Flattening Painted Leather?

[Ladyluck]

Hello, I'm new to these leatherworking forums, but not to leatherworking itself. I have enjoyed reading them from time to time, and I was hoping for some good ideas on a snag I've hit in a custom project.

I'm making some large, 12-sided, leather dice for a friend. Since she wanted it to be light blue in color, I have painted the sides with Cova colors (sold by Tandy leather). During the painting, the small leather pieces distorted more than I expected (I had flattened them before painting).

Now, if I want the dice to look regular, I'll need to flatten them again, but I have never flattened after painting. (Thanks in advance to all those who might mention that I should have stuck the pieces to something flat before painting. Nice advice, but unfortunately too late.)

So, does anyone have experience flattening already painted (acrylic) leather pieces?

Thanks so much!

[dirtclod]

Try wetting the backside and put something heavy on them. Might try it on one first to make sure it works.

[Beaverslayer]

What I have always done with real good results is exactly what dirtclod said. I'll wet the back of the piece, then set it on a smooth flat surface and ten put my granite slab on top of it. Leave it like that for a day and it should be as flat as flat can get. It will tend to curl up at the edges a bit after doing this, but it's not anything that will be of concern.

[Ladyluck]

Thanks Ambassador and Dirtclod! After cruising the internet for awhile, I ended up trying two things, both of which worked, and did not pull up the paint:

First, I tried what you suggested, with water on the backs, and drying between granite slabs. Definitely flat afterwards, but they also took a miserably long time to dry (overnight).

So I also tried warming the leather from the back with a heat gun (found this suggestion on a couple of leather-garment sites). Those sites suggested an iron, I wasn't sure that wouldn't leave a mark, and had a heat gun handy...so...heat gun. Anyhow, once the heat gun had warmed them all over to about 80 degrees F, same thing, stuck them under the granite slab.

Both methods ended up working great, and neither harmed the paint. Gotta say though, those garment guys are on to something, the heated pieces were flat in an hour!!

Thanks again!