Hermes Vintage Bag Nightmares & Hermes Leather Care

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Hello Dear Docride! I hope to glean some advice on this, a true H vintage nightmare. I picked this vintage Kelly at auction, at what I thought was an amazing price (and still may be, if something can be done with it). Of course, they only provide a few pics of each item from auction house, so I could not tell full condition, though I may still have gambled on it anyway. I have been following this thread- the cracks (peeling,more like) are just surface, and it does not have dryrot. I have no idea, nor would I dare, approach a refurb on this myself- but I do think it can be made wearable, and I am in love with its provenance. Any advice, please, before I take that long drive up to H boutique in Denver and they laugh at me Or should I just pass it on for a song to someone more capable of rehabbing her? HELP!!!

http://s280.photobucket.com/albums/kk185/kaleighjk/Bags/hermes vintage kelly 32cm/

 

[docride]

Thanks, Doc. I did go for a second round of Obenauf's but sat in front of a lovely fire and made sure I had warm hands.

Perfect and what a nice picture you have painted for me with your words Now your hands smell like honey huh? let me know how it's going...
PS> I find it's always best to remove the excess immediately and do thin applications rather than heavy ones...

 

[Bienchen]

Perfect and what a nice picture you have painted for me with your words Now your hands smell like honey huh? let me know how it's going...
PS> I find it's always best to remove the excess immediately and do thin applications rather than heavy ones...

I did indeed go easy on the application, Doc. It was really good fun but it has taken me probably two weeks to get the 2 BR 2OA treatments in, there's been so much else been going on and it was hard to find an hour without interruption.

I am hoping to have a night this week for final BR, yay! I think someone must have tried to make this Kelly a BBK at some stage as (apart from the base) all sides had black polish coming off! I do adore this bag and wish I had taken the plunge earlier.

 

[docride]

I did indeed go easy on the application, Doc. It was really good fun but it has taken me probably two weeks to get the 2 BR 2OA treatments in, there's been so much else been going on and it was hard to find an hour without interruption.

I am hoping to have a night this week for final BR, yay! I think someone must have tried to make this Kelly a BBK at some stage as (apart from the base) all sides had black polish coming off! I do adore this bag and wish I had taken the plunge earlier.

Actually, the longer rest periods between treatments is ideal Sounds like you are on track completely...Have fun!
Will you be fininshing with neutral or colored polish to bring to high shine?

 

[poppyseed]

Hello docride,

I got re-directed to this thread by a helpful member.
My DH found a very dirty Loewe bag in a car boot sale and I plan was to clean and dye it.
I don't think the leather is in bad condition, didn't seem dry or worn, the bags was just extremely filthy.
I have posted some photos in this thread (but can post them here once I get home tonight)
http://forum.purseblog.com/handbags-and-purses/loewe-551813-4.html#post20116801
I planned to use Tarrago to dye this bag, so I followed their instructions and used the stripping part of their self shine colour dye kit. The bag now seems much cleaner, but the leather is also a little bit stiffer. Some bad stains have still stayed, but are lighter.
My question is - should I use another cleaning product to clean it before dye? Or do another treatment with the Tarrago preparer? Or should I leave it as I plan on dyeing much darker colour (deep purple)?
Also should I condition the leather before I dye it? I believe that the Tarrago dye is also advertised as restorer, but I have not tried it on leather yet.
Appologies for so many questions.
Thanks in advance!

 

[Bienchen]

Actually, the longer rest periods between treatments is ideal Sounds like you are on track completely...Have fun!
Will you be fininshing with neutral or colored polish to bring to high shine?

Doc, there is no colour loss to speak off, so I stick with the Blackrock for final treatment but have noted Woly in my file when the Kelly gets "needy". It may be sooner than later, I use it a lot.

 

[lol042]

Hi doc,

I got a navy vintage jige in box that I showed you about a month back.
It has some light scratches on the outside and the leather has started to peal on the inside. You advised me to get the tarrago dye and polish and so I have! I have come back in order to find out how to move forward with this since I am a little scared of doing something wrong.
I am a little unsure about the inside, I am considering just leaving it for now and focus on the outside first and get that back to its initial glory. I want to give it its shine back right now. Its a little matte and dull but I think it looks quite good for the price I paid and its age.

Thank you for all you help!!!

 

[docride]

Doc, there is no colour loss to speak off, so I stick with the Blackrock for final treatment but have noted Woly in my file when the Kelly gets "needy". It may be sooner than later, I use it a lot.

Sounds good

 

[docride]

Hi doc,

I got a navy vintage jige in box that I showed you about a month back.
It has some light scratches on the outside and the leather has started to peal on the inside. You advised me to get the tarrago dye and polish and so I have! I have come back in order to find out how to move forward with this since I am a little scared of doing something wrong.
I am a little unsure about the inside, I am considering just leaving it for now and focus on the outside first and get that back to its initial glory. I want to give it its shine back right now. Its a little matte and dull but I think it looks quite good for the price I paid and its age.

