Painting on fabric & leather

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Painting on fabric & leather - 3/12/2009 10:26:52 AM

platypus

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This was originally brought up in another discussion, but I'd like to try painting on a leather purse, (and possibly fabric too). I really don't know where to start, so I have these questions:

1. Do I have to use special paint, or are oils or acrylics ok?

2. Do I have to prepare the surface in any particular way? Any special primer or supplies I need to use?

3. How do I seal/protect the final artwork? I'd like to be able to wash it periodically.

This is all I can think of right now, ideally I'd like to be able to paint fairly detailed images on my bag (the one I have in mind is some sort of distressed leather (I think) which is machine washable, very very soft but not suede. I'm actually a little nervous about doing this, I'm afraid I'll bungle it up & then not be able to use the purse at all. I'm asking about fabric in general too for possible other projects.

Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

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RE: Painting on fabric & leather - 3/12/2009 11:51:40 AM

labeana

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years ago I painted dogs for a company....on tee shirts, denim skirts, leather goods, even soft toilet seats.....I used fabric paint on the clothing but just used regular acrylic paint on the leather goods....I would rough up the area slightly with sandpaper then just go to it, and no final sealant.....acrylic is amazingly clingy and tough....if you've ever spilled it on something you don't want it on and it dried you'd know how hard it is to get off lol...

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RE: Painting on fabric & leather - 3/12/2009 11:56:02 AM

platypus

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Thanks Lauren, I just wish I was more comfortable with acrylics. What's fabric paint like to work with? Is it water based?

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RE: Painting on fabric & leather - 3/12/2009 12:06:00 PM

labeana

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fabric paint is just acrylic paint with a bit of a softener so it won't make the fabric area it's painted on so stiff...

you can find them at Michael's in the bottled paint section....you know, the ones made by Deca, Folk Art(excellent paint)etc...I've used these paints for fabric with no problem....but the ones made for fabric painting are softer....they both cling like crazy

why not try some on a tee shirt? you will quickly get the hang of it and not be afraid any more lol...

you might have to go over it twice in areas...sometimes the fabric will soak it up.....but it works like a charm....you can throw it in the dryer to "set" it or let it air dry....

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RE: Painting on fabric & leather - 3/12/2009 4:59:09 PM

blumoo

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There is also fabric medium that you can use with regular acrylic paints.

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RE: Painting on fabric & leather - 3/12/2009 6:48:27 PM

platypus

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Thanks Lauren & Melissa! Lauren, I've seen those paints in Michaels, are they similar to the craft acrylics?

Is it ever ok to use oils on leather?

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RE: Painting on fabric & leather - 3/13/2009 4:17:15 AM

caseynrbq

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Hi Vicky -

Aha!!! Your question is right up my alley, LOL! ;)

I have painted several bags; leather and fabric (and one was even a kind of suede), with acrylics...and basically what I do is, I water down the acrylic paints so that they're not so thick that the paint might crack, but maybe more of a thin glaze. Then I go over the bag once, twice or 3x, letting it fully dry in between coats and also "crumpling" the bag a bit each time so that I KNOW it won't crack. (Hope that makes sense to you).

Hmmm... Let me see... I'll show you a few here. This first one is one of my all-time faves, AND I did it for NIBBLEFEST!! I believe the theme was polka dot & plaid... This is the "suede" one and I think you can see that from the pic, it remained quite soft & pliable even after painting:

here's the back side:

and the inside of the front flap:

oh what the heck - I might as well show you the "Plaid" part of it too:

So, again, what I did was I think I actually cleaned & moistened the bag a bit first before painting on it. Then I just watered down the paints to a glazey-consistency and just kept painting & repainting the areas and crumpling in between. I sold this one on ebay for nib'fest and I think I regret it now. I really, really like this one.

OK moving on -, here's a COACH leather bag I did in much the same way, using the same glaze paint method but without the crumpling since it was a "harder" or sturdier leather material.

and another (non-coach) "pebbled" leather bag:

and finally, this coach bag that had navy blue leather trim, with a square area natural "CANVAS" insert --perfect surface for painting on - this one I actually gessoed the canvas area first and then painted on the canvas part of the bag. I wore this for a LONG time, but now it's getting dingy & dirty and I'm not sure how to go about cleaning it, so I may just re-paint it eventually. (I prolly should've varnished the canvas area after painting it, esp. since I did use gesso to prime it - DOH!):

Anyway, I'm not at all sure about painting bags with OIL paints, but I have a feeling with the long drying time of oils that it wouldn't be the best method to use.

