Coach Rehab and Rescue Club
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It is the most tested and tried from what I have read on various forums. What kind of leather do you have? Vachetta or finished?
well at least it's clean and you can contemplate dying it, or perhaps use black rocks to see if it'll sufficiently darken the leather enough.
You really did a nice job of minimizing that horrible ink spot! If you use a conditioner that will darken the leather a little, it should help to even out the color and minimize the spot even more. I use Blackrocks for this purpose and I am a little "heavy-handed" with the applications to try and darken the leather as much as possible.
BTW, if you buy an item with undisclosed issues on ebay or bonz you don't have to keep it. Before you attempt to rehab it contact the vendor and notify him/her that you are disappointed in the condition due to undisclosed issues. I have done this a few times and I always try to be nice and non-confrontational and suggest that the vendor "didn't notice the problem" and then I offer to send photos of the issues "for his/her records".
I recognize that used bags will have flaws and signs of wear, and I am quite willing to accept that, but I don't like getting a bag that is significantly not as described (SNAD) due to undisclosed issues. I want to know what I am buying/bidding on so I can make an informed decision!
The vendor should offer the opportunity to refund your money and pay for the shipping to return the item. In some cases the vendor may offer a partial refund and you may decide to keep the item and attempt the rehab. If I don't spend "too much" for a bag I am sometimes willing to try and fix it up as long as it wasn't expensive, so the partial refund can be helpful in making that decision.
If the vendor doesn't respond than you should file a claim with ebay/bonz and paypal. I've only had to do that one time. The vendor took my money but never sent the item and ignored my emails! It wasn't a big hassle to file a claim and I got my money back!
But you shouldn't contact the vendor or file a complaint if you have already attempted to rehab it. If you alter the bag then it is yours!
It's the light colored mystery NYC bag on the previous page. I assume it's british tan but it has almost a banana yellow look to it-in a good way. It reminds me of old Frye boots they used to make in the 70's, and are making again. I'm trying not to darken it if possible.
As far as the E-Bay issue goes, I see it differently:
As soon as a seller chooses to attempt to defraud a buyer by failing to disclose something very significant about something they are selling, they accept the responsibility and the repercussions for that action.
As the buyer, I have the right to determine what action, if any, is warranted, for the issue. As I am not the one that attempted to hide the issue, I am not the one that should be penalized in any way for the issue.
If I chose to return the bag, the seller is still not going to reimburse me for my gas to drive to the post office, the time it is going to take standing in line and driving there, even if they do pay the return postage. This hidden cost to me, my time and gas, is another way of penalizing me, not to mention the frustration with the issue in the first place. My choice, as the buyer, is to rehab the bag, keep the bag, and politely ask for a reasonable cost reduction as the result of the non-disclosure. I asked for an adjustment of less than the shipping cost, and I will be happy with that as the outcome. I determined before I took any action, what outcome would make me happy, and that is the outcome I chose. The seller then has two choices, either adjust the price for me, or choose not to, and in that case I will leave feedback that states there was a non-disclosed ink spot on the bag. I don't like to stress myself out over E-Bay stuff, after so many years of using E-Bay, I just make it a point to decide what I want and go for that, in this way I don't give anyone the power to stress me out for their mistake.
As soon as a seller chooses to attempt to defraud a buyer by failing to disclose something very significant about something they are selling, they accept the responsibility and the repercussions for that action.
As the buyer, I have the right to determine what action, if any, is warranted, for the issue. As I am not the one that attempted to hide the issue, I am not the one that should be penalized in any way for the issue.
If I chose to return the bag, the seller is still not going to reimburse me for my gas to drive to the post office, the time it is going to take standing in line and driving there, even if they do pay the return postage. This hidden cost to me, my time and gas, is another way of penalizing me, not to mention the frustration with the issue in the first place. My choice, as the buyer, is to rehab the bag, keep the bag, and politely ask for a reasonable cost reduction as the result of the non-disclosure. I asked for an adjustment of less than the shipping cost, and I will be happy with that as the outcome. I determined before I took any action, what outcome would make me happy, and that is the outcome I chose. The seller then has two choices, either adjust the price for me, or choose not to, and in that case I will leave feedback that states there was a non-disclosed ink spot on the bag. I don't like to stress myself out over E-Bay stuff, after so many years of using E-Bay, I just make it a point to decide what I want and go for that, in this way I don't give anyone the power to stress me out for their mistake.
I use Glove CPR from Tuesday Morning, and it doesn't darken leather at all. The Black Rocks will darken it a little bit, and olive oil will darken a lot. I use all three in combination to get whatever look I am trying to achieve on whatever bag I am working on.
I had washed and conditioned it once, but it wasn't helping with the light spots. Since the ink spot on the front was kind of bothering me anyway, once I decided to dye the black, I figured it would take more evenly on unconditioned leather-and I could also attempt to get the ink out at the same time.
