Neon Stencil on Leather Backpack

I am supposed to be packing for a conference in Toronto, but since packing is boring, I made this instead:

Part of the point of refashioning for me is being able to spice up stuff I've gotten bored of (rather than getting new stuff). Recently, Kasey posted this chevron leather cuff bracelet made from a salvaged leather jacket. 

Her post reminded me of a boring thrifted leather backpack I had never worn, and of all the neon+neutral and neon-y tribal/Native American references I've been seeing in magazines and around the interwebs lately:

 

 I used painter's tape to make a design and a random white primer from the basement as a base coat (so the neon will be bright!). I sponged on the paint:

Once the white dried completely, I sponged on some neon acrylic I bought on Amazon. The pro of letting the white dry is that it didn't dilute the neon-ness, the con was that the tape didn't pull off a perfectly clean line.

As soon as the neon paint went on I removed the tape.  Pretty cool already (this shows the color accurately).

After the first layer dried, I repeated the process (being very careful pulling the painters tape off the first layer). You can't see this great in the photo, but the central bottom panel has an "ombre" effect from orange on the outside to yellow at the center.

I also salvaged some large studs from an old belt, painted them neon yellow, and used them to cover the holes on the top of the toe of a pair of leather flats (previously the toe ornament had been so large and floppy walking more than 5 minutes in the shoes was annoying).