Good luck with your bags and PLEASE please show them to us... In fact, why don't you show us the unpainted bags and do a WIP of it.... that would be fun! I know we'd all love to see it.

Diane.

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RE: Painting on fabric & leather - 3/13/2009 9:31:15 AM

platypus

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Thanks so much, Diane, I love your painted purses!

So there's no need to gesso it first? My only concern is that I'm not that comfortable with acrylics yet, but I'll see how it goes.

Where do you get your bags for this - are they thrift-store finds? There's a rummage sale coming up at the end of the month, I'll see if I can pick something up to practice on, although I did just wash the bag I was plannig on painting. Actually I don't think I was going to paint the whole thing, just a couple of panels. I think I mentioned this bag in your "Lamps" discussion, it's got tons of compartments but is a tad homely, plus I can't ever find anything in it because it's totally symmetrical & I have no way of knowing which compartment is which without opening them (and invariably I open the wrong one).

Maybe I will do a WIP, the next thing to decide of course is what I want to paint on it!

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RE: Painting on fabric & leather - 3/13/2009 4:00:47 PM

caseynrbq

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quote:

ORIGINAL: platypus

Thanks so much, Diane, I love your painted purses!

So there's no need to gesso it first? My only concern is that I'm not that comfortable with acrylics yet, but I'll see how it goes.

Where do you get your bags for this - are they thrift-store finds? There's a rummage sale coming up at the end of the month, I'll see if I can pick something up to practice on, although I did just wash the bag I was plannig on painting. Actually I don't think I was going to paint the whole thing, just a couple of panels. I think I mentioned this bag in your "Lamps" discussion, it's got tons of compartments but is a tad homely, plus I can't ever find anything in it because it's totally symmetrical & I have no way of knowing which compartment is which without opening them (and invariably I open the wrong one).

Maybe I will do a WIP, the next thing to decide of course is what I want to paint on it!

Hi Vicky -

Thanks so much for the compliment on my painted purses!

No, I don't believe you need to gesso if the bag is leather or suede - BUT if it's fabric, you might want to. I did gesso the fabric "canvas" insert area on my navy blue coach bag to prime it so that the paint didn't just seep into the fabric and get soaked up.

Oh - and YES, I did get all of these bags at thrift stores (for cheap). Cheap, usually due to the fact that they were previously used, and sometimes dirty or dingy-looking, but nothing that a fresh coat of color wouldn't fix.

The other thing I want to mention is with the leather/suede bags in particular, if you paint in acrylic glaze on them, I'd say the best way to keep them clean going forward after the paint job is simply wiping clean with a damp cloth. I know that sometimes good leather bags come with some kind of "conditioning oil cleaner" but that might actually take the acrylic paint OFF of the leather - I dunno? I don't think you should varnish them as that would definitely serve to make them "stiff" unless the stiffness was something you don't mind. I dunno - I'm no expert at this, I just really was experimenting on a "trial and error" basis with all these bags and basically I didn't stop until I was satisfied - so sometimes it might have taken 3 or 4 coats of paint, tweaking it a little bit more each time. I wish I could be of more help to you, but again, I'm no expert. Since I paid so little for these bags in the first place, I never worried much about possibly "ruining" them. So, I guess what I'm saying is "be careful"... Perhaps you should do some practice bags first on thrift store finds? This way you'd become accustomed to how the paint acts and reacts on leather and fabric, etc. OR just go out and purchase some actual fabric paints...

Hope this helps you at least a little bit.

and don't forget - WE WANT TO SEE WIPS!! :)

Diane.

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RE: Painting on fabric & leather - 4/3/2009 3:24:01 PM

Kimmy

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Wow! Love those purses! I may try to do a couple of those too! I like small purses with long straps that you can sort of wear across your body, but mine are plain black or brown. What a cool thing to do!

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RE: Painting on fabric & leather - 4/3/2009 3:52:14 PM

platypus

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I just got four purses (see the garage sale topic) at $2 each to try this out. I'm a little nervous about ruining them so I got another thing (ticket holder??) for 5¢ to practice on.

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RE: Painting on fabric & leather - 4/13/2009 12:46:25 AM

almalee

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These purses are really way too much fun!!!!! I love em. Thank for sharing your process. Very intriqueing! I am like Vicky little scared of screwing up. But then again you can paint over. I wish I could paint!lol Have to see if color pencils would work. They really are quite stunning!

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