# Heat pressing onto leather seems to be no problem?



## BikerBill (Feb 18, 2014)

I have always been told be everyone and anyone I asked that you can't heat press transfer designs onto leather. The reason I was given is that the heat will burn or discolor the leather. 

Few days ago just for the hell of it I heat pressed some small transfer designs onto some leather squares I have. They are around 4 inches by 4 inches. The designs look fantastic on the leather and nothing bad happened. Both were brown in color.

Today I heat pressed a design onto a light brown leather pouch. Again it came out fantastic. Something about the smooth solid surface of leather shows every small detail of the design, looks even better than on a shirt.

Seems to stick very well too, it's almost like it was painted on. Can't even scratch it off with my fingernail. So, why does everyone say you can't do this on leather? I had it up to 380 F.


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## Chris Simpson (Aug 18, 2017)

I often cover over the surface that I am pressing onto with a cotton sheet (an old bed sheet does the job-washed of course!). Maybe someone had a bad experiment with a cheaper heat press? 
I may try that out myself!

Chris


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## Dakar19 (Jul 16, 2017)

What type of leather was it? Hard? Soft? Smooth? I would like to try this out on a pair of roller skates!


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## BikerBill (Feb 18, 2014)

Dakar19 said:


> What type of leather was it? Hard? Soft? Smooth? I would like to try this out on a pair of roller skates!


It was a finished leather pouch, as well as sample squares of leather I had. They were tanned finished leather, fairly smooth like a ladies leather purse. I'm going to get small designs around 4 inches and start putting them on leather pouches, purses and wallets.


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## boyanski (Dec 6, 2017)

i have had great results on leather with the dark inkjet papers. But we are talking here 3-4 seconds, and if you miss the leather dries and changes shape and screws. I am talking top quality upholstery leather here, same as quality leather bags.


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