Leathercraft Techniques

I recieved an interesting question from a student today who wanted to find out how to colour match edge paint accurately.

Now, I've been doing this for a long time, so I go by eye using experience mostly. But that Doesn't really help anybody.

So here's an idea I used to use.

This isn't foolproof, and tweaking is always going to be necessary, but it can get you a ballpark colour match.

Find an online colour mixer that can give you the ratios you need for the colour you want. Something like this: https://trycolors.com/

Then, get yourself some syringes to accurately draw out the amount you need from each bottle of paint and deposit into a clean container.

Label each syringe by colour and don't mix them up. Wash them in warm water immediately after use, remove the plunger and allow to dry.

When you get the ideal colour match, place some down onto the leather you wish to match and let the paint dry completely. After drying, the edge paint may look slightly different., so adjust if needed.

When you have finalised the mix, keep a small notebook with your ratios logged. Perhaps even keep some swatches in it for quick reference.

I recommend the following 'colours': Black, white, brown, red, yellow, blue.

Black and white will change the tone of the finished colour. So if you created purple by mixing red and blue, you can get lilac by adding white, and plum by adding black.

I include brown because I find it's one of the harder colours to create well with the standard RYB mix.

I may make a blog post about this and expand further, so I'm looking for ideas to add.

So if you have any tips or tricks to colour matching either dyes or edge paint, please comment below and I can share them with the wider community.