Painting Small Letters

[matthewb137]

So to start off, I've never been a painter. Ever. I've been trying to paint 1/2" stamped letters with Angelus Leather Acrylics. I'm using a Round 1 brush and I can't keep it from getting into the outlines of the letter. Any tips? Or how I can maybe clean off the acrylic after painting? Without leaving a stain on the Red Dyed leather?

[CaptQuirk]

Maybe try laying some of the blue painter's tape over the letters, and cut out what you need to paint. You'd effectively be making a stencil, or in your case, a shield.

[matthewb137]

That's actually a great idea! I didn't even think of that. I'll have to try it. 

[JerseyFirefighter]

My man.... I would switch to needle tip bottle applicators around the 20 gauge needle size. If you have some run off into the embossing of the leather, a little bit of black paint will blend in on black straps. Other colors you might be SOL. I try to be 10x more careful painting other lighter colored projects. BTW needle tip applicators run from 18 gauge to 25 gauge depending on the amount of detail you want to do with them. 

[matthewb137]

On 7/25/2017 at 10:55 PM, JerseyFirefighter said:

My man.... I would switch to needle tip bottle applicators around the 20 gauge needle size. If you have some run off into the embossing of the leather, a little bit of black paint will blend in on black straps. Other colors you might be SOL. I try to be 10x more careful painting other lighter colored projects. BTW needle tip applicators run from 18 gauge to 25 gauge depending on the amount of detail you want to do with them. 

I've been looking around for them, but can't seem to find any with varying sizes. Do you remember where you found yours? My next step is to snag a couple IV Catheters (18G - 24G) and a 5mL syringe off the ambulance and try that... 

[cjartist]

You really just need to take your time with it.   I would use an even smaller brush, like a 0 or 00.  It also wouldn't hurt to have a clean second brush that is wet, handy to mop up any overrun as soon as it happens.  

[matthewb137]

I'll have to see if I overlooked those smaller brushes in the store. The second brush will actually pick it up and not smear it or anything at all?

[cjartist]

6 minutes ago, matthewb137 said:

I'll have to see if I overlooked those smaller brushes in the store. The second brush will actually pick it up and not smear it or anything at all?

Yeah, that has been my experience.  Use that brush to pick up the paint and then wipe it off the brush right away so its ready for the next "oops:

[JerseyFirefighter]

16 hours ago, matthewb137 said:

I've been looking around for them, but can't seem to find any with varying sizes. Do you remember where you found yours? My next step is to snag a couple IV Catheters (18G - 24G) and a 5mL syringe off the ambulance and try that... 

Ebay. some bottles come with needle tips... I have found that buying bottles that have removeable tips are best. Buy a few assorted needle tip sizes too. Use 1/2" long needles. 1" put your wrist in a weird position to paint. 

[matthewb137]

Thanks for the tip Jersey. I'll have to browse around when I get into work.