How can I paint/dye/color "soft" welding goggles?

[bonobotheory]

I've decided to make a set of goggles as my first steampunk project. SteamCon is coming to Seattle, and I'll be damned if I don't go in costume. The best goggles I've found for a base seem to be  these Hobart welding goggles since they'll fit over my glasses. But they're made of a soft material (exactly what, I'm not sure - some poly-vinyl sort of thing), and I know most paint will flake right off of it once they start to flex.  Can that stuff be dyed?  Can it be painted with a flexible paint? Has anyone used these or similar goggles as a base?

[draxthedestroyer]

I was having the same problem. I did a few thing that seemed to work.
One was do a coat of rub n buff over it then brush paint it. The rub n buff may seem sticky and like it won't work but after you put paint over it it will work.
The other thing that works is rustoulm multicolor textured spray paint. And then do a second coat of the color of your choice over it.
Lastly the first thing I ever used to paint them was I used some spray foam over it and then painted over that.

If it doesn't work out for you feel free to message me and I have a few extra pairs and I could mail one out to you.

[Narsil]

You can get vinyl dye intended for restoring vehicle trim which should work. The other option is to paint it with rubber cement or liquid latex with a pigment added (acrylic ink can work well).


Having said that it might end up being easier just to get some base goggles which are or the more rigid type.

[Captain Brandsson]

After several misteps, I used Krylon black matte as a primer and it took a leather-colored coat of brown paint pretty well after that.

[JingleJoe]

Pfft, get some real goggles made of brass or steel!

[Peregrine]

Hi bonobo.

I'm in the same boat, got the same ones because a) glasses and b) they're the only ones available in hardware stores.
My current plan is to pop the hard plastic lense plate out, embed that in a brass faceplate and replace the sides with leather.