Matthew L., an artisan working out of our leather studio, spent weeks hand dipping wallets to achieve a two-toned aesthetic. <\/p>\n
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The wallets are available at eight stores: Canfield, Woodward, Somerset, Rush Street, Tribeca, Grove, Venice and San Francisco. <\/p>\n
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Check out what he had to say about the process below:<\/p>\n
How does this process work? <\/strong> What kind of paint is used? <\/strong> Is there a special technique? <\/strong> [[{“type”:”media”,”view_mode”:”media_original”,”fid”:”4585″,”attributes”:{“alt”:””,”class”:”media-image”,”height”:”540″,”typeof”:”foaf:Image”,”width”:”960″}}]]<\/p>\n How long does each wallet take to dry?<\/strong> Are certain wallets harder to dip?<\/strong> What\u2019s the hardest part about this process?<\/strong> What\u2019s the best part about the process?<\/strong>
I\u2019ll receive different colors of wallets with an assigned color to dip them in. I\u2019ll fill up this vat with as much paint as I need to get the part I need to hit. Then I dip it into the paint until it touches the bottom of the vat, pull it out and make sure the paint drips and evens out in a way that\u2019s smooth and looks nice.<\/p>\n
Leather paint, it\u2019s the same paint we use for the watch strap edges. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s a case by case basis, you feel it out and make sure you\u2019re looking at every surface as you\u2019re tilting it to make sure it\u2019s all even and smooth. It\u2019s mostly just tilting back and forth and keeping it at an angle to make sure it doesn\u2019t all sit in one place<\/p>\n
It takes about 15 to 20 minutes for each wallet to dry.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re all pretty similar. The more suede texture is a little different to work with because it soaks up so much more. Red is a really thin color, so you have to coat the wallet more. Black is a little more full coverage.<\/p>\n
The dipping is the easy part, it\u2019s mostly the waiting process and making sure it dries and doesn\u2019t look too wonky. But part of the beauty is the imperfections, each one is slightly different. <\/p>\n
I like dipping, I like getting my hands dirty\u2014generally that\u2019s pretty fun. It\u2019s kind of meditative, you\u2019re literally watching paint dry. <\/p>\n