Ha... Must admit I thought the same thing. at first LOLYour not stuffing her in the washing machine?
Coach Rehab and Rescue Club
- Thread starter greenpixie
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I've been leaving mine in for about 40 minutes on each side (80 total) and they've been turning out well. Granted, this is only on my first two vintage bags so far, but I'll probably keep with that protocol for the rest of them.
I use the blue one -- I'm a total sucker for their marketing but I figured if it's safe enough for the baby ducklings it's safe enough for my bags!
Yeah, this is way longer than normal.
My fault; I used conditioners on it and things weren't going smoothly, so dunked.
Thanks so much for the quick replies!
Agree with you guys.
Here's an update.
The entire bag is now finally a uniform color; it seems like the water has now soaked into the bag.
However, the top handle is still stubbornly maintaining its rigid shape.
The bag's still in the bath. I'm only keeping it in the bath right now because of the handle.
For a Manor, think the top handle should have become flexible right now?
(It seems like it's been saturated with water for a long time now.)
I'm considering pulling the bag out of the bath, and trying to reshape the handle later.
Thinking of the method @Catbird9 talked about, using warm towels that are dry or slightly damp.
Think that might work for the Manor's top handle?
Any suggestions or thoughts are very welcome.
Realize it's hard to advise on this rehab at this point.
You can turn it or.... this is what I do. I use different sizes of smooth containers, plastic or glass, that I fill with water and use as weight inside the bag, to keep it down. Making sure there are no straps, turnlocks, etc... that could leave indentations on the leather under the weight. Again, each bag is different, I use a weight sometimes and others I keep turning.
I do not really have a time frame for it, my "each bag is different and needs different treatment", applies to bath time as well.
Use a towel or absorbent cloth rolled up to the size of the handle and stuff it inside, let it dry that way and should shape up to the right way. I wouldn't wait, do it at the same time you stuff the bag.
The Manor is out of the bath. Whew. Thanks so much for all the advice, everyone! 
@Lake Effect @coach943 @aerinha @mrk2014 @valv54 @whateve @WishingonaCoach @Catbird9 @vickenator
Hopefully things go smoothly from here, but regardless, I'm very grateful.
@Lake Effect @coach943 @aerinha @mrk2014 @valv54 @whateve @WishingonaCoach @Catbird9 @vickenator Hopefully things go smoothly from here, but regardless, I'm very grateful.
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Why don't you want to dunk the bag? I don't think you have any reason to worry about color loss for that bag.
ETA: I see you dunked the bag. I didn't read through the other messages.
Next time, don't condition before you dunk. And don't worry about color loss.
Also, I used to keep my bags in the bath for a long time, but now I usually do about 15-20 minutes. I don't think longer is any better.
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Sigh. I didn't dunk because I was trying to take a conservative approach.
The sides of the bag were very dry, and I was a bit weary that the bag could crack after a bath.
In retrospect, I doubt that I should have been concerned.
The bag was in good condition, so I wasn't sure whether I wanted to dunk it at all. I'd been debating about to dunk or not to dunk. When I'd look at it, I'd basically think, "It's so pretty, as-is."
It had some signs of a bag that should be dunked, and I should have done that from the get go.
So now it's been dunked.
ETA: @coach943 Saw the edits to your post. Hahaha, yes. I won't condition before dunking again!
With this bag, I wasn't necessarily planning to dunk the bag anytime in the near future. I figured that I'd surface clean it, and condition it. Then, I figured that most likely, I'd wear the bag for a while, and maybe dunk it at some point down the road.
In this case, I didn't dunk the bag, and things went awry with conditioning.
I also used CPR first, and then Leather Therapy, which I probably shouldn't have. It seems that Leather Therapy, then CPR is the way to go?
You've mentioned that you use Leather Therapy. May I ask, ever experience this kind of darkening from Leather Therapy?
It darkened to almost black in some areas, but not in others.
My guess is that the conditioner may have reacted with dirt or oils that were already in the leather.
Or that the conditioner touched the suede areas on the back of the leather, and discoloured the leather.
Those are simply guesses.
(It happened on the strap of the bag too, mostly around the holes. I'd dunked the strap before conditioning.)
I'm curious if it's the way I used the product (rather than the product itself), which is what I suspect.
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It pains me to ask for advice about this bag today. Again. But I've been futzing with shaping it for hours now.
It seems that no matter how I try to shape the bag, it ends up looking something like this.
The d-rings for the straps face towards the back of the bag.
Well, I don't know if that's going to be weird when I clip straps to the d-rings and wear the bag?
(The d-rings are in an awkward position.)
While trying to figure out how to shape the bag, I reviewed pictures of Manor bags, including this picture, posted by @Morgan_Bellini. Looked closely at the bag shown on the right side, and noticed that the d-rings on her bag face towards the front of the bag. (Whereas the d-rings on mine face towards the back.)
So wondering if this is just something that the Manor bag tends to do?
For a vintage bag, once the leather has been in a shape for a while, and maybe stretched, I'm assuming it won't always go back to the original shape, or co-operate when you try to shape it?
This is a long shot, but if anyone has advice for shaping the manor, please let me know?
Or if there's more general shaping advice that like to provide, that I'm overlooking and that might help, I'd love to hear it.
It seems that no matter how I try to shape the bag, it ends up looking something like this.
The d-rings for the straps face towards the back of the bag.
Well, I don't know if that's going to be weird when I clip straps to the d-rings and wear the bag?
(The d-rings are in an awkward position.)
While trying to figure out how to shape the bag, I reviewed pictures of Manor bags, including this picture, posted by @Morgan_Bellini. Looked closely at the bag shown on the right side, and noticed that the d-rings on her bag face towards the front of the bag. (Whereas the d-rings on mine face towards the back.)
So wondering if this is just something that the Manor bag tends to do?
For a vintage bag, once the leather has been in a shape for a while, and maybe stretched, I'm assuming it won't always go back to the original shape, or co-operate when you try to shape it?
This is a long shot, but if anyone has advice for shaping the manor, please let me know?
Or if there's more general shaping advice that like to provide, that I'm overlooking and that might help, I'd love to hear it.
If you stuff the bag, you can probably get those rings to aim front.
I am not as diligent with stuffing my bag and the sides/position of D rings as it dries. Since the clips on a shoulder strap have a swivel mechanism, I think they adjust for the orientation of the clip/D ring.
How much I put, stuff into a bag as I carry it may influence the side panels of a bag, as does how I store it.
