Painting?

[ranchmom77]

Hello everyone.. I'm new to the forum and this is my first post, although I've been lurking and learning for about a month now. I'm new to leatherwork as well but am enjoying myself with it.

I've done a few of the projects in Tandy's beginners kit and they turned out well. I bought a handful of the necessary supplies and have been experimenting with them.

I've played around with dying and painting on unfinished leather. But my question is this..

My daughter made rodeo princess here for our 4th of July rodeo and I'd like to paint a flag on a store bought breastcollar to match her Stars and Stripes shirt. Ideally I'd love to make a collar from scratch, but I'm a ways off from that yet lol.

Anyways, will I be able to paint right onto the collar after cleaning it or will I have to strip a finish off first, paint it, and then reseal it? If the latter is the case, what products do you recommend for both jobs?

Thank you very much!

Jamie

[raysouth]

Howdy Ranchmom 77,

Not sure if I can answer your questions satisfactorily but will take a shot at it.

If you are going to paint the flag on the item of a ready made product, I would suggest painting directly onto the finish after being certain that it is clean and dry.

This may end up as trial and error, not knowing how or what the item was originally finished with or how it was done.

After you paint has sufficient time to cure, I might then think about a spay on laq. finish product as offered by many of the leather suppliers you can find here or on net.

Suppose it depends on how you want the painting to appear, glossy or dull or somewhere in between. Judgement call needed here.

Angelus and Tarrago both make great paint products for use on leather. All of the colors they offer are very good but I find myself using the Tarrago white when that color is needed.

Hope this was of some assistance.

God Bless.

Ray

[steadybrook]

I use air brush paint. It is very durable.