XVII.VIII.MMXIII

vintage leather jacket, all saints t-shirt, all saints sweatpants

Summer seems to be coming to an end, and as everyone begins to pull their wool, fur and leather back out of their wardrobes I thought it would be useful to give you a tutorial on how to paint easily and safely onto leather. You will need your leather goods, oil paints, rubbing alcohol or acetone, and tailor's chalk or a pencil.

step one: Rub the leather with alcohol or acetone (nail polish remover) to remove any coat or varnish treatment the leather has been treated with, which will allow your paint to stick to the leather.

step two: Gently rub the cleaned leather with a fine grained sandpaper. A rougher surface will allow the paint to cling easily to the leather.

step three: Using tailor's chalk or a pencil, sketch your design onto the leather.

step four: Apply a base of white paint on top of the leather within the perameters of your sketch, which will act as a base coat and help maintain the colour of the topcoat.

step five: Once the base has dried, paint on your design and allow several days for it to dry, ideally placed flat in a warm dry place.