JAN/FEB our new Bal acquisitions!

TPF may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, and others

#95
earswithfeet said:
Beautiful! I just love Bal metallics and bronze has a special place in my heart! :love:
Can't wait to read how you managed to repair it. Looks great! My Bronze Day could use some damage control on her pretty face...
Click to expand...
Lengthy repair post is now up! :heart::hugs:

haisley said:
Apologize for the longer than normal post, I want to be as detailed as possible and have you all learn through my mistakes on this one. :doh:

Grabbed an 05 Metallic Bronze First recently and it arrived with rub marks throughout that revealed a silver color underneath the original bronze coating.

Using the mirror as my test starting point, I thought I was prepared for surgery. :facepalm:

🚫 DO NOT DO THIS 🚫
Armed with Saphir Bronze metallic cream polish tested a small spot, but quickly discovered this technique was not going to work. It just slid around covering nothing and only leaving behind a dirty looking residue that wasn’t covering anything. I recovered quickly by wiping this off.

🚫 DO NOT DO THIS 🚫
Next up, acrylic leather metallic paints. Played around with different mixtures until I was satisfied, after it was applied the paint did not sit well on top of the silver. The finish also wasn’t drying right and it looked horrible. This couldn’t be rubbed off like the Saphir polish. Panic was starting to set in.

⚠️ MAYBE DO THIS ⚠️
To fix my paint screw up, I grabbed a few cheap items you all likely already have at home: Q-tips and rubbing alcohol (70%). I was able to take the paint off slowly by using the Q-tip with a little bit of rubbing alcohol on the end using light feathering brushstrokes. After several minutes, I noticed that not only was the paint gone on the spot I was testing, but the silver spot I was trying to coverup had disappeared and I was left with a finish that looked almost like new! :wtf:💡

What I learned is the alcohol was spreading the metallic finish and if done carefully I could cover up the silver spots doing this without any damage to the bag itself. This technique ended up working because this bag has the metallic finish coated on top and the spots being treated weren’t terribly large. As the Q-tips get dirty or start to loose it’s shape, discard and grab a fresh one. Always let dry and try another pass if needed. Once done, let dry completely and protect with your go-to leather conditioning cream, mine is Leather CPR.

Here are a few before and after photos of some of the areas I touched-up.

BEFORE:

View attachment 5927653

AFTER:

View attachment 5927650

View attachment 5927657
Click to expand...
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: DJ Mommy Mom, jancedtif, yuzulife and 1 other person
#101
haisley said:
It has taken me almost a year, but I finally found one of my HGs. :happydance:

As if that wasn’t exciting enough, I also discovered (by accident) a way to repair this metallic. Before and after shots of the front mirror shown below and when I complete this project will be creating a post in the Rejuvenating, Restoring & Repair thread with all the details.

2005 Metallic Bronze First :loveeyes:

View attachment 5927574

Front Mirror (Before):

View attachment 5927575

Front Mirror (After):

View attachment 5927576
Click to expand...
Beautiful !!!
 
  • Thanks
Reactions: haisley
#105
Black Neo Classic Cagole Dirty Effect City. Another one I searched for a long time and hoped I'd hate. Not happening. It's love all the way.

I'd been obsessed with this color because in the few photos of the "Dirty Effect" I saw online, the color looked navyish. There just weren't enough photos of it either way and I only had a few stock photos to go by. This used to be on Balenciaga's website, but you can't even find photos of it there anymore. Given how little I had to go on, I was nervous that it would look nothing like I imagined. Where I bought this didn't even call it the Dirty Effect, just "black", so I risked them sending me a black bag (which I didn't want) instead of the Dirty Effect.

The color code is 1000, but this does not look black. It's a dark blue-gray slate, with the most subtle metallic sheen. It has some lighter colored "wear" around the edges which look even more blue. Honestly, I'm blown away by the color and sheen. Sadly for my wallet, it's not going back.

FYI the Dirty Effect also comes in white. That one does truly look dirty.

IMG_2237.jpegIMG_2242.jpeg
IMG_2240.jpeg
 
  • Like
  • Love
  • Wow
Reactions: andral5, Norm.Core, ghoulish and 10 others
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top