acrylic paint

[walletman]

hi can any one help ? can i use any acryilc paint or do,s it have to be for leather for it to work propley on leather thanx bob

[Snuffy]

I have had good results with regular acrylic craft paint. My brother has a set of lever covers on his motorcycle that were painted with craft paint from Walmart. After months of riding in all kinds of weather, they still look good. I will try to attach a photo of a kickstand cover that was painted with the same paint.

[anne newkold]

I have always been told that you need to water down the acrylics and use multiple layers so that the color actually penetrates the leather until you get the desired results.

[Hilly]

I would think that as long as it's something that doesn't flex at all, regular acrylics would be fine, as long as they are sealed afterwards. If you're doing something that does flex a lot (like a wallet) that the acrylic would eventually crack and look bad. I would probably use dyes instead of acrylics if you're gonna use it on a wallet.

[yaklady]

I use acrylics all the time on everything. Delta Ceramcoat is my favorite, and it's cheap and comes in all sorts of colors. Tandy's has a set of acrylics, but they're not cheap. I've never used them because of that. I'm cheap. I also use acrylics in the tubes, because someone gave me a bunch. They work well. Bob Beard uses acrylics to the point that he even paints the leather a leather color so it will never change. You know how leather will darken over time. He keeps it from doing that. He uses it on wallets, checkbooks, and eveything else he makes, and it's beautiful. I figure if he can do it, so can I, and I've never had a problem. The only thing I did have trouble with is when I tried the Sheridan style of dyeing (see what Barry King wrote under "How do I do that?") and then put acrylics on top of that. Lacquers and acrylics don't mix! The paint peels off. You can use Eco flo Hi-Liter under it like I did with the checkbook I made for someone.

You should always water acrylics down before use. Put on full strength, they can hide all of your tooling, not to mention that your leather stops looking like leather. Be sure to seal it when you're done. For pictures, I use Krylon Matte Finish (spray on), and for other stuff, Super Sheene works, but it should be sprayed on as well.

Hope this helps!

Kathy

[Pip]

If you are looking for a translucent colour, try acryllic inks they give a lovely colour finish, except purple for some reason? which goes dull and lifeless as an old slipper.