While out walking today I saw a lady carrying a nicely patina'd Speedy 25. She just looked so great! Which reminded me of my poor little Speedy 25 sitting on my dresser (My current day to day is the Totally pm).
My Speedy was my very first LV, and for some unfortunate reason, I became very OCD about the vachetta handles. So within the first 6 months of bringing her home, I had:
- Baby wiped it (while the vachetta was pretty new.. why oh why..)
- Magic eraser'd it (:cry: .. the vachetta wasn't even that patina'd.. what was I thinking...)
- Applied olive oil since the eraser dried the handles out a bit
- Applied water all over the vachetta to.. I don't know.. wash away some of the oliver oil?
Did the above a few times, and since by then the handles were no longer new looking:
- Used a lint roller on it (strangely, seemed to have removed dirt from the handles.. probably because a thin thin layer of the leather was removed..)
- Left it out in the sun, but then I went to see a movie and it rained..
- Used saddle soap on the vachetta to clean and moisturize.. this actually went pretty well. Cleaned up the handles pretty well.
The poor little guy is still looking pretty good after all that.. but the handles are actually a bit pale and grayish compared to the pull tabs.. as if the platina process got stunted. So today I brought it infront of the hot steam humidifier to simulate a warm humid climate (I've read that in these conditions the platina process happens very quickly?) and then applied shae butter all over the handles. And stuffed it with white t-shirts. It actually isn't looking so bad. I know, hard to believe. But I do miss the nice smooth shiney handles from regular use as opposed to all this abuse.
Sigh.
I do love my poor little Speedy 25. :shame:
tree
My Speedy was my very first LV, and for some unfortunate reason, I became very OCD about the vachetta handles. So within the first 6 months of bringing her home, I had:
- Baby wiped it (while the vachetta was pretty new.. why oh why..)
- Magic eraser'd it (:cry: .. the vachetta wasn't even that patina'd.. what was I thinking...)
- Applied olive oil since the eraser dried the handles out a bit
- Applied water all over the vachetta to.. I don't know.. wash away some of the oliver oil?
Did the above a few times, and since by then the handles were no longer new looking:
- Used a lint roller on it (strangely, seemed to have removed dirt from the handles.. probably because a thin thin layer of the leather was removed..)
- Left it out in the sun, but then I went to see a movie and it rained..
- Used saddle soap on the vachetta to clean and moisturize.. this actually went pretty well. Cleaned up the handles pretty well.
The poor little guy is still looking pretty good after all that.. but the handles are actually a bit pale and grayish compared to the pull tabs.. as if the platina process got stunted. So today I brought it infront of the hot steam humidifier to simulate a warm humid climate (I've read that in these conditions the platina process happens very quickly?) and then applied shae butter all over the handles. And stuffed it with white t-shirts. It actually isn't looking so bad. I know, hard to believe. But I do miss the nice smooth shiney handles from regular use as opposed to all this abuse.
Sigh.
I do love my poor little Speedy 25. :shame:
tree
she deserves your full attention!! please take her out and show her the world!!!
all that and it still looks great! she is a trooper!