faking aged leather/vinyl upholstery

[62rebel]

i discovered this by accident some time ago, when i was trying to replicate an oxblood red interior for a '63 Galaxie i was rebuilding as the Jack Sears race car....

the interior had been painted once already with standard Testors light blue spray and had cured.... absolutely no solvent scent left at all, so the enamel was thoroughly dry.

i had picked a can of Engine Color in Buick Engine Red to simulate the color of the actual car's interior, and gave the tub/seats/dash a few passes......

OOOOHHHH NOOOOO... the new paint was wrinkling up the OLD paint...... disaster?

nope. once it dried, the wrinkles smoothed out ALMOST completely.... ALMOST. i was left with what looked like the actual texture of 50 year old upholstery and, once in a while, i use it again for that same reason.

not every accident leaves victims.....

[sjordan2]

i discovered this by accident some time ago, when i was trying to replicate an oxblood red interior for a '63 Galaxie i was rebuilding as the Jack Sears race car....

the interior had been painted once already with standard Testors light blue spray and had cured.... absolutely no solvent scent left at all, so the enamel was thoroughly dry.

i had picked a can of Engine Color in Buick Engine Red to simulate the color of the actual car's interior, and gave the tub/seats/dash a few passes......

OOOOHHHH NOOOOO... the new paint was wrinkling up the OLD paint...... disaster?

nope. once it dried, the wrinkles smoothed out ALMOST completely.... ALMOST. i was left with what looked like the actual texture of 50 year old upholstery and, once in a while, i use it again for that same reason.

not every accident leaves victims.....

Was the new paint lacquer? I've often thought that lacquer over an enamel or acrylic base in strategic areas would add the right kind of wrinkles and cracks to simulate aging seats.

[62rebel]

it probably was, but hot enough enamel would do it as well. i THINK i first heard of this technique when a was watching a furniture restorer "age" finish on a show on TV years ago..... remember Homer Formby? might have been a guest on his show....