40 More Handy Tricks

Step 12 Acrylic Paint is "Leather Finish"

A leatherworking friend once gave me some "acrylic leather finish" to change the color of shoes, jackets, etc. It smelled just like acrylic paint but was runnier.
So the next time I wanted to change the color of a leather item, I just thinned out some acrylic artists paint and it worked great!

Here's a leather coat Star and I restyled.
We scavenged it from Mars when he was moving.
We cut the arms off it to make it into a vest and to make leggings. Then we thinned out some "Mars Black" acrylic paint til it was watery and painted one of Star's op-amp cartoon characters on it. The paint for the golden radiance was already thin enough to use straight.

The reason for thinning the paint is if the coating is too thick it'll crack. The acrylic is very compatible with leather because it bonds well with leather, and after it dries it's porous enough to let the garment breathe.

EXTRA HANDY TRICK:
A jacket that's too small for you might fit perfectly as a vest.
All you have to do is cut the arms off it.

Comments

[Ricardo da Vinci]

I agree totally, after buying Feibings products and using almost a fivers worth of dye just to do a hat, I tried inkjet printer ink, and it actually works better. I can buy it in 1 litre bottles for £9.00 a litre or less, so it works out extremely cheap, (I use CISS systems for all my printers, and an Epson cartridge, instead of costing £3 for pattern, or £6 for original, now equates to 8-17p each!). As an artist I use Rowneys System 3 acrylics, and as these come in 500 ml bottles at about £12, they work out very cheap. As for 'Resolene' finishes etc, I'll just go to my local Dixons painting and decorating supplies and buy acrylic semi-gloss glaze.

[batgerl]

Thanks for the idea! I will try to fix up my well-loved yellow Docs!