Faux leather

Continuing with my recycling efforts, today I am going to attempt to make faux leather.

My friend Kathy gave me these paper bags she had punched holes in to make a paper bag book.  She lost interest when she started making her fabric books, so she gave these to me in a box of things she didn't want.  I decided to make faux leather instead of a book.

It took FOREVER to get the bottom apart so it would lie flat.  I made such a mess of it, I decided to only use two and save the rest for a book.

I used my guillotine cutter to cut off the bottom straggles and taped the holes on the inside. 

The trouble with finding these projects on the internet is, there are often conflicting tutorials.  Somehow, I combined several, and learned I did it all wrong.  First, I didn't need the glue, although nearly every tutorial stated it was needed.

One thing they all agreed on was to crumple your paper bag.   Uncrumple and crumple again until it was well crumpled.

However, SOME said to do this AFTER you had wet the paper bag, while some said to add water later,  Since my little bags were fragile, I opted for adding the water later (after the crumple and smoothing).

I got a bit ahead of myself and found some acrylic craft paint I hoped would look like leather. 

This was starting to look promising.

All the instructions said to allow the bag to dry before proceeding.

I found that to be a waste of time, because I had to add MORE water when I added the paint.

Once dry, I wasn't sure these were the colors I should have used.

Even after I ironed the paper,

I wasn't all that happy with the outcome.  I suggest putting your craft paints away and taking out your fluid acrylics or heavy bodied acrylics.  They will hold up to water and not lose a bit of pigment.

Next time I will do this:

1.  Open bottom of paper bag, flatten, and cut off excess bottom.
2.  Crumple, crumple, crumple ad nauseam.
3.  Smooth paper bag with hand.
4.  Add water.
5.  While paper bag is still wet, paint various dark colors that resemble leather on the paper bag using fluid acrylics.

Today I attempted to create faux leather, which didn't turn out as I had hoped.  I do believe I know where I went wrong.  I read too many tutorials and tried to combine all of them into one.

This is Day 5 of 22, and I recycled two brown lunch bags I have been given.  Thanks for joining me as I learned a valuable lesson on how to create faux leather.