Making Leather Armor Fancy: Stain it

Ok, so what if you don't want that lovely skin tone leather, and prefer a more traditional looking leather color. Like brown. Or maybe you want a red, blur or even green color?

Well normally you would have picked up some leather die from the leather shop, but you forgot, or changed your mind on the color. THe leather shop is far away, but the hardware store is right close! So run on over their and buy your self some stain in your desired color!

Some quick tips:

1. I have been told that stain can make leather stiffer, however, it does very litle of that in my experience.
   
2. It lightens a bit as it dries.
   
3. Use thin coats, and add multiple coats to get a darker colour.
   
4. Stain cost about $6-$8 a mini can, about the same as leather die. When you can, use the real thing.
5. Spread as evenly as you can, before leaving it to dry (this came be the difference between an hour to dry and 3 days to dry)
6. Make sure the serfice of the leather is clean.
7. Don't stain leather that will contact skin (like the back side of a bracer), it will make it rough and uncomfortable.

I use a cheap sponge paint brush that I can throw away afterwards to apply the stain. You can also use an old paint brush, or an old rag to apply the stain.

Here are some picts of my stained leather bracers: