Guides/Advice for Weathering Pleather?

[aparmet]

Can anyone point me to any threads here, or have any suggestions on how to effectively give a weathered look to pleather?

I'm looking to distress about 4 yards worth for a Zuckuss costume I'm going to be doing. The pleather I have is a darker shade than the costume, and I 'm wondering if I can use acrylic paint and/or some chemicals on the material, or if it's easier to go with a lighter shade and darken in areas.

Thanks folks!

 

[DaddyfromNaboo]

Acrylics should work fine, anything solvent based will eat away the pleather. Remember, it essentially is plastic

 

[Maelstrom]

I used shoe polish to darken my pleather for my Fett belt (but that's not really what you are looking for is it?)

But I sanded the edges somewhat and got a nice lighter, yet worn look to the high points.

Hope that might help some.

 

[Maelstrom]

Sun might bleach it some if you stretch it out and leave it out for a week or so. Not sure if this would make it brittle or not though. May wanna test that theory out with some scrap pieces. At least we're in the perfect time of year to try it!

 

[GBH]

I used shoe polish to darken my pleather for my Fett belt (but that's not really what you are looking for is it?)

But I sanded the edges somewhat and got a nice lighter, yet worn look to the high points.

Hope that might help some.

Good suggestion, if you stick with something around a 220 Grit, you should be able to gradually create your desired levels of distressing! :thumbsup

:cheers

 

[Raffles]

I found hair dye can stain pleather well.
I did not find this out deliberately.
It did not make me happy.

 

[aparmet]

Sweet, some good suggestions! Thanks, everyone! I'll post up the results when I'm done. Now I have a lot of work ahead of me, with 4 yards of material to distress.

Actually, here's a follow-up question:
Would it make sense to distress the pleather first, or have it sewn into the robe/coat first and THEN distress it? I'll obviously need to do touch up distressing once the pleather has been tailored, but wonder which way would make the most sense.

Thanks again!

 

[Darth Lars]

You could try some household bleach on a scrap piece of the material and see what happens. Different fake leather materials might react different from one-another.
Just don't use chlorine or bleaching powder on real leather -- that would destroy it.

 

[bleyd]

I'd make the robe first THEN distress it. You'd get a better look if it looked like high stress areas were worn more than others. There's a fine line with distressing and keeping it look realistic. I've seen some over distress their Indy gear and it looks like someone sanded it down instead of lived in.

 

[Skaught]

I recently obtained (as in...Monday) a Zuckuss mask, so I'd be curious to see how this is progressing. Where did you buy the pleather?

Scott

 

[Madmartigan]

I agree -- make the robe first, then distress it. Sun, acrylics, rolling in the dirt, etc. You'll want some of the distressing to happen naturally along the folds and edges and it may turn out very unnatural if you have patterns that aren't consistent with them.

 

[Seanski]

I know this is an old thread, but we just posted a tutorial on how to weather pleather that I thought might be helpful for anyone that comes across this page.

How to Weather Pleather for Cosplay

 

[Skaught]

I ended up using normal craft paint and a rough natural sponge to paint on silver metallic paint. I then broke it up a bit with some tan paint that was close to the color of the robe. Worked out great and looks really good. I wore it while marching in the parade at Disney last year.

Scott