# how do you seal a rubber or plastic item after painting?



## ELH Erin Loves Halloween

I bought a ton of gas masks for my zombie party. I painted them using simple acrylics and it started to flake off. So I repainted it and put a simple ehlmers glue sealant on it. It helped a bit but not so much. Any ideas? Confused.


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## RoxyBlue

Are the masks rigid or flexible? If they flex, you may continue to have problems with paint flaking.

Michaels sells a sealant for use on acrylics you might want to try. It's usually found in the section where they sell decoupage supplies.


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## Dixie

Once you have already applied regular paint to a non poruous surface, you could put cement over it and it will still flake off, because you never had a cohesive bond in the beginning. If it's an item you can't spray paint with Krylon Fusion (for plastic) then I would suggest sanding every centimeter of that item, first in one direction, then in the other. That should at least give it some teeth, or groove for the paint to adhere to.

After that, I would apply a spray on sealant, as further brushing (of polycrylic or other) will continue the chippy process.


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## Bascombe

I have used super 77 spray adhesive as a substrate for painting on plastics. Works pretty good but I haven't done it on rubberized stuff. I also would excercise great care with anything that people are going to wear on their faces where they would breathe it.


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## Dixie

Oh yeah - didnt think about masks being on a FACE, lol. Was just thinking about using them for props. Course, then again, I'm the one that spray painted my arms and neck white last year, because I was tired of my make up rubbing off after 6 hours.

*As a side note - I had no ill effects from being spray painted with regular Krylon. Except my hubby laughing at me, and going stupid for about an hour from the fumes at application time. But no breakouts or anything on my skin - YAY! lol


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## STOLLOWEEN

Still laughing at Dixie spray painting her arms and neck with Krylon paint...that's hardcore haunting.

Regarding painting rubber I did find a thread on a Scuba forum discussing painting neoprene and rubber, a lot of discussion about techniques that don't work and a few surprising suggestions about techniques that do work. This may help.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-179970.html


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## GhoulishCop

ELH,

You might try vinyl dye which is often used in automotive work. It's used to recolor vinyl car seats or carpeting in a car and can be used to recolor soft plastics. It's even been used to change the color of computer cases.

Amazon.com has a bunch of hits for it as does AutoZone. Rust-oleum makes a paint for vinyl and fabric so it's possible you might find it at Home Depot or Lowe's, though I didn't get any hits for it when I searched.

Hope that helps.

Rich


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## kprimm

In the past I have used a matte clear spray before I painted the object.Then paint and reseal again with the matte finish, and it has worked very well for me.


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## Devils Chariot

You can also mix acrylic paint with rubber cement or latex to make it flexible and chemically bond with the rubber (but this only works if it is really rubber).


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## Plastic Ninja

I use a type of glue/sealer called mogpog. You can find it in craft shops. Probably not the best, but it works. The only real down side is that it leaves a glossy finish once it dries.


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## Bascombe

Plastic Ninja, I have seen Modge Podge with a flat finish at our local craft store.


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