Painting Leather

[Curley Fryes]

When you paint your projects with acrylic, do you paint them cased or dry?

Edited September 20, 2012 by Curley Fryes

[Bob Blea]

I've always painted them dry. You could probably still paint the leather if it was only a bit damp, but the colors might bleed since water will thin acrylics.

[Dirck]

Dry....and then water proof entire piece as soon as paint is dry! Stabilizing the leather will keep the paint from cracking.

[Curley Fryes]

Thanks for the info. One other thing. Do you dye your project first then paint, if so, do you dye the parts to be painted or do you dye just the parts you want dyed and paint the parts you want painted? What's your process?

[Harag]

Thanks for the info. One other thing. Do you dye your project first then paint, if so, do you dye the parts to be painted or do you dye just the parts you want dyed and paint the parts you want painted? What's your process?

Pity there is no answer to this followup question, looking for the answer myself.

[Cyberthrasher]

Pity there is no answer to this followup question, looking for the answer myself.

I think there was another thread going where this was answered within the last few days. Dye first because dye penetrates leather. Paint stays on top of the leather. Also, alcohol (as found in many dyes) can reactivate acrylics, so you DO NOT want to apply the dye over the top of it.

There are more tips on using Acrylics in this Springfield video that they recently released.

[Harag]

Thanks for the video link. I have seen the other videos by them a while ago when I was looking at starting leather working, I've now subscribed to springfield. The video really helped.

[Cyberthrasher]

The video really helped.

Cool, I'm glad it helped. Be sure to subscribe to their blog as well.

http://springfieldleathercompany.wordpress.com/

[treybecca]

I dye first then paint...both with Angelus dye and angelus paint. I have never had a problem with angelus cracking or peeling...which can not be said for other traditional acrylic paint.

[Tina]

Depending on the dye color...Sometimes I dye the whole piece and then paint ontop except for red/yellow, they bleed through the paint, black works beautiful and I can even use white ontop. I'm using Angelus dyes, I have no idea with the Fiebing brand.

[Jimbob]

I used Fiebings all the time and then used 99 cent crafts acrylics on top of it, no problems...now I switched to Angelus dye and use same acrylics....no problems either...but I do always seal lwhen finished painting with clear leather laquer....real thin film/layer...works fine for me.

Hope that helps a bit too...