Painting leather?

[Kain]

Hey all! I'm fairly new to all this, but I was wondering if you could use watercolor paints on leather. I realize you'd have to finish it afterwards, but is this a good idea? I don't have any scrap leather to play around with, sadly.

If watercolors are a bad idea, would normal watered-down acrylic paints be okay? Or do I need to use something special?

I'm looking for something that won't crack or chip, even under a finish.

[kiwidownunder]

Yes you can paint with water colours on to leather. You just need to be very careful how much you apply. Remember you can not take it off. And No you do not have to do anything but decide on your colours.

Kiwi

[MsDragonfly]

Any good quality acrylic paints work well on leather as acrylics are flexible and durable. You can also seal or finish over the painted areas by using Krylon crystal clear gloss or satin. spray it in a cap and brush on over the painted area using an artist brush or you can spray it on...works well. I also like the acrylics because you can thin them down to desired shades and build upon them as desired. Hope this helps.***Lisa

[tamsen]

I'm very much a beginning mask maker. I have made about four dozen masks over the past six months. I air brush and/or hand brush thin layers of acrylic paint, watered down with Golden Acrylic Medium. Instead of using a leather resist, I use a liquid frisket (Incredible White Mask Liquid Frisket) to seal the areas I don't want painted, and then roll the frisket off to expose the unfinished areas. Once everything is done, I finish the mask with Krylon Satin spray finish.

But I got to wondering about that. So I wrote to Krylon and asked them:

1) Is Krylon Satin Finish spray an "acrylic sealant"?

2) Can it be used on painted leather (masks)?

I just got a response back from them a couple of days ago. It said:

Thank you for your inquiry with the Krylon website. We appreciate your interest in our products.

Our Satin Finish is an acrylic lacquer paint, not a true sealant. Unfortunately, we have nothing that will bond to leather. Our products will crack and peel off.

So, I was a little upset. Now I'm not at all sure it's such a good thing to finish an acrylic-painted project with any Krylon spray. Unfortunately, now I don't know what to finish my acrylic painted masks with, and what to do about the ones I've already finished with Krylon. Any suggestions would be welcome! Thanks.

tamsen

__________________________

Any good quality acrylic paints work well on leather as acrylics are flexible and durable. You can also seal or finish over the painted areas by using Krylon crystal clear gloss or satin. spray it in a cap and brush on over the painted area using an artist brush or you can spray it on...works well. I also like the acrylics because you can thin them down to desired shades and build upon them as desired. Hope this helps.***Lisa