The Ultimate "HARDCORE" Shoe Porn Thread (Bespoke only) - Page 69

By finish I mean kind of "crust finish" with layers of polish. Like if you have areas that are bulled Lexol destroys that right away. It just takes off a ton of polish. Also, just areas that aren't bulled per se, but have a bit of a spit shine to them and are very shiny. I feel like it takes a bit of time to get that back.

Now I understand what you mean. Personally, I am not a fan of polish layers as a finish, although I understand that many makers use it (Berluti does, I know). Although it is much more time consuming for the maker, and also more work, I am a much bigger fan of finish through layers of dye. I had no idea of the difference until I sent a pair of shoes for a Ron Rider "antiquing". He used well over a dozen layers of dye, and I'm sure the process took a couple of days, but the result was unbelievable... and extremely durable.

Yeah, he uses dye & polish. He is a big supporter of using cream polishes to color leather.

You may want to re-read the thread. The antique finish is achieved mainly through layer after layer of dye. At the very end, cream polish (as well as wax) is used to highlight the permanent (and durable) finish achieved with the dyes.

http://www.styleforum.net/forum/thread/45530/shoe-antiquing

http://www.styleforum.net/forum/thread/45530/shoe-antiquing/15#post_728502

http://www.styleforum.net/forum/thread/45530/shoe-antiquing/30#post_736540

You are not Robinson Crusoe...FWIW

I've got to say that of all the statements about conditioners, I find this one, coming from you, to be the most authoritative - all those old shoes you've posted look like they've been in a 100% nitrogen environment over the decades.

Interesting about DWF's comments on Meltonian. Meltonian is the major shoe creme seller in Australia apart from Kiwi and a bit of Angelus. Cobblers speak highly of Meltonian renovating creme for putting colour back into shoes.

geting back to bespoke shoe pics:http://bespoke.exblog.jp/tags/France/

How often do you guys bespoke? Seemingly pricy.

Have you seen the D&G pair? I'll give up all of your Crosbys for a pair of those.

Apples and Oranges.

This just in (maybe posted on SF already, but here goes): Tony Gaziano's G.J. Cleverley order. Bespoke-made iguana skin two-tie derbies.

Who wants to own a pair made for the Master?

http://cgi.ebay.com/BESPOKE-G-CLEVERLEY-IGUANA-LIZARD-SHOES-GAZIANO-/220827298334?_trksid=p5197.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D4%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D2012598092872084182#ht_654wt_1243

This just off the last.





I am pretty pleased with this pair, though as always many areas for improvement.

Adding steel eyelets would be my suggestion....shoe looks fantastic....great Adelaide design