#*closet

GOOD LORD WHAT DID YOU DO?!

Hey all! So, for the past couple of weeks, I've been working on making my own version of Mondo's jacket! I was originally going to wait until it was finished to post about it, since that's what I tend to do with my projects, but I figured I could post in progress shots, since I'm very excited about it! I'm almost done with the back, I just need to paint the last couple rows of kanji in, but I've got the basic outline down with gold chalk pen, so as long as I follow it it should hopefully still look good.

I am using a leather duster jacket that I bought for cheap from Good Will several years ago, back when I was obsessed with Spike from Buffy and wanted his jacket. It has just been hanging in my parent's closet for the past decade, however, getting no use since it's a bit too big for me and kind of bulky. So I decided that I could probably turn it into Mondo's jacket with some gold leather paint and some new buttons, maybe some new purple lining and an extended collar if I can figure out how to do that. Currently I'm working on the painting part first, since that's the most important element of Mondo's jacket. The alterations to the jacket itself are a bit daunting to me, since I've never done anything like it, so I'll put that off for now, ha.

Here's what I had after the first day of painting. I decided to do the Japanese version of Mondo's jacket, since it looks cooler, and I like how it turned out! I did mess up the spacing on the kanji, but I think it still looks decent enough. I also forgot one of the kanji words, but I luckily had enough space to add it in, messing up the spacing more, but eh. Beggars cannot be choosers and all.

So here's how it looks with the additional kanji added in, which I did the next day.

The first picture is what I had when I finished the second day of work. I added the extra kanji at the top, as well as the first row of kanji below. I also added a couple extra coats of gold paint to the compass and larger kanji, and cleaned up the areas where I accidently spilled some paint with some rubbing alcohol. Note: I do not advise using rubbing alcohol on leather, as it will harm the leather. I, however, preferred to have the paint off, so I tried to be careful about it. I did later buy some leather cleaner and conditioner to try and keep the leather healthy. It doesn't rub the paint off, though, which is both good and bad. Good since I can clean this jacket without worrying about the paint, bad since I still will have to use rubbing alcohol to remove the paint I mess up on. Oop.

The second photo is where I am today, with two of the rows of kanji fully painted and complete, and the other three having the outline drawn, but still needing to be painted in with my gold leather paint. I'd work on it more now, but my work station for arts and crafts is outside and it's currently dark out, making it hard to see what I'm doing. In fact, that's why I had to pause work for a week, since I work until 6:00 every weekday and it would be dark when I got home. It also was raining pretty bad this last week. Luckily I'm off work for the next two weeks, so I should have enough time to finish this, I hope! If it doesn't rain anymore, ha.

I'm hoping to be finished with the back tomorrow, and after that I'm going to work on the front, which I'm a bit nervous about. There's a lot of thin lines on the front, which I'm not great at painting. As you can see if you look close at the compass, the lines all wonky, oof. Hopefully it'll still look good regardless. Too bad they don't make gold leather paint pens! The sleeve is going to be the hardest, since there's a dragon on there, so... wish me luck!

𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐊 𝟎𝟎𝟕 ; raina virani’s playlist // @gallaghertasks