Since I've never had to do this...And honestly, before trying this, didn't even know you really COULD do this, I figured some of the rest of you here might enjoy seeing what I've been working on the last couple of days.....
I got the Days of Future Past jacket from Dan a while back, and I loved it, but since it was a tester version, not the finalised "finished model", there were some aspects of the jacket that I had wanted to alter just slightly.....The skin was originally black leather, and since it was black, dye and retanning it a slightly different colour was impossible....This being the case, I had decided a while back to try painting on the skin, using a leather paint.....I asked Dan about it, and got a few good suggestions that allowed me to have a better idea of what I was looking for, and I found a shop here in Tokyo that sold a decent paint for leather.....The colour was an issue....All they had was basic colouring....Coffee brown, black, green and that was about all....So I chose coffee brown, based on looking at my copy of Days of Future Past...
I'd wanted a colour that was slightly darker than the reddish brown the original jacket was.....But not so dark that the red was entirely hidden, and the coffee seemed to allow that...I also had hoped that by painting over the red/brown skin, the red tones would then perhaps show through on the newer, darker brown when in sunlight, and lend a little more "warmth" to the thing.....
As it turned out, this is exactly what I got, and I'm very happy to have been able to do it all....But painting on leather was always a HUGE thing for me to do....Scary, but one hell of a ride when I saw it was turning out as I had hoped...
So, I thought you all might enjoy some of the better photos I took of the process as I went.....It worked rather well I think....(And apologies to my friends on Facebook who are seeing these photos twice...My bad)...
Here's the first...This is the first half done and the original skin on the left hand side....
http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums...1-2CC3-4E8D-B36D-0661D87DE9CB_zpscunufrk7.jpg
Then I got the collar done...
http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums...1-6CC5-4D5B-8B3A-10DCC72D2A58_zpsuzo2ihlp.jpg
Having run out of paint half way...I decided to get more and finish off the job at home....Leaving the sleeves and the sides still red..
http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums...D-B391-4D1D-894E-D81DCB8549EE_zpslo5w0ekj.jpg
Having gotten it home and bought more paint...This is what I managed to do.....Outside in natural sunlight....
http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums...D-82D4-468A-B2B0-4FA40532E2CE_zpsgcm3wov5.jpg
And the back..
http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums...D-E164-42B3-B65C-58F66BAD8542_zpsbe8iaxbb.jpg
Here it is being worn...I think it came out rather well!
http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums...A-255A-421A-9ACE-3320FD2552C4_zpsmwdt2xem.jpg
And the last one...Back while being worn...
http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums...B-109B-48FE-82DB-EF1D8CA1D915_zps2t9duntq.jpg
I had been trying to aim for something a touch closer to the Pentagon jacket scene, where the jacket was wet and rather dark, and the colour presently seems to mimic that rather well, lightening up in the direct sunlight, and becoming very dark brown in shade and indoors....The red tones do indeed still shine through, and I am very happy with the overall effect of the jacket now.....I feel it works rather well for what I'd been trying to get to....
Interesting project, although given the choice, I'd still suggest dye jobs over a paint project....I think the dye feels more "solid"....Although having tested it, I can say that the paint doesn't crack or rub off at all......It'll be interesting to see how it ages, but I'm expecting it to be decent!
Anyway! Enjoy!
