Do I Really Need An Airbrush For Dying Leather With Acrylic Dye?

[HC009]

Hi, I am looking to spend about $600 on airbrush equipment to dye shoulders of leather with angelus paint. I have been told it will save me money in terms of paint used - is that true? And also, is there such a big difference to hand painting the coats of paint or is it only minor and I could get away with painting the leather?

What I have noticed is that when I tried to paint some undyed natural hide, it took 4 COATS of white paint to stop the hides colour showing through - would an airbrush use less paint and end up with better coverage? Just some questions as I don't want to spend all this money and then find painting it would be a lot simpler. Many thanks.

[cgleathercraft]

I can't say that it will be cheaper in the long run or more efficient.

What I can say is $600 will buy a lot of paint. It may take quite a while to realize the benefit of the airbrush.

I think volume of work and how quickly it needs to be done would be better questions in this case. If you paint several times a week and it takes several hours a day it may make sense. Otherwise the time it takes to clean the equipment will eat up the time saved.

My airbrush has sat in a corner since I bought it. I can get done what I need to do in much less time than it takes to let the compressor build up pressure.

[HC009]

Ha, ha! Thank God you replied to this topic today as I am definitely not going to buy one now. The expense I wouldn't mind if it did a better job and saved me a lot of time but like you say, this is not going to happen. I am going to be painting 2 shoulders maybe once or twice a week. I think an airbrush is probably better for spirit dyes not acrylic as with spirit if you over lap you get a darker colour whereas with acrylic it just stays the same. Thank you.

[cgleathercraft]

Put it on a list of nice to have tools! I have one and it grows faster than I can cross stuff off.

Glad I could help!

[DavidL]

if you are only going to dye 10 sq feet then theres almost no point in spending 600. If you have 3 sides (60sq) and are committed to leather working then a few hundred in airbrush equipment is a good buy for acrylics. Over 1-2 years the airbrush will have saved you enough time,paint and consistency for it to be justifiable. The cheapest you can go is $25 for badger 250 that can work straight out the box and you can see from there if you like the way an airbrush works.

For around 200 shipped you can get a Iwata eclipse siphon feed brush with a no name brand air compressor off of Amazon. This is probably the most you will need to spend for a great airbrushing set. Add a 50 dollar airbrush fan if you are spraying indoors.

The point of getting an airbrush is to cut down time on dyeing leathers, get a more even dye job and save dye/acrylic inks. I would think 3 coats can get a constant colour (paint coming out of an airbrush is a lot less than from a brush). You can also get resolene to lay on smooth and create fades around the edges. Acrylic paints are not mean to darken on multiple passes and has a brighter colour than dyes.

For dyeing leathers you can use a sponge and get the job done quick, with acrylics the only way for a fast job is with an airbrush.

Edited September 10, 2014 by DavidL

[HC009]

Hi, thanks David L I think you have replied before to my other posts. I am looking to do this as a business and won't be selling large quantities so I won't be dying that much leather but thinking about it I like the idea of having more control by painting rather than relying on a machine that could break down at any moment and where there is a lot of cleaning. I read somewhere on here that you can get a good finish with the washing paint technique. You say use a sponge which sounds like a better idea than a brush so thank you for that. I don't understand though, what you are saying about resolene to create fade around the edges though - could you explain at all please - I've got a bottle of it in a drawer unused?

[DavidL]

I meant to say you can spray resolene finish on perfectly and also spray dark paint around the edges to create a sunburst effect like on guitars.

Sponge would not work for acrylics only dye paints. The wash technique works well, but is time consuming.

At the end of the day time is money, if you spend an hour painting 5-10 wallets you have to charge that to the customer. So the alternative is spend money on an airbrush and you can spray 25-50 wallets in an hour and get a more even look. I would suggest you learn how to do the wash technique and then progress onto an airbrush, but is up to you.

In terms of the machine breaking a lot of airbrushers have cheap backup brushes to get the job done. For an iwata (made in Japan) with 5 year warranty there are very few hiccups with these brushes and many have been known to last 10 years. The parts are also easy to find and cheap at any airbrush store.

