Painting leather

[Dan D'Silva]

I'm getting kind of fed up with how dull my gorytos looks, and I've got a new akinakes scabbard in the works too -- I'd like to paint them, like the HA has done with theirs.

Is painting a correct method of decoration for the Achaemenids, or should I be dyeing it or appliquéing contrasting material instead? If painting, how best to go about it (paints, finishes)? I'm using plain (undyed, unglazed, etc.), veg-tanned, top-grain leather.

[M. Demetrius]

Are you planning to try to manufacture "period paint"?
What color do you want to use?

[Dan D'Silva]

Are you planning to try to manufacture "period paint"?

If I can find a recipe that sticks well to leather and uses ingredients that are easy enough to obtain. Otherwise, I wouldn't be opposed to using a modern paint, as long as painting is appropriate.

What color do you want to use?

Well, the leather itself is a pale orangeish buff that darkens to light orange-tan with age. I think darker red, brown, blue and green and bright white and yellow would look good.

[M. Demetrius]

I'd think any of those colors would look nice. White and yellow would show more scuff marks and dirt over time, but that may not be an undesirable attribute. Gear only looks well used when it's been used.

[Dan D'Silva]

So, I'm finding mixed opinions about whether milk paint is okay for leather or is too brittle and will tend to flake off. And egg tempera requires a hard surface. Are there any period paints that dry flexible enough for these uses?

[Folkert van Wijk]

I was just about to ask the same question for the same reason (gorytos)
Although I intent to just paint it red I was wondering how the ancients would paint their leather.

(So I hope you don't mind me widening the question a bit?)

the idea is to make some sort of reconstruction of the Taklimakan Desert gorytos that appears to be painted partly red.
So how would it have been painted?
1) With paint
2) Dyed like cloth
3) or maybe impregnated with something like ink...

Also because this gorytos is made of soft leather, I wondered about flaking paint...

[Dan D'Silva]

I've been reading that Native Americans painted soft brain-tanned leather with a thin solution of hide glue or by rubbing dry pigments into the surface.

[Athena Areias]

Do you have any scraps to test on? When I painted my shield, I tested "directly on leather - thinned paint", "directly on leather - thicker paint, "primed with gesso - thin paint", and "primed with gesso - thicker paint". The thin paint on leather worked - it soaked in like a dye. Several coats might have given me the depth of color I wanted. The leather was still flexible. My shield ended up with gesso and thicker paint so I could control the paint edges better.

[Dan D'Silva]

Thanks, that's encouraging. What kind of paint medium did you use?

[Athena Areias]

I used acrylic paints - but no modern "chemical" pigments. I looked at milk and casein paints, but ran out of budget (my partner had most paints already). The leather was veg-tan cowhide. The paints were "off" a little in hue and tint because there was no white ground beneath them. I think a watery milk paint might test out OK for you.

[Dan D'Silva]

Okay. I've got a lot of experimenting to do then.

Thanks!

[Feinman]

I painted a red triangle pattern on the edge of my Egyptian shield with hide glue mixed with red ochre. Worked great!
But I'd use these:
http://www.milkpaint.com/index.html

Natural pigments are used too.

I used the rust red color to paint the scales of test-piece of Egyptian armour with it (then shellacked) and it worked perfectly.

[Dan D'Silva]

I found a recipe for a homemade base using cottage cheese once. Right now I plan to try both milk and hide-glue paint and see which holds up better.