The Acrylic Paint Question

[Zaika]

Hello! Brand new on this forum, and to leather working. My boyfriend got me into it, and I'm pretty obsessed at least with thinking about all the things I wanna make. lol So far he's made nothing and I'm half done with a bag. So, score one to me! hehe

Anyway, I'm making a Harry Potter themed messenger bag with plans to stain the body one color and then apply a leather decoration that I'd like to be painted with opaque colors. I was reading (on websites that aren't specifically focused on leather work) that acrylic art paint can be used if thinned and painted on in thin coats. Is this good advice for a leather piece that wouldn't be bent a lot? This thing is going on the front flap of the bag. I would rather the cost of the specific leather paint to go towards something necessary , y'know?

For acrylic art paints, can I thin with water or do I need a high flow mixing medium? I don't generally thin my acrylics with water when I paint on anything else, but I guess if the water can evaporate leaving the pigment, that makes sense.  

Second thing, would Tan Kote be a good finisher for both the dyed AND painted areas of the bag? Because that's all I have on hand as well. lol There are so many finishers out there, it's hard to know what will work on what I want to do here. 

[garypl]

Welcome Zaika!  
 

I use acrylic paints on leather both full strength and diluted with distilled water if painting with a squeeze bottle.  Both seem to be very durable, as long as the leather is not subject to a lot of flexing.

I prefer an acrylic finish like Resolene to apply on top of paint, preferably sprayed on to avoid any chance of smearing the paint.  I use a lot of floor polishes like Mop and Glow or Pledge, diluted 50/50 with distilled water and they seem to work as well as Resolene.  
 

Best to experiment by painting a small scrap and apply finish of your choice before working on your project.

Good luck!

Gary

[ScottWolf]

Check out Angelus.com, they make acrylic paints for leather and have a ton of videos, although a lot of them are on painting tennis shoes, the principal is the same. 

[Baileyg]

Hi Gary I saw you post a template for a shell pouch a while ago and I was wondering if you could post a more updated one with the full dimensions 

[paloma]

On 9/16/2020 at 12:55 AM, Zaika said:

Hello! Brand new on this forum, and to leather working. My boyfriend got me into it, and I'm pretty obsessed at least with thinking about all the things I wanna make. lol So far he's made nothing and I'm half done with a bag. So, score one to me! hehe

Anyway, I'm making a Harry Potter themed messenger bag with plans to stain the body one color and then apply a leather decoration that I'd like to be painted with opaque colors. I was reading (on websites that aren't specifically focused on leather work) that acrylic art paint can be used if thinned and painted on in thin coats. Is this good advice for a leather piece that wouldn't be bent a lot? This thing is going on the front flap of the bag. I would rather the cost of the specific leather paint to go towards something necessary , y'know?

For acrylic art paints, can I thin with water or do I need a high flow mixing medium? I don't generally thin my acrylics with water when I paint on anything else, but I guess if the water can evaporate leaving the pigment, that makes sense.  

Second thing, would Tan Kote be a good finisher for both the dyed AND painted areas of the bag? Because that's all I have on hand as well. lol There are so many finishers out there, it's hard to know what will work on what I want to do here. 

Hi,

i use this method every times i need it give very good results for me.

 

 

Edited September 17, 2020 by paloma

[rossymina]

we work in spain and we use a Tarrago acrilic  paintings special for leather. They are good for flexible materials  and  they are very liquid, so you need to wait until the first color its dry to start with the second. you can see some examples in rossymina.com

[paloma]

Wall paint,it's practical, versatile, cheap, and thick enough if I wish, or fluid if I wish to dilute it with water, but above all, it's cheap! perfectly adapted to working with leather.

https://tradisign.blogspot.com/2019/10/wall-paint-for-edge-finishing.html

[chuck123wapati]

I use acrylic artist quality paints, same as i use for painting. I thin with water as i use heavy body and apply a thin base coat, just like preping a canvas with gesso,   and apply additional coats after the first coat sets. follow up with some super sheen. 

[paloma]

9 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

I use acrylic artist quality paints, same as i use for painting. I thin with water as i use heavy body and apply a thin base coat, just like preping a canvas with gesso,   and apply additional coats after the first coat sets. follow up with some super sheen. 

welcome to the club!