einstine
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BEOFRE / AFTER
Before going into this you need to know that this process is very time consuming, probably around 3-4 hours of actual work spread out between a couple days. This is my first time dying any leather product, even my first time polishing a pair of shoes. So don't think you wouldn't be able to do this because most likely you'll be fine. All products that I used were bought from Amazon.
- Fiebings Leather Dye
- Fiebings Deglazer
- Wool Daubers
- Soft cotton rags
- Painters Tape
- Shoe trees
- Leather Conditioner
WHAT YOU NEED (FOR POLISHING):
- Cream based polish
- Horsehair brush
- Beeswax based polish
- Gloves
- Soft cotton rags
- Water
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I56RQ5S/ref=oh_details_o02_s01_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002PINOZI/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
So after you acquired all the necessary products, its time to dye! Between each step wait at least 20 minutes before moving onto the next, unless noted otherwise.
- Deglazer
Make sure your shoes are clean, use mild soap and water to clean them mine were new so there was no need to clean them. Soak a spot on a rag, rub the shoes with mild pressure. Even though my shoes were natural leather I still got some color or dirt off and onto the rag.
Using the deglazer makes the leather really dry as you may be able to tell with the picture below.
I didn't want any tan showing when worn so that is wear the painters tape came into use. I simply just went around the inside with it so I would have a guide and a better looking edge. Do not dye the inside of your shoes it will stain socks/feet when worn.
- Dying
Set up a nice spot with a chair and cover it with a rag or a garbage bag. It will get messy!
Dying the shoes was as simple as coloring, just dip the dauber into the dye and apply in even strokes. Make sure you have shoe trees in your shoes the dying process could misshape them. Keep a clean dauber nearby for going over the streaks you will get while dying to achieve a smooth even coat of color. You will more then likely need to do two coats of dye, so wait 20 minutes and repeat. The dye really took to my shoes, and if you have any hard parts to reach like I did between the welt and upper; I dunked the whole dauber in the dye and pressed hard against the shoe at let it run down into the the welt then smoothed out the streaks it left.
After dying your shoes the leather will be extremely dry, I would not recommend wearing them after just the dying process. You will need to wipe the shoes with a rag for a good while to get all the excess dye off, spend at least five minutes per shoe.
After waiting about an hour or two it will be time to condition the shoes, I used leather honey for this which I have used plenty of times before and it works great but no leather I have used it on took it like the shoes did they were extremely dry and they sucked up the conditioner in less then five minutes.
After the dye and conditioning your shoes should look great, below are how mine looked.
I let them sit overnight and checked them out once I woke up and noticed the dye was still bleeding. So I messaged the dye company Fiebings and they responded that it is normal and the shoes should be polished after the dying process. Ugh! I have no experience polishing shoes, nor the patience to wait two more days to receive all the stuff ...but I had no choice since I will be wearing these shoes with more then black trousers.
So while I waited for UPS to deliver the goods, I did some quick research on how to polish shoes and ended up coming across this article/tutorial by The Shoe snob.
Link:
http://www.theshoesnobblog.com/polish-your-shoes-properly
- It would be best to read it but here is the video that goes over the process briefly.
As mentioned this was my first time polishing any shoes, and I think I did a really good job and credit goes to the article above. The video and article does a really good job explaining the process, so there is no reason for me to go over what he did because I can't do it any better.
After the lengthy process of polishing my shoes, I couldn't imagine them looking any better. I'm extremely happy with how they turned out, and it was an soothing process but prolonged with all the waiting.
Here are some pictures of my shoes all done.
(WARNING! iPhone Photography)
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