Shoe Antiquing

[Yellowevo84]

Thank you jokb. Anything new from your end?

 

[Yellowevo84]

This one was more challenging. Darker brown shoes are always a difficult color to work with as not has much color comes out. It takes many more colors to achieve the final result. Simply using one color is not sufficient.

Before

After

 

[d4rkiez]

How is this effect of streaks achieved?





What kind of brush is needed and how dry should the dye be?

 

[Yellowevo84]

How is this effect of streaks achieved?





What kind of brush is needed and how dry should the dye be?

For this kind of effect you would want to use a small flat head brush, not too much dye on the brush and long strokes. Although this was built up probably using at least 3 different colors and starting with a white crust leather.

 

[d4rkiez]

For this kind of effect you would want to use a small flat head brush, not too much dye on the brush and long strokes. Although this was built up probably using at least 3 different colors and starting with a white crust leather.

Thanks for sharing! When you say 3 different colours, do u mean the base coat, the streaky coat and the darkening coat?

 

[Yellowevo84]



Thanks for sharing! When you say 3 different colours, do u mean the base coat, the streaky coat and the darkening coat?

Yes there will be a base coat, more than likely a yellow. Looking at the pic looks like probably 2 colors for the streaking then a darker for the toe and seams. I hope this helps.

 

[Yellowevo84]

This was sent in from a member here. A bit more of a berluti style I guess

Before

After

 

[flvinny521]

Question for the experienced folks here: my "project shoes" that I was working on before turned out OK, but when they get wet, even after they've been polished, the leather tends to swell and darken significantly. Also, there is more color loss when using certain products than on my professionally (factory) finished shoes.

I'm sure I have damaged the leather to some extent, but they were cheap used shoes from eBay and I'll live with it. I'm wondering if there is something I can spray or polish the leather with that will "seal" the shoe to reduce color loss or moisture penetration, and future polishing will be on top of this layer.

 

[Yellowevo84]



Question for the experienced folks here: my "project shoes" that I was working on before turned out OK, but when they get wet, even after they've been polished, the leather tends to swell and darken significantly. Also, there is more color loss when using certain products than on my professionally (factory) finished shoes.

I'm sure I have damaged the leather to some extent, but they were cheap used shoes from eBay and I'll live with it. I'm wondering if there is something I can spray or polish the leather with that will "seal" the shoe to reduce color loss or moisture penetration, and future polishing will be on top of this layer.

Let me first start off with every leather is different and some leather responds well to being repatinated then others. If they were cheap shoes then the leather is probably not up to par. what kind of products are you using to put on top of the leather after the recoloring and in what order. Now color loss from polishing is usually because not all the color was absorbed during the coloring and not enough was rubbed out during each layer. Before you start to finish the shoes with polishes you have to make sure no more color is rubbing off the leather. Unfortunately this is a trial and error business. Sealing can be done by using creams and waxes. I hope this helps in some ways

 

[flvinny521]

Let me first start off with every leather is different and some leather responds well to being repatinated then others. If they were cheap shoes then the leather is probably not up to par. what kind of products are you using to put on top of the leather after the recoloring and in what order. Now color loss from polishing is usually because not all the color was absorbed during the coloring and not enough was rubbed out during each layer. Before you start to finish the shoes with polishes you have to make sure no more color is rubbing off the leather. Unfortunately this is a trial and error business. Sealing can be done by using creams and waxes. I hope this helps in some ways

Thanks again for weighing in. They were cheap because they were second-hand, but they were Allen Edmonds. They're certainly not high end, but I figured they would be good enough for an experiment. After the dye (Fiebings dark brown), I let it sit a full 24+ hours, and then rubbed it vigorously with an old cotton T-shirt. I did not do additional layers because I only dyed them a solid color, no patina. At this point, there was very minimal dye loss. I let it sit another day and then began by conditioning with Saphir Renovateur. This brought out a fairly significant amount of color onto the cloth. Afterwards, I polished with Melatonian dark brown cream.

I also did a single light layer with Saphir wax over the whole shoe, as I figured this would be better for water-proofing.

 

[Yellowevo84]



Thanks again for weighing in. They were cheap because they were second-hand, but they were Allen Edmonds. They're certainly not high end, but I figured they would be good enough for an experiment. After the dye (Fiebings dark brown), I let it sit a full 24+ hours, and then rubbed it vigorously with an old cotton T-shirt. I did not do additional layers because I only dyed them a solid color, no patina. At this point, there was very minimal dye loss. I let it sit another day and then began by conditioning with Saphir Renovateur. This brought out a fairly significant amount of color onto the cloth. Afterwards, I  polished with Melatonian dark brown cream.

I also did a single light layer with Saphir wax over the whole shoe, as I figured this would be better for water-proofing.

So when dying shoes I usually recommend at least 3 layers of dye maybe more with rub outs in between each layer. This is because one layer just doesn't penetrate enough into the leather. Also renovateur is also a cleanser as well as a moisturizer so it is going to remove some of the color especially on one layer only. I prefer saphir leather lotion to moisturizer on single color jobs. There will still be some color loss but not as drastic. Meltonian is not that great to be honest for sealing after a recolor. Use saphir creams and at least 2 layers followed by layers of wax. You need to build up a protective layer over the leather

 

[kopo]

How do you guys layer wax over the entire shoe and avoid it cracking in the creases? I've never used regular wax polish over my entire shoe, but I've used a cream from Shoe Snob, which I assume as a lot of wax in it, as it leaves a nice shine over my entire shoe. However, it will show crackling in the creases after 1 or 2 wears.

 

[Yellowevo84]



How do you guys layer wax over the entire shoe and avoid it cracking in the creases?  I've never used regular wax polish over my entire shoe, but I've used a cream from Shoe Snob, which I assume as a lot of wax in it, as it leaves a nice shine over my entire shoe.  However, it will show crackling in the creases after 1 or 2 wears.  

I have put wax over my entire shoes without having any cracking of the polish. You want to be using very thin layers on the whole shoe and only focusing on the toe cap and heel counter with heavy loads of wax. If there is cracking in the creases from just using cream polishes that is very strange. Cream polishes are good enough for general protection on shoes but a hard wax polish is better.

 

[kopo]

Hmm, thanks @Yellowevo84. Will have to practice with trying to get thinner coats!

 

[sfo423]

Beautiful job. any reccos for an expert shoe re-finisher in San Francisco? I had a pair of damaged cognac Martegani's redone locally and after they further damaged shoes, the new staining is too orange to my liking (although I provided pictures of preferred tone). I really don't want them to touch my shoes again.

This was sent in from a member here. A bit more of a berluti style I guess

Before

After