Coach Rehab and Rescue Club
- Thread starter greenpixie
- Start date
TPF may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others
I keep looking at the pirate and thinking I might need him too - he’s awesome!
Better than the original IMO!In that case I'm done with my bag! I bought this Bleecker color block leather Preston bag for just $24! It retailed for $398! It's in great shape but had lots of color loss on the handles!
View attachment 4785332
View attachment 4785340
So I decided to dye the handle leather. Instead of restoring the original color (which I have no clue what Coach used! It's not white and it seemed darker than chalk, it's some sort of beige maybe?) I chose to give it a color boost. I love the result and I can now happily use this new to me bag!
p.s. Ignore that back handle.. it needed another coat after I took the pic.
View attachment 4785343
Morning All!
Okay - I'm post my first dunk by 14 hours - I just did a coat of Leather CPR on the outside - all non-nubby surfaces - and then paused to wonder if it means inside as well? I did a search and have read through multiple pages but couldn't find an "outside only" statement.
How do you gauge the next coat? Super thick or thin coats - enough for it to absorb but not sit on the surface? Sticky is a good sign, right? TYIA - I fear all these questions are the overanalysis side of my brain and hope it doesn't cause stage fright for my rehab projects....
Okay - I'm post my first dunk by 14 hours - I just did a coat of Leather CPR on the outside - all non-nubby surfaces - and then paused to wonder if it means inside as well? I did a search and have read through multiple pages but couldn't find an "outside only" statement.
How do you gauge the next coat? Super thick or thin coats - enough for it to absorb but not sit on the surface? Sticky is a good sign, right? TYIA - I fear all these questions are the overanalysis side of my brain and hope it doesn't cause stage fright for my rehab projects....
I can imagine how you must be feeling, SuzieSueSure! I'm fairly new to TPF and was so inspired by the before and after photos in this thread that I bid on a black Abbie (after authentication of course
) and won! I'm both excited and terrified! 
Don’t put it on the suede side of the leather. I apply CPR sparingly and massage the leather with my fingers. The leather will feel a bit sticky for a couple of hours or more (it depends on how dry it is in the house). When the leather feels dry, buff it with a miracle cloth or horsehair brush and repeat as many times as the leather will absorb the CPR. Then I finish off by rubbing in a very meagre amount of BlackRock Leather n Rich, wait a day or so until no longer sticky and buff well. Some tpf’rs remove any excess of BlackRock but I prefer to wait until it has all been absorbed.
In my ongoing periwinkle saga, it is not a mess, not exactly what I wanted and somehow came out pearlescent though nothing I used was pearlescent. I am leaving it as is to be my next bag carry when I swap and promise pictures today.
So, I have dunked my vintage navy Court and did a through conditioning with Leather CPR and Chamberlains Healing Balm. It looks better, but there is still some splotchiness going on. I know a vintage bag isn't going to be perfect, but I'm wondering, is there anything further I can do about the splotchiness? I considered dying it, but I don't know. I'm just not sure if vintage Coach leather, being aniline leather, would be right for a dye job. Even with something like Fiebings penetrating dye, I feel like I'd need to "seal" it with something like Resolene, which I've found can change the texture and make things shinier than I want this bag to be. Or maybe it would need to be a different type of dye? I also thought about maybe trying to do something with leather paint, but that seems like it would be medius, have a lot of potential to go wrong, and overall seems like a worse option than dying it.
I tried to take photos of what I mean by the splotchiness, but I'm a horrible photographer, so I'm not sure they really show what I mean. Any thoughts or is this likely the best I'm going to get?
I tried to take photos of what I mean by the splotchiness, but I'm a horrible photographer, so I'm not sure they really show what I mean. Any thoughts or is this likely the best I'm going to get?
Try Blackrocks before you resort to dye.
I had used the Chamberlains Healing Balm because I already owned it and from what I could see, it seemed similar to Blackrocks. (Chamberlains Healing Balm seems a bit more solid and balm-like while Blackrocks seems a bit more lotion-y, but it looked like they served the same purpose with similar results). Maybe I should go ahead and try the Blackrocks as well though.
I'm pretty sure I've dunked one of these.
