Regular Old Acrylic Paint Ok?

[Chief Filipino]

I have some regular acrylic paint, not the stuff designed for leather like Angelus acrylic. Will it work on leather?

If so, when should I burnish my edges? I am going to be painting the entire piece up to the edges and I am worried that burnishing will ruin the paint... thoughts?

[Colt W Knight]

I have succescully used acrylic paints bought from hobby stores to paint leather. They need to be thinned and mixed with some distilled water to get the best result, and Ive always had to apply at least 3 coats. That being said, Angelus paints are far superior and well worth the price.

[Art]

I use Liquitex in the tube (Hard Body) and Liquitex Medium to thin it. You can select a gloss or matte medium depending on what you need the final product to be (gloss or matte). I know folks that use only Liquitex, some only Winsor & Newton, etc.etc. Some mix them up, but they know how they each work. Me, it drove me nuts when Liquitex changed what they were calling their paint textures, soft, hard, super hard, but it makes more sense than what they were calling it before, but I am not really a painter (living room maybe). You might want to try the soft body first as you may not need to thin it and it does level better than the others.

Like I say here a lot, you have to buy things and try them with every intention of scrapping it along the way.

Art

[Bob Blea]

I recently took a carving and painting class with Robert Beard. In that class he used Liquitex paints. I know he uses some higher end paints in his own work but the Liquitex did a good enough job in the class. I've used them for years (before I started in leather) and haven't had a problem with them holding up.

[Chief Filipino]

Awesome! Thanks for the input. I don't have the money to purchase new paints at this time but I do have some acrylics I was going to try.

[Colt W Knight]

Before buying angelus stuff, I was using acrylics from Walmart that were less than a dollar a bottle. They worked fine, just a lot more effort than angelus

[Chief Filipino]

That's exactly what I have. I'm ok with more \work for right now.

[Chief Filipino]

When would I burnish my edges when I am using the acrylic? Before or after or both? Do I also need to seal/finish the acrylic with like Resolene or something?

[Bob Blea]

I would burnish first then paint. The rubbing will wear off some of the paint.

For the times I use acrylics I spray on a top coat that is also acrylic. I use a product called Blair Matte Medium, and it's used to fix pastel chalk to a canvas once you are finished with the artwork. You should be able to do the same with Resolene. I would spray it with an airbrush if I could, but if you have to brush it on I think that would work too. Remember to thin Resolene 50/50 with water (or maybe thinner) so it doesn't make too thick a coating. You can always make multiple thin coats to get the finish you want.

Hope this helps,

Bob

[Colt W Knight]

Yeah burnish first.

I top coat after applying the acrylic because it evens out the sheen. That way you don't have gloss paint and satin leather.

[Colt W Knight]

These are those walmart acrylics

These are angelus

[Chief Filipino]

Awesome work Colt!

Thanks for the info Bob!

I think I will have to pick up an air brush from harbor freight.