I don't know of any way to remove an ink mark, but you can paint over it with fabric paint or acrylic paint. You may have to mix colors to get the right shade. Add a bit of leather conditioner to the paint and lightly dot it onto the ink mark with a tiny paintbrush. I painted over some minor scuffs on a Taupe AWL bag and it worked well.
Dooney rehab thread
- Thread starter missy_g
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Thanks so much for the feedback. I’ll try the paint method to cover up this ink mark.
Had a tough day at work yesterday and so went thrifting (as you do- cheap therapy!) and look what I found! Happy weekend projects for 6.00 each. They look pretty pitiful in person but I think they will clean up well.
I went to goodwill the other day to find something to display jewelry and ended up with 10 bags. 2 of them The saddest old Dooneys I've seen in awhile. One is bone colored so that will be a first for me. They must of been stored smashed down by other things and they are super dry. Definitely the worst condition I have attempted to rehab.
I picked up this very sad and bedraggled Teton Drawstring for $3, specifically to practice rehab, since the main leather should be treated differently than the very forgiving vintage Coach leather I've worked on before.
So far I have given it a very brief full dunk in cold water, and done some selective conditioning, and I think it is already looking heaps better.
I dunked to reshape rather than steamed, as I have seen suggested here, because steam also opens pores, while cold water tends to shock pores closed, so I decided to go that route. It really worked rather well.
Even though the trim on the Tetons appears to be AWL, I decided to risk disrupting the pores on the straps, tassel, and green piping, because it was so very dry. The straps were the worst. I had to dunk, extreme condition the bits that contacted the hardware, and then press flat to dry. I decided I would rather sacrifice the weatherproofing on those limited bits, if it meant protecting the leather from splitting or cracking.
After comparing the feel of the main body leather to my good-condition AWL bags, I have determined it does not need any conditioning. It isn't as supple as Coach leather, but I don't think it ever was or will be. I was worried I might have to do a full condition in the end, which is not recommended, but I wouldn't mind for a bag for ME, if it really needed it, but I don't think it's going to be necessary.
I am ordering a set of Angelus leather paints to customize a vintage Coach bag, so I will have that to do some color correcting on the green piping and trim, and I need to get some edgekote for the dark brown straps.
Does anyone have any suggestions for smoothing out the little sawtooth points on the trim and top of the tassels? The tassels themselves smoothed out really nicely with some massaged Leather CPR, but I tried to do something similar on the green trim and the tops of the tassels, to very limited success. I'm wondering if I'm going to have to work in sections, put something flat inside the bag, like a book or something, slip a foil under the trim, condition or wet it, then set a weight on. That still won't help with the limited sawtooth bit about the top of the tassel, but would at least get the green trim under control.
So far I have given it a very brief full dunk in cold water, and done some selective conditioning, and I think it is already looking heaps better.
I dunked to reshape rather than steamed, as I have seen suggested here, because steam also opens pores, while cold water tends to shock pores closed, so I decided to go that route. It really worked rather well.
Even though the trim on the Tetons appears to be AWL, I decided to risk disrupting the pores on the straps, tassel, and green piping, because it was so very dry. The straps were the worst. I had to dunk, extreme condition the bits that contacted the hardware, and then press flat to dry. I decided I would rather sacrifice the weatherproofing on those limited bits, if it meant protecting the leather from splitting or cracking.
After comparing the feel of the main body leather to my good-condition AWL bags, I have determined it does not need any conditioning. It isn't as supple as Coach leather, but I don't think it ever was or will be. I was worried I might have to do a full condition in the end, which is not recommended, but I wouldn't mind for a bag for ME, if it really needed it, but I don't think it's going to be necessary.
I am ordering a set of Angelus leather paints to customize a vintage Coach bag, so I will have that to do some color correcting on the green piping and trim, and I need to get some edgekote for the dark brown straps.
Does anyone have any suggestions for smoothing out the little sawtooth points on the trim and top of the tassels? The tassels themselves smoothed out really nicely with some massaged Leather CPR, but I tried to do something similar on the green trim and the tops of the tassels, to very limited success. I'm wondering if I'm going to have to work in sections, put something flat inside the bag, like a book or something, slip a foil under the trim, condition or wet it, then set a weight on. That still won't help with the limited sawtooth bit about the top of the tassel, but would at least get the green trim under control.
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It does look a LOT better! The main body of the bag is noticeably darker and richer looking.
I don't have any special tricks for the sawtooth edges, but your plan sounds good.
Great job bringing this well-loved Teton back to life!
I've just recently started rehabbing(coach only so far but I have quite a few Dooney bags I want to work on). I was told that if the edges of the strap gets fuzzy, you could put clear top coat fingernail polish over it? Idk if that's okay or not. Would like to hear some feedback. I read a few post back about the straps and seems like they could be tricky if they get real fuzzy.
Can you post a picture of the strap in question? The type of edge coatings used were different depending on when the bag was made.
I don't think I'd use clear nail polish in any case. Instead, for an older, vintage bag I'd probably use Fiebing's Edge Kote. They make a clear one (I think they call it neutral or natural) and a few other colors. I've used the Brown on vintage Dooney straps and it's a good match. I used a toothpick to apply it, or you can buy a metal tool.
Here's a detailed tutorial showing how to apply edge coat using a Vernis product. As you can see, he uses two coats, sanding lightly between coats. It results in a thicker edge like you see on more the recent styles. Lots of work though!
https://www.goldbarkleather.com/sourceblog/how-to-use-edge-paint
If they didn't originally have edge coating, I would just seal them with leather glue to flatten out the fuzzies. I like to keep them as close to original as possible. There was no need to use edge coating back in the day because the entire strap was made of leather. On newer bags they use edge coating to hide the fillers.
Here's an example of a vintage Dooney, in brand new condition. The strap edges are coated or painted with something.
Photo credit: https://www.horsekeeping.com/Dooney/ZIPTOP/1259-R60-ziptop-macys-rougebt.htm
It's really only fuzzy in a couple small places. Here's what they look like...
Not awful, but I'd like to get ahead of it.
The last picture shows what coating it has on it.
@whateve the zipper is worse than I had originally thought, there are prongs missing in all the right places to cause it to not go at all. Lol
Not awful, but I'd like to get ahead of it.
The last picture shows what coating it has on it.
@whateve the zipper is worse than I had originally thought, there are prongs missing in all the right places to cause it to not go at all. Lol
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Yeah, that does like edge coating. I just checked my Dooney and it does look like that. I think a little brown paint might do the trick.
What are you going to do about the zipper?
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Maybe just take it and match it in store?
And honestly I have no idea now. Idk what the best route would be. I would take it to mamaw but she's still got the flu.
Any suggestions?