Restoration Progress even Further

The coloring of the figure is done and the picture looks close to what it was when I finished it twenty years ago. Looking at the original photo shows that it must have been close to the same hue of brown that I used then as well.

On the next photo the background has also been given a light coat of tan to cover the white scars left by the thinners when I removed the Neatlac layers that covered the original.

The next step is rubbing on Dubbin to seal and waterproof the leather and help preserve it. You can see the rich lustre it gives to the leather and the spirit based dyes.

Restoration Progress

Slowly but surely the former image is emerging from the faded leather.

Restoration

This was the original work a few years after I finished it in 1982 - it is about fifty inches high and forty inches wide. Done on veg-tan African Buffalo leather - the hide was a gift from a friend and I had it tanned at a tannery near Johannesburg.

The artwork is a copy of a drawing by Hogarth, one of the original Tarzan artists - it is from his book "Dynamic Light and Shade."

This wall hanging has traveled extensively with me and when the glue-gun glue finally came off the back and let go of the leather frame, I decided it was also time to get the whole thing restored.

So I attacked it with thinners and a hefty scrubbing brush to get the four layers of Neat-Lac off - the dye had faded badly as you can see on the next photo.

With the leather clean again, I am now busy dyeing the figure first as close as I can to the original. On this second photo you can see the small piece that has been done so far. I am very pleased with the results.