Siphon feed brushes can be cleaned faster than gravity as the paint is held in a container and you have to only wash the needle and spray windex through it and not have to clean the paint cup, because there is none.

Edited September 10, 2014 by DavidL

[HC009]

Thank you so much for this invaluable information. I will do what you suggest learn the wash technique then if it is laborious, buy a cheap airbrush set up and give it a go if as you say, painting is too time consuming

[DavidL]

No problem.

Also keep in mind if you want to use acrylics or dyes as they are different products. Dye penetrates leather and acrylics lay on the surface(if done correctly it would last years). Acrylics have brighter and more vibrant colours than dyes and most importantly cover up a lot of uneven marks.

Aniline dye is something you should look into as well.

[HC009]

Hi DavidL I just looked at the set up you suggested - a cheap compressor is ok but I can only find an Iwata NEO siphon feed brush not an eclipse apparently it does large areas - do all airbrushes fit all compressors? Also you talk about an extractor fan - I have tried looking for one but is that what it is called - airbrush fan - cannot find anything.

Edited September 10, 2014 by heavenlychoirs

[DavidL]

http://www.amazon.com/Iwata-Medea-Eclipse-Action-ECL-2000/dp/B000R3C3SM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1410374926&sr=8-2&keywords=iwata+eclipse

http://www.amazon.com/Master-Airbrush®-Portable-Airbrush-Painting/dp/B00BMUH8L6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1410374998&sr=8-2&keywords=spray+booth

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0007U92MU/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A111T5BUDCP21Y

http://www.amazon.com/Iwata-Campbell-HP-TH-Airbrush-import/dp/B004DUHUKG/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1410375158&sr=1-1&keywords=iwata+th

they should all have the same size ends, i know paasche has different ends. the compressors all have the same ends as far as i know.

[HC009]

You are a very kind person - thank you very much for those links. I checked out your shop - do you make leather goods?

[HC009]

Sorry, I forgot to also ask - how to dilute the acrylic - I was going to use methylated spirits or isopropyl alcohol - have tested both with the paint but cannot work out which one is better. What do you think?

[DavidL]

water works fine for acrylics, some use isopropyl (if its spirit based). If you can't tell the difference there probably isn't a reason to use isopropyl. Check with airbrushing forums as they have many professionals who have done a lot of work with acrylics.

Food for thought. I think theres an additive that you can add to the paint and with heat you can fully set the paint so that it is similar to dyed leather, where it is permanently fixed. I know plastisol inks used for screen printing is heated and something in the paint melts to fully cure and lock in the paint.

Im unsure if there is a additive like that, I would have to do more research. Angelus by its self can hold up well, but I'm planning to make garments that have patches of leather that are machine washable. On leather that won't be washed it may be overkill if angelus can last years under heavy abuse.

Edit: The additive is called low cure additive heated at under 300 degrees.

Edited September 10, 2014 by DavidL

[DavidL]

You are a very kind person - thank you very much for those links. I checked out your shop - do you make leather goods?

I made a few items just to get an idea of how etsy works. But I haven't officially started my business yet, as I'm still learning, prototyping, and trying to get funds and especially trying to understand the accounting side of business. I do intend to start a website and sell my goods sometime i the next two years.

[HC009]

Hi David thank you for your reply. That's interesting what you are saying about an additive. If there was such a thing that would be great. I like the sound of your patches of leather idea / setting up an business on Etsy in the future it sounds weird. Weird = good. I am also thinking about starting a shop on Etsy UK in the future making bondage harnesses. You can do really well on there. That's where Zana Bayne the leather / bondage / accessories designer started selling her stuff and look at her now - she's a fully fledged backed fashion label! I will check out your shop in the future as it sounds interesting and will let you know when I have some things made to sell also.

[RavenAus]

For me the airbrush is invaluable. I can get a perfect finish within half the time, to the colour saturation I want. I can do fades and stencils I couldn't dream of with a sponge brush. Cleaning the airbrush takes less time than cleaning my brushes did too!

