Decanter Badges (Take 2)

Instead of introducing this info as a new topic, I considered adding it as an addendum to a previous post The undisputed heavy weight champion of the world which dealt with the same general idea, but ultimately decided that the techniques and finished look were different enough from the original post to merit it’s own entry.

The general idea is a leather wrap around a decanter upon which you can affix different badges dependent upon which particular spirit is contained within. In my first go round, I directly laser engraved the leather with the desired graphic. This looked OK(ish) and I definitely got some decent engraves. However, rooting around in the remarkable wealth of information on this forum got me thinking that I really, really liked the look of embossed or stamped leather a whole lot better than engraved leather.

Delrin seems to be the material de jour for making leather stamps, but I did not have any on hand so I delved into making stamps out of acrylic which I had plenty of on hand. I eventually dialed in settings for a very serviceable and durable acrylic stamp with which I was able to get very good results.

In the interest of brevity, I will finish up by adding that I colored the badges using Angelus leather paint and then stained them using eco-flo gel antique. I finished them with an application of Feibings antique paste for good measure (brown, I think) and a finish coat of eco-flo satin sheen which I sprayed on. If I make more, however, I will probably go back to Resolene as a finish - I just think it’s more durable though I don’t really care for it’s high-gloss sheen.

I made three of these as Christmas gifts for my brothers and father and they were pretty well received. I would be happy to share details of the workflow I developed for anyone who may be interested…just let me know if you have any specific questions. Cheers!