Painting a latex mask help?

Hey guys, I have posted a similar thread before but I am still having issues and have a slightly different question. I am cosplaying catwoman, and I bought a latex cowl online. It was originally grey, and I wanted it black and glossy. So I researched and I saw to use acrylic paint. So I went to Jo-anns and bought a glossy black (cheap :P ) acrylic paint. The mask dried but was extremely sticky. So, I rinsed of the paint and did 50/50 water paint and let it dry, powdered it with translucent powder and sprayed with krylon crystal clear. STILL STICKY. So, my next idea needs to work because my con is friday I was going to buy some liquid latex from party city (i dont have much time or would buy quality), thin my acrylic paint out with water and then mix and apply to my mask, and then dry with a blow dryer? Would this work?
BTW my paint is apple barrel gloss acrylic paint in black.

Hi Chelseasaurus, I don't see why that wouldn't work, when painting a mask I always do a 50/50 mix of liquid latex and acrylic paint for the base coat. I don't think there's anything wrong with apple barrel, I use it all the time. How much crystal clear did you use? Going heavy with it will prolong dry time and it will remain sticky, but that's the only reason I can think why it didn't dry for you.

Okay thanks! Im going to go out and get the latex today then. Oh okay thats good news lol I just thought that because I got it cheap that may have been the problem. But I don't think I went too heavy with the crystal clear, I did like 1-2 coats but I let them dry in between. But it was sticky before I sprayed it regardless. But thanks again! Im off to try the latex and paint haha

You could also try the BJB line of SC-92 paints/primer- I just used them on some restorations, and they worked great.

Your best bet for painting a latex mask or cowl is Plasti-Dip. It bonds to the latex really well and won't crack or peel if applied correctly. I would say that most latex Bat cowls and Bat armor are sprayed with Plasti-Dip. That's probably not much help to you now, unless you can strip all the other paints off, down to the bare latex.

BatTexan said:

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Your best bet for painting a latex mask or cowl is Plasti-Dip. It bonds to the latex really well and won't crack or peel if applied correctly. I would say that most latex Bat cowls and Bat armor are sprayed with Plasti-Dip. That's probably not much help to you now, unless you can strip all the other paints off, down to the bare latex.

How do I get the acrylic paint off? Ive tried rinsing the mask with soap and water and some has come off. Would it still work if a little acrylic was still on the mask?

chelseasaurus said:

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How do I get the acrylic paint off? Ive tried rinsing the mask with soap and water and some has come off. Would it still work if a little acrylic was still on the mask?

I would think you would need to mix the latex with your acyrlic to get it to bond to the latex. I guess it would depend on how flexible you need your piece to be. I just did a bunch of repainting of latex and mixed the $.99 acyrlic paint with liquid latex. I mixed about 70/30 with less paint. No problems. I sealed it with a matte sealer.

I repained over an existing layer of latex/paint.

I tried to remove the paint with rubbing alcohol and that sort of worked. It took off some paint and most importantly the crystal clear. I've sprayed four coats of plasti dip onto my cowl (30min in between coats) and it has a leathery appearance. It has some wrinkles but I think that is just how the latex is naturally in this particular cowl. I will follow up in four hours with a single coat of crystal clear for shine and I will be done! Yay no more stickiness. Thank you everyone for the help!

Personally, I wouldn't use the crystal clear to add gloss, though a light coat probably won't hurt anything (if you've already done it). With Plasti-Dip, you can vary how matte or glossy it is by how close you spray it: close in will result in a glossier finish, farther out will make it more matte. Once it's dried for a day or two, you can wipe it down with Armor All (low sheen or glossy, depending on your preference).