). Actually no new ones are available either but they plan to make some more soon. They have one order already.

They also have a hand crank punch that goes for $1650. It only does single holes but they are thinking of adapting it to take punch patterns from the big brother machine above.


They also have a hand crank pinking machine with many wheel options for ~$750.

I've been doing tests on Garlin-Neumann burnishable buffalo. My goal is to find a way to dye the leather as dark or light as I like and be able to go from dark to light in a smooth and/or antique like transition.

I tried a number of approaches with waxy dyes like:

* shoe polish
* Fiebrings Antiquing dye
* Leather Balm with Atom wax (plus color)

With these types of dyes, it always seems like the first coat is sealing the leather and additional coats rub right off or easily scrape off with fingernail. Oh yes, I also want the dye job to have a little resilience. So I don't want it to be too superficial.

On the other hand, solvent based dyes, like Lincoln Leather Dye, penetrate deeply but are hard to control the depth of color and are pretty nasty to work with to. The Lincoln solvent is 1,2-dichlorobenzene, which is carcinogenic.

I've been doing some reading in The Handbook for Shoe and Leather Processing by Leland G. Stockdale. It has lots of info about dyeing using various vehicles (wax, solvent, water etc) with various pros and cons. I won't even try to paraphrase any of this info, as there is just too much, but it got me thinking of alcohol soluble aniline dyes.

I went down to my local WoodCrafters store where they have a product called TransTint which is a concentrated liquid dye that dissolves in either alcohol or water. I put two drops of the TransTint Dark Walnut in 1 tablespoon isopropyl alcohol and painted it on my sample leather piece. I found I could keep adding coats of this solution, letting the alcohol evaporate in between and get as light or dark a shade as I liked. Here is the starting leather:


I did lots of graded tests and then switched to this brogue sample. Here you see the entire sample with one coat and the seam area with 3 coats.


You can see that I have some control over shade but there is still some banding. I think with a little practice, this could easily be refined. I am just using a small paint brush to apply.

The alcohol dyed leather appears dry and would have to be finished with some wax or other finish. In particular, the TransTint dark walnut is a bit stark looking. There are many colors of TransTint available and I had similar results using drops of Lincoln Cordovan Dye in isopropanol. It may be that one could finish with a clear finish but I used brown Kiwi shoe polish for my final coat.


This looks a bit rough. I had trouble capturing it accurately with my camera. It actually looks really good, live (so to speak) and definitely shows promise.

In summary, the approach is to use layers of strong dye in alcohol, as a base and finish with a clear or colored waxy dye. I will post more shots as I refine this approach or try it on a real project.

(Message edited by romango on February 10, 2008)

Hi Rick,

Whatever solvent dye you use, try this: cut a shearling scrap, 1" x 2", wrap it with two layers of 100% cotton cloth to make a dauber, and then place the dauber you just made (fur side to the dye) on the dye bottle mouth and tip the dye bottle to wet the dauber. Now you have the cotton to apply the dye, and the shearling as a reservoir for the dyestuff. With practice on pressure and speed of wiping, one can gain great control of the color and depth of tone.

Hint: adding the correct solvent to your dyestuff can aid in control for the above method.

Best to all,

David Ulan

David,

Nice tip. I'll try it. Thanks!

Been playing around with brogue patterns today. I'm using Visio, a vector drawing program, but I imagine you could do the same thing with a compass and ruler. Too much fun!

http://www.google.com/patents?id=cxMmAAAAEBAJ&pg=PP3&dq=the+science+of+a+stitche d+shoe&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=1_1#PPP1,M1

I found this today... I am wondering: in the USA ANYONE CAN PATENT ANYTHING????? What is this?? My god.. Please tell me, that this is a joke..

I got a cheap airbrush and come compressed air in a can.

I was able to easily feather from dark to light. It will take a little experimentation but
I think I have a working procedure.

The left hand piece has full cover of brown polish.
The right hand piece has brown kiwi polish on the right and plain airbrush on the left.
The airbrushed dye is called dark walnut. I'd like to try one with a little more red component.

I'm sure I can get all sorts of effects by varying the color of the airbrush coat and the top wax coat.
A neutral top wax will be something to try too, getting all color from the airbrush.

I used TransTint aniline dye in ethanol in the airbrush. This combination penetrates the leather well and I can spray as little or as much as I desire to get light or very dark. In fact, the airbrush gives such a smooth effect, even in my inexperienced hands, that I might be tempted to use a sponge to get a more mottled or antiqued look.


Now I need to make some shoes to try it on.

Rick,

I am using airbrush for years, painting as shoe-antiqueing as well. I must say, if you find a good combination of: leather, paint, finshing, you can make beautiful shoes.

I would suggest to use:

- high pressure (2-3 bar),
- very thin mixture of colours.

Do not want to make the feather in one step - if you use more, the result will be better. I also would like to suggest leather paint instead of anilin. (anilin is OK for soles actually)

Good luck with it!

Marcell,

Thanks for the advise. I'm not sure what leather paint is. It doesn't seem to be a common name for leather colorants here in the US.

Do you know what is the base of the paint you use? Is it an acrylic?

Basically there are two main types of colors: the first type is only covering the original colour of the leather, the other one goes inside, doesn't change the leather's texture. These are alcoholic based, and can be used on crust or veg tanned leathers. Acrylic is not suitable for this (except the sole)

Hi,

I was wondering what people do with the ends of the threads when their done sewing. Especially around the top bead on boots and the decorative design on the uppers?

Thanks Joel