Kaneda Jacket WIP 2

As I alluded to in the last submission, last week was largely spent cutting apart and subsequently sewing back up a worn out old jacket I had been given by a friends brother. The result? The jacket was completed by Sunday evening after hand-stitching all loose ends and reinforcing areas requiring attention. Also, my fingers are more or less left ripped up from all the pin-pricks and jabs I endured; I couldn't use a thimble as I needed a certain level of precision to know where the needle would go. Too bad I found out the hard way early on. This was all in a last ditch effort to produce something for last minute cosplay, coupled with the prospect of a cool new outfit I could allegedly wear out in public during the autumn months. So, I had more or less managed to stitch the jacket up into a half-decent form that would be reminiscent of the one portrayed in the anime movie Akira, down to the collared neck down tot he sizable pockets and large front-facing pockets. While initially crooked, I managed to straighten out the best I could with the ruffled rim along the waistline. So the stitching, thankfully, is done, much to the benefit of my fingers and sanity; stitching leather by hand has proven to be a tedious and frustrating process.

Now comes the arduous process of painting the exterior in red with the aid of acrylic leather paint. I have to say, the Angelus Brand Acrylic Leather Paint is something marvelous if not for the fact that it's somewhat expensive. An ounce could run you about five dollars from amazon, whereas a four ounce bottle (as depicted here) will run you about ten dollars for a generic color. Not a bad ratio between the two, but still somewhat expensive if I double coat this, which is starting to look more likely. Non-toxic (it would seem) and easy to clean, it's almost like applying a weak latex cover to the leather, and surprisingly fast drying. Much safer than using acetone and dye, I've gotta say, though a friend said I should just dunk it in kool-aid and hope for the best. I -might- be able to get this done by Saturday if all goes well. Using a miniaturized ink-roller and a paint brush for precision, several coats will spread uniformly over a surface. So hopefully, by the time I'm ready to paint the emblem on the back, it will look half way decent and presentable. 

Wish me luck! Also, the jacket itself won't be 100% accurate; I couldn't get the shoulder plates as of yet, as I need some finished leather to do that. On top of that, Joann Fabrics wasn't offering anything in the way of metal fasteners that could run along the front of the jacket, so I'm at a loss there. I'll just have to keep an eye out in the future and see what I can do, huh?