Hand Painting Leather

This post is about hand painting leather, I haven't used it to paint any shoes yet but I think the same techniques would work on leather shoes as well. A couple years ago I painted this beautiful vintage Italian jacket after being inspired by a stunning embroidered Trelise Cooper and UNIF leather jacket.

After several searches online, specific leather paint sets were very expensive especially with postage to New Zealand. I messaged a local Wellington artist who paints and sells vintage leather, to ask what sort of paint she uses. Unfortunately, she ignored all of my messages. Perhaps she thought I was planning on copying her designs... (No hard feelings, it has only motivated me to share my method)

I researched the properties of these leather paints and found they were all acrylic, highly opaque and low viscosity (thin not thick). This makes perfect sense as the acrylic is unlikely to fade or degrade and a thin layer of paint is able to flex with the movement of the leather without cracking and peeling off.

I went to Gordon Harris, my local art shop, and found these Global Artist acrylic paints. They are high quality and state the properties of each shade on the back of the bottle, so I was able to select enough suitably formulated shades.

I prepared the leather by rubbing it down with isopropyl alcohol to remove any dirt or oils on the surface, which could prevent the paint from adhering to the surface. I then sketched out my designs onto the jacket with a silver gel pen so I could see it against the black leather and started painting. I tried to keep the layers of paint smooth and thin. When I was finished, I rubbed it down with beeswax to seal in the paint and moisturise the leather after the drying alcohol.

After almost two years of heavy wear with exposure to Wellington's wind and rain, none of the paint has cracked or degraded. Despite the leather being very soft and easily creased. These Global paints have exceeded my expectations and I intend to hand paint some of the leather on shoes I will make as well.

This awesome leather jacket was purchased second hand from Hunters and Collectors on Cuba St in Wellington. It is so satisfying when something old can be given new life. It has a delightfully creepy cupid in the decrepit lining but it makes me smile and I can't bring myself to replace it yet.

The redback spider is a small tribute to growing up in Sydney and the eyeball roses looking in different directions appeals to my weird sense of humour.

Please link/tag me if you give this a try! I would love to see.