Vinyl and plastic items can easily be painted using regular spray paints and primers noted for use on these surfaces. Leather, on the other hand, needs a bit more attention. Yes, leather can be spray painted but not with regular spray paints. Leather requires special cleaning and prepping before spraying with spray paint formulated for leather. Whole expanses of leather can be spray painted using the right products.
Prepping Leather Surface
Before applying a spray paint to leather, clean the leather with a leather cleaner designed to work with the chosen leather spray paint. Removal of dirt, oil, grease, wax, sealers and other contaminants will help the spray paint adhere better and prevent its peeling. Work in a well-ventilated area when cleaning and spraying the color. SEM makes a cleaner and a spray paint for use on leather. The SEM leather spray paint color palette is designed for automotive use, not necessarily for crafting, and supplies a wide range of earth tone colors for spraying leather.
Craft Leather Colors
Nu-Life has created a line of leather spray paints that contain colors with names like raspberry, pink, scarlet and sapphire. The product line is called Melatonian and is sold through shoe stores, costume supply stores or shoe care and repair stores. The Nu-Life product requires cleaning before application. Use its prep spray called Nu-Life Preparer before applying the leather spray paint. The color palette for Melatonian is suited for crafting projects although the product is marketed for leather shoes. It is always important to understand the parameters of products before using them on projects or surfaces. Test the Nu-Life products on a piece of scrap leather before applying to leather clothing or large leather projects.
Leather Dye
Changing the color of leather is often referred to as re-coloring the leather. Leather Magic manufactures leather dye products for aniline and top-coated colored leathers. An aerosol spray paint attachment is placed on a bottle of its leather dye, turning the product into a leather spray paint. The reusable attachment is called a Preval Spray Gun and can be found at paint stores. When attempting to completely change the color of the leather, keep in mind that the original dye can never really be removed. Spraying a new color on top of the existing one may change the color momentarily but because of wear and tear (scratches and fading), the original color may eventually show through. Touchup can be done to recover worn areas by simply cleaning, prepping and re-dyeing the area.
Tags: spray, paint, leather, leather spray, spray paint, leather spray paint, spray paint, spray paints, applying leather, before applying
