Tried a wet rub on my last leather cover and it totally shifted color

I was working on a journal cover with some dark brown goat leather last week and decided to experiment with a wet rubbing technique instead of my usual dry polish. The leather darkened way more than I expected, almost black in some spots, but it also brought out this nice mottled pattern I didn't plan for. I think I either used too much water or didn't let it dry even enough before burnishing. Has anyone else had leather change shades like that with moisture?

3 comments

3 Comments

angela431d ago

Oh man, I feel you on this one so much. I had a similar thing happen with a piece of veg tan once when I got too excited and slapped on too much neatsfoot oil. It went from this nice golden brown to a weird muddy dark spot right in the middle and I was so mad at myself. The mottled pattern sounds kind of cool though, even if you didn't plan it. Sometimes those accidents end up looking better than what we had in mind, you know? I'd say let it fully dry out for a couple days before you try to fix anything, because I've made it worse by panicking and adding more stuff on top.

nelson.cameron22h ago

Whoa yeah, I soaked a wallet blank in dye once and it looked like a tie-dye disaster. Left it alone for a week and it settled into this cool patina I couldn't have planned if I tried.

barbara8422h ago

Wait, you actually left it alone for a whole week after it looked like a tie-dye mess? I would've been scrubbing that thing raw within an hour, probably ruining it even more. That takes some serious patience man. Did the dark spots kind of even out into that patina, or did it stay blotchy in some places?