Painting English Bridle

[ffjdh]

I’m having some difficulty with a project.  I have a piece of  English Bridle that I stamped.  I scrubbed the stamped areas down with rubbing alcohol and a qtip, then painted it with slight thinned angels paint.  I’ve painted vegtan many times and never had an issue with the paint.  I had a little bit of over paint and started to clean it up with a dental pick about ann hour later and noticed the paint didn’t adhere to the bridle very well and could peel up.  I let it sit for another 8 plus hours to see if it just took longer to set and it still comes up easily.  What process works for you guys to paint bridle?

[DieselTech]

There might be too much oils & waxes in the bridle leather for the paint to adhere. 

You might need to use acetone on the letter areas to be painted. Take a piece of scrap bridle leather & stamp it, then rough & clean the area with acetone & let dry for a day then paint your letters/leather.

Might need to use a solvent base paint to, I am not sure. But curious to see what the answer is.

[dikman]

I would think if the leather has been treated with oils/waxes (as DT suggested) then you're going to have a very hard time trying to get any paint to stick. Oils and waxes are notorious for repelling anything and wax in particular is extremely difficult to remove completely.