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Hi guys, not sure if this has been posted, I was searching for ways to fix leather, but couldn't find much results. So I wanted to share what I tried, I hope that it can be useful to others.
So I received a HT Catwoman from a friend, the leather boots and gloves looked pristine inside the box, but as soon as I took it out, it flaked to the touch. I haven't been collecting for very long, but I think I've heard a few collectors at some point has had some bad experiences with the leather on other figures.
So here's the method I tried:
(Sorry for using headphones as an example, I freaked out when the leather on the figure peeled and forgot to take pictures. The result was exactly like this)
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This is after everything was stripped off completely, I used an old rag to rub them off, as the leather material was thin and already crumbly, it came off without much force.[/FONT]
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For paint, I used Black acrylic paint (Carbon Black in my case) mixed with Liquitex fabric medium and diluted with water. The fabric medium helps the paint to become more flexible, able to stretch a bit, lowering the risk of cracking paint.
In my case, I've painted around 15-20 coats, the first few coats were a bit difficult, as the fabric soaked up all the paint, and took very long to dry, but after the material was thoroughly saturated, the latter coats were easily applied, the drying time significantly reduced.
These are the results:
![]()
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Depending on the finish, you can achieve different looks, in my case the fabric medium has added a slight glossy finish to the black paint, too much gloss and it may look like shiny latex material. So I added a light coat of clear matte, to dull down the shine a bit, but not too much, otherwise it'll look rough like paint on a canvas.
![]()
![]()
For me, I'm quite satisfied with the results, posing and bending around the joints are fine, although, the gloves and boots are a little more rigid and stiff, but does not hinder articulation at all.
Hope you find this helpful, thanks for looking
So I received a HT Catwoman from a friend, the leather boots and gloves looked pristine inside the box, but as soon as I took it out, it flaked to the touch. I haven't been collecting for very long, but I think I've heard a few collectors at some point has had some bad experiences with the leather on other figures.
So here's the method I tried:
(Sorry for using headphones as an example, I freaked out when the leather on the figure peeled and forgot to take pictures. The result was exactly like this)
This is after everything was stripped off completely, I used an old rag to rub them off, as the leather material was thin and already crumbly, it came off without much force.[/FONT]
For paint, I used Black acrylic paint (Carbon Black in my case) mixed with Liquitex fabric medium and diluted with water. The fabric medium helps the paint to become more flexible, able to stretch a bit, lowering the risk of cracking paint.
In my case, I've painted around 15-20 coats, the first few coats were a bit difficult, as the fabric soaked up all the paint, and took very long to dry, but after the material was thoroughly saturated, the latter coats were easily applied, the drying time significantly reduced.
These are the results:
Depending on the finish, you can achieve different looks, in my case the fabric medium has added a slight glossy finish to the black paint, too much gloss and it may look like shiny latex material. So I added a light coat of clear matte, to dull down the shine a bit, but not too much, otherwise it'll look rough like paint on a canvas.
For me, I'm quite satisfied with the results, posing and bending around the joints are fine, although, the gloves and boots are a little more rigid and stiff, but does not hinder articulation at all.
Hope you find this helpful, thanks for looking
