painting leather shoes

[nwjedidave]

need to paint some white leather basketball shoes for an upcoming costume... anyone have any quick links I could start to educate myself as to which way and which products to use?

thx
NWJEDI
dave

 

[BatDemon]

Nu-Life is easist to use. If you want to get more complicated, Tabdy Leather/The Leather Factory sells penetrating dyes. You'll want to deglaze the shoes if you go this route.

 

[nwjedidave]

thanks... by "deglaze" i'm assuming that you mean take some solvent and wipe of the shinyness?


dave

 

[motman241]

From my failed attempts at doing this, I'd go with Tandy Leather, also. They are the pros. I tried regular paint, and regular shoe polish, but they keep coming off.

 

[nwjedidave]

is the tandy leather product an actual paint or a dye?

dave

 

[rmschneider104]

Great topic. I want to learn more, too. I think I'm going to be doing a shock trooper costume soon and I'm curious how to get those boots/custom tennis shoes painted red for the long haul.

 

[penwiper]

You can de-glaze boots with acetone nail polish remover - works great. Also good for weathering finished leather.

 

[Darth Mule]

Okay folks. Here's the skinny from someone who actually did this professionally for two years. As a costume craftsperson at ASF I had to change alot of shoe colors. Some more successfully than others.

If the shoes are truly all leather, than the hands-down best route is to dye over them rather than use paint. You can re-dye leather as long as you are going darker than the leather originally was.

Paint options are the already mentioned Nu-Life or Magixx http://www.wardrobesupplies.com/store/m2_paint_nulife.html . Both of which are about the same product and both tend to crack and peel and generally don't last. They also look unmistakeably like spray paint. The upside is they come is a wide variety of colors.

The other paint available is called Angelus http://www.wardrobesupplies.com/store/m2_paint_angelus.html and is much more durable, tho more expensive and requires a Acrylicfinsher also available on the site. The Angelus can be applied with a brush in several thin coats and it looks more like the shoes have been dyed.

Whatever you do to your shoes they will, as several others have mentioned, need de-glazed. You can do this with the off-the-shelf fiebings you get thru tandy, or with Acetone from the hardware store. Deglaze is just acetone really. I usually keep a bottle of the acetone fingernail polish remover at my work table for small projects, but to really get down on a pair of shoes you'll probably come off cheaper with a quart of acetone from the local Ace Hardware.

Hope this helps.

 

[nwjedidave]

thanks DM

i'm looking to turn my white basketball shoes into the new Battlestar Galactica Viper pilot's metallic green shoes... wish me luck

dave

 

[BatDemon]

Metallic green? I've not seen dye in that color before. Drum dyes, sure, but nothing the do-it-yourselfer can use. You may have to go with Jacquard's Textile paint.

 

[GeneralMayhem]

Dave, if you're set on dyeing them, I would suggest Fiebing's Professional Oil Dye. It has great penatration, and dries in just a few hours. But if you're lloking for a tru irridescent look, then spray the leather with an irridescent paint like Krylon Mystique to give it the proper color changing look. It's a three step process, but can be very effective if done properly.


~ Steve

 

[BatDemon]

<div class='quotetop'>(GeneralMayhem @ Jul 19 2006, 09:37 AM) [snapback]1283751[/snapback]</div>

But if you're lloking for a tru irridescent look, then spray the leather with an irridescent paint like Krylon Mystique to give it the proper color changing look. It's a three step process, but can be very effective if done properly.


~ Steve
[/b]

Won't that crack when he walks? Most of those specialty paints don't have much plasticizers in them.

 

[GeneralMayhem]

No finish is going to last forever. Prepping the surface properly beforehand will help.

Some originals for reference...

 

[nwjedidave]

thanks steve .

I have those same picts and if you ask me the shoe looks green and silver/grey

NWJEDI
dave