Thank you for all you help!!!

Hi, Just use the dye for touch ups where needed and then use the polish all over and buff out..you should be good to go unless the bag is stiff and dry..In which case i would condition the bag (Avoiding the dye touched up areas) with some blackrock or other good conditioner and then follow with a good polish and buff out for high shine.

 

[docride]

Hello docride,

I got re-directed to this thread by a helpful member.
My DH found a very dirty Loewe bag in a car boot sale and I plan was to clean and dye it.
I don't think the leather is in bad condition, didn't seem dry or worn, the bags was just extremely filthy.
I have posted some photos in this thread (but can post them here once I get home tonight)
http://forum.purseblog.com/handbags-and-purses/loewe-551813-4.html#post20116801
I planned to use Tarrago to dye this bag, so I followed their instructions and used the stripping part of their self shine colour dye kit. The bag now seems much cleaner, but the leather is also a little bit stiffer. Some bad stains have still stayed, but are lighter.
My question is - should I use another cleaning product to clean it before dye? Or do another treatment with the Tarrago preparer? Or should I leave it as I plan on dyeing much darker colour (deep purple)?
Also should I condition the leather before I dye it? I believe that the Tarrago dye is also advertised as restorer, but I have not tried it on leather yet.
Appologies for so many questions.
Thanks in advance!

hello, I am supposed to be only address Hermes leatehr questions in this thread, as per the MOD's requests.

I have no idea what leather type you have..but for a non suede cowhide I would not condition heavily before dying..a light conditioning should be fine followed again by preparer. If you are going much darker I wouldn't worry too much about stains on the leather..do a test application and see if the dye will give you enough coverage.

 

[lol042]

Ok, thank you. Its really not dry at all and there aren't really any discoloured areas its mostly just scratched up here and there.
I got blackrock as well. Can I try and polish it and see how it looks first and then come back with the dye later? I don't know why but the idea of dye scares me, it feels so final
Maybe I am just being too scared, sorry to bother you with this....

Hi, Just use the dye for touch ups where needed and then use the polish all over and buff out..you should be good to go unless the bag is stiff and dry..In which case i would condition the bag (Avoiding the dye touched up areas) with some blackrock or other good conditioner and then follow with a good polish and buff out for high shine.

 

[docride]

Ok, thank you. Its really not dry at all and there aren't really any discoloured areas its mostly just scratched up here and there.
I got blackrock as well. Can I try and polish it and see how it looks first and then come back with the dye later? I don't know why but the idea of dye scares me, it feels so final
Maybe I am just being too scared, sorry to bother you with this....

Sorry I thought you had color-loss on the bag..(If you don't of course do not add dye where it's not needed, In anycase tarrago Dye can be removed quite easily with preparer at a later date if you wanted to..it is not final in teh way professional leather dyes are) So,I am working blind here without a new photo...In that case of course, condition and clean with blackrock removing the excess imediately with a paper towel...allow the bag to rest and then buff well before proceeding to polishing.. Sound good?

 

[lol042]

It is my fault, when I asked you about the bag initially I had not seen the bag either, I just showed you some ebay pictures. I just received the bag a week ago. It looked to be in worse shape then it actually is in the pictures from the seller. I don't have a camera with me right now so that is why I haven't showed you any pictures. I will use blackrock and see what the result is. Thanks again!!!!!

Sorry I thought you had color-loss on the bag..(If you don't of course do not add dye where it's not needed, In anycase tarrago Dye can be removed quite easily with preparer at a later date if you wanted to..it is not final in teh way professional leather dyes are) So,I am working blind here without a new photo...In that case of course, condition and clean with blackrock removing the excess imediately with a paper towel...allow the bag to rest and then buff well before proceeding to polishing.. Sound good?

 

[docride]

It is my fault, when I asked you about the bag initially I had not seen the bag either, I just showed you some ebay pictures. I just received the bag a week ago. It looked to be in worse shape then it actually is in the pictures from the seller. I don't have a camera with me right now so that is why I haven't showed you any pictures. I will use blackrock and see what the result is. Thanks again!!!!!

Oh no worries, I just get a lot of questions and it's hard for me to remember everyone's particular case...without a refresher and a photo

 

[poppyseed]

hello, I am supposed to be only address Hermes leatehr questions in this thread, as per the MOD's requests.

I have no idea what leather type you have..but for a non suede cowhide I would not condition heavily before dying..a light conditioning should be fine followed again by preparer. If you are going much darker I wouldn't worry too much about stains on the leather..do a test application and see if the dye will give you enough coverage.

I would think it is cowhide. I was worried that perhaps the dye wouldn't dye the material well after using conditioner...Thanks very much for your advise.
And I apologize - I didn't realize this is hermes only, just got a link from someone in the general handbag forum.