Acrylic paint on leather

[Wulfing]

Hi, I have this crazy idea in my head that I should never use paint on leather as I feel the paint will always chip, rub off and get scratched over time and dramatically reduce the life span of the leather product. As a result I'm religiously sticking to leather dye.

Am I being silly here? Id love to use acrylic paint as it would  me a lot more options ref colour. 

[Mattsbagger]

Tandy Cova colors are acrylic. Lots of people use the stuff from hobby lobby all the time. You just need a steady hand and seal well over the top of it. Carefully seal it. If you wipe across it with say Resoline to wet it will smear as acrylic is water based. I've useful sharpies others use gel ink pens.

[Wulfing]

58 minutes ago, Mattsbagger said:

Tandy Cova colors are acrylic. Lots of people use the stuff from hobby lobby all the time. You just need a steady hand and seal well over the top of it. Carefully seal it. If you wipe across it with say Resoline to wet it will smear as acrylic is water based. I've useful sharpies others use gel ink pens.

Occasionally I need to have a black outline in a block of shapes e.g. a Valknut. Are you saying a sharpie or gel ink pen would permanently stain the leather and ok to use? I will experiment on scraps. thanks. 

Ref the the paint though, does paint scratch easily so the item looks bad well before the leather starts to fall apart?

[Mattsbagger]

Sharpies are basically spirit dye in a pen. I haven't painted with acrylic personally but look at the holsters there are ones that are completely painted. Resoline is a very hard finish. Holsters get about as much abuse as anything. Something flexible and getting bent all the paint won't hold up. Look at Bob "hidepounder" Parks tutorials on here.

[fredk]

Here is a knife scabbard I made just over 10 years ago.

The paint  on it is acrylic made by Humbrol, its meant for plastic model kits. AFAIR it was first undercoated white then the colours and finally the work got two coats of Future acrylic floor 'polish'. This has been out and about February thru November, two, maybe three events per month, rain and shine ~ mostly rain here in N.I. Its been thrown in and worn with chain maille armour. Its not been looked after. Now it needs a repaint.

When new; 10 years ago

Now [just a short time ago actually]

Now that i know about stuff like Resolene, if I was to do this again [and after its repaint] thats what'll get coated with to see if that protects it even better

Once acrylic paint is dry it won't smear when Resolene is put on it. Normal acrylic paints can only be softened with an alcohol, eg IPA or Meths, or Vodka

[Wulfing]

thats interesting thanks. Maybe I will use paints for certain projects that don't bend or twist around alot and dont need to be soft so i can put a couple of coats of resolene on them. It will be nice to have white as an option as white dye is awful. Thank you.

[maritimemoose]

On 2017-02-13 at 0:25 PM, Wulfing said:

Hi, I have this crazy idea in my head that I should never use paint on leather as I feel the paint will always chip, rub off and get scratched over time and dramatically reduce the life span of the leather product. As a result I'm religiously sticking to leather dye.

Am I being silly here? Id love to use acrylic paint as it would  me a lot more options ref colour. 

I've used acrylic leather paints on occasion but I'm always concerned that they will wear off too soon, even when done perfectly and sealed properly. I've seen some stunning work with leather paint, but I always wonder how long it lasts. I'd like to do more but spirit dyes give me comfort in knowing they won't flake off in a year

[Boriqua]

I have some stuff out there for a few years that still looks great. I have used acrylics on guitar straps and it seems to hold up fine. I use a variety of types and brands but one thing that is constant is I water my acrylics down fairly substantially and build up the color. The first couple of passes is so watered it acts like watercolor and just tints the leather.

The hobby lobby acrylics are tough stuff and my wife uses it on outdoor flower posts and rocks and it stays out in the AZ sun but I would be worried about adhesion glopping it on a piece of leather straight from the bottle.

Edited February 22, 2017 by Boriqua

[Beret]

You absolutely can. Just give care to how you apply the paint, the quality of your supplies, and how you finish the piece.

All I do are painted pieces that are subjected to bending - dog collars. Excessive wear will affect the color, but overall it can hold up very well if proper care is taken. Photos via the link: http://www.bullyflop.com