It's worth mentioning that the light spots weren't that noticeable, and I could have lived with them, it was as much to experiment with the dye as anything. I wanted to start with a clean slate, no conditioners.
The Fiebings is super thin, pretty much like black water. As I said, they dye just soaked in. After conditioning, I could still see the lines between the touch ups and the undyed, but only if I tried really hard.
So here are the afters:
The piping around the corners, this was the worst part of the bag:
The back of the bag, for some reason the glare in the picture makes the bag look lighter than it is, but it shows the contrast a little better, you can kind of see the black dye, but just barely.
Here is the full bag, it's not a very good reveal picture, it looked better on my phone, and it looks as black in real life as the above pictures where I show the piping:
Overall I'm really happy with it. You can really see all the flaws out in the sun where I took the pictures, if you're looking for it. Indoors it really looks like a new bag. I'm going to try buffing it again tomorrow afternoon, I still get a little black on the cloth when I rub it down. I'm going to wear it with black pants the first time I use it just to play it safe, but I suspect that it's not really going to be a problem. Will report here if it is in case anyone else is tempted to try the same method.
This came out really nice!! I was looking at Feibings on E-Bay last week and debating on ordering some to try, I might have to now!! Thank you for sharing!!!
The apple really should be fine. It's very mild. But also, old leather NEEDS conditioning. More problems will occur if it isn't conditioned with something properly . Vachetta Leathers will react and darken with use and hand oils and exposure in general. But the finished leathers aren't like that. So, start with Apple. Or Leather CPR, even. But the only way to protect and prolong your bag at this point, as it is a pretty old bag, is to moisturize it. I guess the thing we don't really know, is whether the color tone you are liking right now, is correct, or is it a dry, faded version of its old self,. I've had a bags that I"ve found that had a lighter color tan tone , only to realize that the color wasn't natural, and adding MOISTURE would also deepen it, as it should- to make it HEALTHY. I guess that's what you have to figure out on this particular bag? I hope this all makes sense.
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My ink stained New York City Clutch bag reveal:
http://coachbagrehab.blogspot.com/2012/04/coach-new-york-city-clutch.html
I finally resorted to an acrylic paint touch up over the spot, and now you can't tell it was ever there!
http://coachbagrehab.blogspot.com/2012/04/coach-new-york-city-clutch.html
I finally resorted to an acrylic paint touch up over the spot, and now you can't tell it was ever there!
Oh I absolutely agree, and this bag needs moisturizing. I just rubbed in the first coat of apple and she drank it down, I essentially put two coats on it at once, by the time I had finished with the first coat the place I had started had soaked in so I worked in some more.
I think it's going to turn out ok, I will probably put on another coat tonight and then judge tomorrow whether it will need more conditioning. I'm also planning on breaking out the black station bag and taking it to work tomorrow.
Oh, that turned out nice. I read your previous post. I probably would have tried kind of pouring the alcohol through from the inside to the outside and working with it, then adding more...which may be essentially what you did and also may not have worked any better. I've had good luck with ink on everything I've tried but I don't recall ever working with a spot that big on leather.
I think what you did turned out great though, nice job. I haven't tried the acrylic paint on anything yet.
Enjoy your 'new to you' bags! It's so fun to reclaim and fix up these old gals!! I have used my refurbished Willis bag for many months now and I love her so much!
Help. I have these dark spots that won't go away. They have a rough texture but I don't know if that is from whatever made the spots or from someone trying to clean it. I tried lemon juice.
Also, the handles are much darker than the rest of the bag. It can't be from oils from hands because it is on the entire thing. I haven't finished moisturizing because I am still cleaning but I wonder if it will look obvious once the bag is completely moisturized.
The top corners are darker. I have noticed this on most old bags. What causes this? I can't decide if I like it that way or not.
Also, the handles are much darker than the rest of the bag. It can't be from oils from hands because it is on the entire thing. I haven't finished moisturizing because I am still cleaning but I wonder if it will look obvious once the bag is completely moisturized.
The top corners are darker. I have noticed this on most old bags. What causes this? I can't decide if I like it that way or not.
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I used an old unused kind of thick eyeliner brush to apply the Feibings dye. I was going to start with the piping and decide from there whether I should apply it to the lightened areas on the back and under the flap. I think if I was going to dye the entire bag I would have used the dauber that came with it.
I also mentioned in another thread that when I looked at that eyeliner brush I realized it's probably a little older than the bag-lol.
I suspect that as it ages the touched up areas will be blacker than the original areas, so at some point I may dye the whole thing, but it will be down the road a ways. I'm really not that picky with old leather, it almost shouldn't be perfect, IMO. I'm going to keep the Minwax in mind-and btw I too have also used stuff formulated for wood on leather-just never dye! I'm glad it worked out.
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