My painted book cover started bubbling after 2 months - anyone else have this happen?

I used acrylic paint on a hardcover book I found at a thrift store in Seattle last March, and it looked amazing at first. But now the paint is peeling off in chunks, and I think the glue from the original cover binding is reacting with the pigments. Has anyone found a primer or sealer that actually stops this from happening?

3 comments

3 Comments

scott.grace20h ago

I used a $5 can of matte acrylic sealer from Ace Hardware on a thrifted hardcover cookbook I painted last fall and it's held up perfect through six months of kitchen use. The key was wiping down the cover with rubbing alcohol first to get rid of any leftover glue residue or dirt from the thrift store. I did three super light coats letting each one dry for like 2 hours and that stopped the bubbling right away lol.

ivanb4120h ago

Skip the fancy art store primers and grab a can of clear matte spray sealant from a hardware store. I've seen this exact thing happen with painted furniture too that stuff on the original surface fights with the paint every time. The glue and old coatings on thrifted books are probably made of different stuff than modern book covers so they bubble up. A real basic sealant with no extra chemicals works better than anything labeled for art supplies lol. Just give it a few light coats and let each one dry before the next.

nora_campbell6620h ago

Gosh, I feel your pain on this... had the exact same thing happen with a journal I tried to upcycle last year and it was such a bummer after all that work. That hardware store spray sealant suggestion is actually solid, the art store stuff can be too fancy for thrifted surfaces. A couple of thin coats with plenty of drying time in between seems to do the trick for stopping that bubbling.