Hi ladies! I'm pretty new to rehabbing and have been researching and experimenting as I go. I have a few newbie questions and things to share.
I absolutely love E6000 adhesive for starters. I have an old large pink/purple tartan messenger bag from almost ten years ago that a friend gifted me. She gifted me a few. I haven't asked for it to be authenticated yet since I'm not too concerned about that due to the damage. It's not leaving my possession and I'm just using it to carry clothes back and forth in my car. One of the patent loops that holds the handle hardware and is sewn into the body of the bag detached at the cloth. I'm horrible at sewing, so I literally put the hardware back in the loop and just glued it back to the cloth. Super lazy... I know... lol. I can't tell that I glued it unless I look real close though which surprised me, and I have toted some pretty heavy stuff since then, and it has not so much as stretched or budged. Crazy impressive.
Another product I am loving is wood and stuff that someone mentioned here. I wanted to ask about this because of an article I recently found about the product:
http://sacsmagnifiques.com/2015/02/trends-bad-bad-bad-trends-wood-n-stuff-leather-refinisher.html
Keep in mind, I do not touch vintage. I do not know anything about vintage, so I have been sticking to collecting bags from the last decade or so only. I also learned through trial and error not to use a brush, or if I do, immediately blend in with a cosmetic sponge. If it goes on too thick, a quick little bit of water smooths it and doesn't seem to affect the adherence. I also use tiny amounts not globs, don't fill in the seams with refinisher, and don't get it on the threads. Even so, is this stuff truly "plastic-y?" Do you think it hurts the leather when it already has a colored finish? I have used leather conditioner on the bags afterwards and I can't tell a difference between the corners I refinished and the rest of the colored leather. It seems to still condition and polish the same. I'm hoping that the reason that lady was so angry was specifically due to misuse of the product and not the product itself... cause I use a teeny tiny bit and it does amazing things.
Awesome fabric cleaner is the best for the fabric inside the bags. It removes everything, even pen and marker, with just a toothbrush. Do not however, use it on sateen or the denim-like fabric on some the poppy khaki patchworks. It leaves what looks like water stains on both and almost gave me a heart attack.
I have one particularly interesting experiment where I received a jacquard Hampton cute little turnlock purse, and much to my dismay the leather trim was patent... and not only patent, but tan patent... no cracks, but there were pen marks that had literally sunk underneath the patent finish. On the handles there was severe darkening to a nasty orange color. I figured I had nothing to lose at that point. I successfully stripped the patent finish using straight acetone on a piece of magic eraser. I don't know what the long term repercussions of that will be... I didn't rub all the way down to the leather intentionally, I just made it matte and stopped there. Then I sponged wood n stuff refinisher over it. The acetone removed the darkening with the patent, but not the ink marks. The refinisher covered the ink stains beautifully though. I'll post pictures when I'm all finished.
I bought Angelus leather sealer in matte (the matte is shiny) and I was going to do a coat of that when I'm finished. Its very watery and thin. It won't be patent, but they do have a high gloss one that I was thinking about ordering. Has anyone experimented with Angelus?
Annnnnnnd finally, quite a few of my bags I am repairing and rehabbing for me, but there are probably a few I will want to sell soon. What are the ethics of selling rehabbed items? Do you simply disclose that it has been rehabbed or altered and in what way, do you go into details and list everything you did to the bag with pictures? Disclose how or what products you used? When I get to that point I just want to be wise and fair about the listing.
For instance, I have a black patent spotlight tote that I loooovvveee. I don't want anything to happen to it and for it to last for a long time. I noticed that where the handles and cross strap attaches to the body (where the thread is) the weight of contents caused some tearing to start in the patent. I used a black fabric marker that is surprisingly shiny, colored in the tear areas, then applied some E6000 to hold the top layer and reinforce the material around the thread. If ever in the distant future I let it go, what would I say? "stressed areas where straps attach to the bag have been previously reinforced with E6000 adhesive to prevent heavy weight from causing tears to the material. This is not noticeable unless examined with a light and magnifier." lol,,, It sounds way worse than what it is. I'm extremely pleased with the modification but it doesn't sound good.
Thank you ladies
