Antiquing Leather Belts

[OC Richard]

I've been getting into costume making and such, and learning how to do things new to me.

One project was weathering/distressing/antiquing a pair of cheap vinyl boots.

They're made by a company called "Funtasma". They cost around $50. What makes them work for me is that they're very comfortable to wear, and they come in size 14.

But they look like what they are: cheap ugly vinyl. Here.



I watched a couple YouTube videos about how to make these look more realistic, like distressed leather. It's all done with Liquitex acrylic paint.

First I blotched on some very dark brown. Then blotched on some reddish brown, with a sea-sponge.



That just gives an underlying mottled look, to break up the ugly vinyl. Lastly I dry-brushed on the wear or dust.



Next project was an elaborate belt. To simulate the appearance the belt has in the TV show I smeared the leather with paint, then rubbed it partially off with a wet sponge. The border-lines are just drawn with a ballpoint pen.



(I can't post a photo of the original belt because there's a weapon involved.)

Here are two identical lengths of belt, before and after the treatment.



The leap was to apply this method to a quick-and-dirty belt I'd made to sort of go with my Artificer Culloden sporran.

I used a buckle I bought in Deepest Darkest West Virginia back in the 1970s, rustic hammered brass, completed with a belt blank and a couple Chicago screws.



As you can see the belt was plain and ugly and didn't go very well with the lovely antiqued-looking leather of the sporran. I added border-lines by drawing them with a ballpoint pen, then smeared on and mostly rubbed off the Liquitex paint.

Here's the result, didn't take long to do.



This enhancement shows the leather a bit better

[Todd Bradshaw]

Good Job! I've done some visual texturing on leather similarly by putting one coat of dye on pretty evenly, and then dabbing the second coat with a wadded up paper towel.



Three sporrans, with the far right getting even dye coats, the middle one getting the blotting and the left one getting a heavy second coat, then mostly rubbing it off. The "tooling" was done with the tip of a screwdriver on wet leather. Folks who don't make some of their own gear will never know how much fun they're missing.

[OC Richard]

That's fantastic. I much prefer your left and centre ones, with the antiquing.

I have a big piece of faux leather I'm going to make a jerkin out of. I did a trial section, mottling on two or three different colours of Liquitex paint with a big sea-sponge (which looked pretty cool) then rubbing off much of it with a damp towel (which looked really cool). The fun of it is that there's no "wrong" and a seemingly endless number of "rights". You can keep adding layers. You can rub off anything you don't like and start over.

I really like your texture on that purse. I think I'll try that on my sword-belt.

[Tobus]

Have you tried an actual leather "antiquing" product? They make it specifically for leather, and it's a bit more durable than latex paint, I would think. You just wipe it on, let it sit for a few minutes, then wipe off as desired. It darkens the leather a bit and fills dents, scratches, etc., to make them stand out. I've used it a lot on belts, buttstock pouches, etc.

[OC Richard]

I haven't. I'm not familiar with it. I've seen demonstrations of people using a "leather cream" that changes the leather-colour but I don't know the specific brand names.

I know a guy who does leather repair/restoration and he says that leather products he works on (high-end purses and such) are mostly painted, not dyed, which surprised me.

For sure I was amazed to find out that in costuming they just slap paint on vinyl and leather.

One would think the paint would come off. I was told by experienced costume people that it was durable, and so far none has come off those boots.

Of course those boots are just vinyl. For leather, they distress it by soaking it with rubbing alcohol and then scrubbing it with sandpaper. They'll do more drastic stuff like drag a leather jacket behind a car and scrubbing a brick on it and whacking it with tools.

I've done that with some success but I can't post photos because there are weapons involved (holsters and gun-belts and such).

[Tobus]

Richard, the stuff I'm talking about is pretty commonly used for all manner of leatherworking. Fiebing's makes a decent product that's available through Tandy Leather. It comes in various colours, depending on what final look you want.

As an example, here is a leather wrap I made a few years ago. It goes on the sort of device we're not allowed to talk about here, but I've carefully cropped the photos to focus just on the leather. In the before photo, it's raw leather after stamping and wet-forming. The after photo is what the antiquing does. It darkens the leather a little bit overall, but it really tends to sink into any area that's been roughened up, dented, tooled, stamped, scratched, etc. It's great for highlighting the tooling, as I've done here. But it also adds some character to any leather that's been distressed or artificially aged. For obvious reasons, it works better on lighter leather colours, even ones that have already been dyed or painted.

You could probably do the same thing with various paints, but I'm not sure how well that would hold up under serious use. I'm honestly sort of surprised to hear you say that some people use paint on "high-end" leather products. Maybe that sort of thing works for purses or stage costume items, but no serious leatherworker that I know would use it on a working leather item. Paint is notorious for hardening over time and flaking off the leather. I've used paint on leather items in the past, just for small colour details like logos or designs to make them stand out, but I wouldn't trust the durability on areas that need to flex. Like boots and belts.