Recoloring some Alligator cowboy boots

[Colt W Knight]

A good friend of mine recently contacted me and told me that found a good deal on some nice Black Jack gator boots online, but when they arrived the color wasn't quite right ( which is probably why they less expensive). He tried painting on some Walmart acrylic and they ended up looking like a DIY antiquing job, complete with brush strokes and all. He asked if there was anything I could do.

So I stripped the paint off with some Angelus Deglazer/preparer to get rid of those brush strokes. Then gave it a good cleaning with Fiebings saddle soap and water. I like saddle soap, when used correctly it really helps the leather in my opinion. While it was drying a mixed some Angelus white, cognac, and yellow to get a nice egg shell color and thinned it for use in my air brush. I tried taping and using piece of carboard to mask off the areas I didn't want to paint with no success, so I ended up just setting my airbrush smaller and doing it free hand. I was even able to do the emblems with almost no overspray.  In the areas where I got overspray, I simply wiped it off with the deglazer (pretty simple actually). Gave it three good coats, and cleaned my overspray. Then I redied the soles black with Fiebings Pro oil dye, and gave the boots about 3 light coats of mop n glo (50/50 glo and water) through the airbrush.

I think they came out well, and I am really liking my new Iwata airbrush. Cleaning has kinda been a pain, so I bought a nice heated ultrasonic cleaner. Now I can rinse the airbrush real quick, disassemble, and stuff it in the ultrasonic cleaner. The airbrushes perform better when cleaning them like this, and its a lot easier than how I was doing it in the sink.

 

[Colt W Knight]

He liked the boots so much, he brought me a leather hat to paint to match. I mixed the color up and sprayed on about 3 coats using the airbrush. I cleaned witha healthy scrubbing of saddle soap prior. 

Edited May 14, 2016 by Colt W Knight

[BKM84]

So you can use a deglazer on alligator skin without damaging it?