Making shoes bicolor

[alchimiste]

I have a pair of brown AE full brogues and I was thinking of going bicolor. Not a huge contrast as with spectators, rather two shades of brown, e.g. a more reddish color for the toecap. Anybody tried that?

Mathieu

 

[Manton]

How would you do it? Strip the dye from the toe cap and heel counter, and then repolish in a new color? (No, I have not tried that.)

 

[alchimiste]

Since I mean to go for a low contrast I don't think I need to remove anything. I would just use cream or polish to change the color of part of the shoe. But I may be wrong.

 

[Manton]

Well, there are some expert polishers here who can help you out. I don't know if you'll be able to get enough contrast just by polishing over what's already there, but you might. I guess you'd want to use the darkest shade of brown you can find on the toe decoration, the heel counter, and the throat. Let us know how it goes if you take the plunge.

 

[AlanC]

I have a pair of AE Lexingtons and have started using cordovan polish on the toe cap and the heel counter (along with just a bit of black for effect). On the rest of the shoe I use a light brown polish. The difference is subtle, but noticeable (well, to me), and I've just started doing it. I'm sure you could make the difference more pronounced by using darker/lighter polishes.

 

[Luc-Emmanuel]

you can always use some acetone to remove the colour from the parts you want to change. Then use a different polish on these parts. luc

 

[A Harris]

If the shoes are mid-brown or darker, spit-polishing the toe will give a two-tone effect. Otherwise, you could use black polish on the sections you want to darken. Black will turn brown few shades darker (dark brown will hardly change the color at all, unless you strip the leather first.)

 

[Manton]

A Harris: in your experience, does black polish ever truly "blacken" brown shoes, or only make the brown darker?

 

[A Harris]

It just makes the brown darker - the only black you could see is near the sole edge if you aren't careful and allow it too build up.

You can use straight black, but I prefer to mix in some dark brown, even a touch of oxblood. You end up with a richer color.

 

[faustian bargain]

a slightly off-topic, but related, question: how about adding/changing color on black shoes? say i wanted a reddish undertone, is there a technique beyond just polishing it with red creme? (i have seen the famous antiquing thread, possibly that method could work?)

has anyone tried modifying the color on black shoes? i'm thinking of a berluti-esque effect for some AE wholecuts i got recently.

/andrew

 

[alchimiste]

you can use acetone to remove some of the black and have another color instead. People do do this. However it's dangerous because you won't be able to undo it: if you screw up you cannot go back to the uniform color.

Mathieu