How Do You Remove Water-Based Paint From Leather?
Water-based paints vary in quality and dye content; these include the watercolors artists use and the finger paints children use. Because they are water, there is a good chance that you can completely salvage your leather goods (be it clothing, shoes, or furniture). Leather crafters do not use water-based paints because they simply don’t hold the way that oil or acrylic paints do. Rub gently at the dried finger paint with a dry sponge or a dry piece of gauze. Finger paint clings well to paper but poorly to other substrates. The paint will flake off entirely. Dampen the gauze or sponge if residual paint remains, then dab—do not rub—the leather. You do not want to wet the leather; you simply want to dissolve the residual paint. Refinish with a commercial leather refinisher (not vinyl refinisher) like Fiebing’s, Kiwi or Wilson’s. Dab the paint on an obscure section of the item if at all possible (like an inseam on clothing or the bottom of a couch). This is to test removal methods and
