Last month on our Blog we posted a similar post "4 Mistakes to Avoid during the Hand Leather Dyeing Process" and lots of you found it very helpful and interesting. So this month we decide to publish "4 Things not do with Leather Edge Paint".
Leather edge painting is quite simple especially with our paints but you should always follow these Tips&Tricks that we are going to share with you.
1) Do not shake hard the bottle
It is really important to not shake the bottle too hard before use. This because if you shake it too hard, air bubbles can be created inside the paint and consequently reducing the quality of the final result. You can kindly stir it with a clean rod before the use if you think it is necessary.
2) Do not contaminate the paint
This is a very important point to pay attention, in order to enlarge the shelf-life of your leather edge paints (or any paint in general) as much as possible. As you know water-based are more delicate than the solvent-based. These are few precautions you should follow in order not to ruin the paint:
- use a clean rod to mix the paint
- don't pour back the paint into the bottle if you have shed it into another container
- close the bottle very tight to prevent the paint from drying out
- do not pick up the paint directly from the original bottle
These precaution will simply avoid bacterias to contaminate the paint and make it smell or be unusable.
3) Do not mix paints of different type
Normally leather edge paints can be mixed together, but be careful to not mix leather edge paints of different type. Sometimes leather crafters try to create their own color using the paints they already have in stock. This is okay, but always be careful to mix leather edge paints of the same type such as:
- DENSE EDGE PAINT with DENSE EDGE PAINT
- SEMI DENSE EDGE PAINT with SEMI DENSE EDGE PAINT
- BASIC EDGE PAINT with BASIC EDGE PAINT
You cannot mix:
- SEMI-DENSE EDGE PAINT with DENSE EDGE PAINT
- DENSE or SEMI DENSE EDGE PAINT with PROTECTING GLOSS or EXTRA MATTE TOPCOAT
Try mixing paint of different type could probably make you get the color you were looking for, but the paint will not have any more its original features and probably won't work well as leather edge paint.
4) Make sure that the paint is completely dried
It is essential to check that the paint is completely dry before proceeding with the subsequent painting steps. This is a quite common mistake that should be avoided from expert leather crafter, or anyway the drying phase could be accelerated pretty easily using hot air blow. The incomplete drying of the paint can compromise the final result, causing adhesion problems and aesthetic imperfections.
... and... What To Do With The Leather Edge Paint
When you are creating a new item and especially when you're going to use a new leather one important thing to do with leather edge paint is to test it. Leather edge paint can works great on some type of leather but may have some issue with other type of leather (i.e greasy or water-resistant). Problems like leather edge paint peeling or any other issue that you can verified during your testing could be probably solved using a proper aid and saving in this way your final product.