My airbrush kit was AU$120 with mini compressor and dual action airbrush. It's not a fancy name but it does everything they do and unless you're going to be doing bike bibs to rival Orange County bikes then it'll do just fine.

[Gump]

For painting large areas, I have tossed the airbrush and went with a touch up spray gun for most of my spray dye work. It has a 4 oz pot and was only $35. I found that the airbrush plugged up and spit out drops, leaving bad spots on my work, also much harder to clean than the larger touch up gun. The touch up gun is also fully adjustable as to volume and spray pattern. Gump

[HC009]

Touch up spray gun? That sounds like another great idea. thanks.

Edited September 11, 2014 by heavenlychoirs

[HC009]

So your touch up spray gun worked with acrylic paint and a cheap air compressor or what was your set up Gump? because I have just been reading an article that says you need a very powerful machine costing £1000 at least to spray acrylic paints.

Edited September 11, 2014 by heavenlychoirs

[DavidL]

Hi David thank you for your reply. That's interesting what you are saying about an additive. If there was such a thing that would be great. I like the sound of your patches of leather idea / setting up an business on Etsy in the future it sounds weird. Weird = good. I am also thinking about starting a shop on Etsy UK in the future making bondage harnesses. You can do really well on there. That's where Zana Bayne the leather / bondage / accessories designer started selling her stuff and look at her now - she's a fully fledged backed fashion label! I will check out your shop in the future as it sounds interesting and will let you know when I have some things made to sell also.

I will let you know when I do start selling goods. Thanks for the kind words. Do u have any background of zana bayne I'm interested how she made the change from etsy to runway.

As for the paint gun or airbrush I would have to go with an airbrush w/ a fan tip since it can do fades and it can also spray upwards to 3 inches spray pattern. With the gun you can get close to 5- 6 inches but no close control. I can't say for the quality of the cheap 50 dollar spray guns (100 may be good quality) but for the 100 dollar airbrush w/ siphon feed (Iwata eclipse) you can spray a 2 inch pattern. With a paasche talon siphon you can spray 3 inches with the optional fan tip.

Another thing to add cleaning a spray gun in between colours will take a lot longer than a tiny airbrush, and much longer if its a siphon feed airbrush.

What you should do is figure out is:

What do u want to spray out of your gun?

How big of a spray pattern do you want? is 2 inches enough? is 3? or 5-6

Do u want to do fades?

Do u want a siphon feed(Change colours faster, wash faster) or a gravity feed (more fine line detail typically)

a video of the iwata eclipse - 100 USD - shows the wide spray pattern. If you are doing an entire hide 20 sq then a spray gun is a better choice. Do keep in mind you can just cut out pieces and spray with an airbrush. If your business ends up doing a lot of bags then you could get a spray gun in addition to your airbrush.

*Buying large equipment and sewing machines are typically better after the business has been registered to write off the equipment in your taxes. If its a small expense and practicing is more important then you it can be rolled over into business.

Edited September 11, 2014 by DavidL

[HC009]

Thanks David, I will look into things now. Yes, I read it in an interview with her - she started selling on etsy 1 piece then it became 2/3 then more and then she said when she started her blog then things really started changing for her.

[Gump]

The touch up spray gun was designed for automotive paint and should handle any paint. Only uses between 40-50psi, and will spray from a fine mist to a 6-8" wide full fan, with total volume control. Air pressure, air volume and paint volume are fully adjustable. As I said before, my paasche airbrush was constantly plugging and spitting and with the touch up gun, no problems yet. As for cleaning, just put your thinner/water in the pot and spray through, then just wipe off gun, no need to disassemble. It is a gravity feed gun. Much more efficient on large areas. Gump

[HC009]

ok great.

[HC009]

Hi Gump, can you tell me the make of your spray gun model at all please as I am having trouble finding a touch up spray gun that does more than 3"? You say your's does upto 6-8" which is what I am looking for.