Patch aging

[Anonymous]

I had added to much matte finish coat which caused cracking, and crazing, I was pissed off and had to do another for a customer. It was going into a drawer of no return. I decided to wad it up then flaten it out then adding more dye. It turned out ok. I guess there is a market for both new looking and aged patches. This might end up on a distressed jacket I have. Whats your take on the market, probably depends on the buyer, or the state the jacket is in if it is to be patched. The good thing is with all the cracking the paint will not flake off. It's hard to spend time on a project, and then wad it up hoping you haven't messed up.

 

[atkins]

Interesting result...No water treatment at all?

 

[CBI]

I love the look - VERY authentic looking............

 

[Anonymous]

Interesting result...No water treatment at all?

No water, wrinkling.

 

[ButteMT61]

Looks great chit.

 

[442RCT]

I really like the pre-patina look. I spent many hours experimenting with rock tumblers, water soaking and wringing a wet patch to try to get the aged look. Kewlness

 

[a2jacketpatches]

"Whats your take on the market, probably depends on the buyer, or the state the jacket is in if it is to be patched"

My take on the market is that 99% of my clients want aged. There's been times where I send an new one and the customer asks how to age it or sends it back to be aged. Even on a brand spankin new jacket, lightly aged patches look at home and give the overall appearance of vintage. I think the subconscious mind expects to see this on any flight jacket. Of course there are a select few that want it to age naturally with a new jacket, but that is nearly impossible when using modern acrylic paints. So the only way for that to happen is to use authentic materials and see what happens.

 

[ausreenactor]

I love the look - VERY authentic looking............

I'm thinking the same...

Couchy

 

[Jeff M]

A bit of a side question....
to darken unpainted leather sections on a patch, anybody try/use a bit of hot tea judiciously applied with a Q tip?

 

[Anonymous]

You can use coffee or tea, I prefer something called eco flo saddle tan made by tandy, deluted with water. Whatever you use I would recommend a light matt spray to secure the dye

 

[a2jacketpatches]

A bit of a side question....
to darken unpainted leather sections on a patch, anybody try/use a bit of hot tea judiciously applied with a Q tip?

Ecoflow is the best, it comes in tan ( lots of yellow ochre in it )
Light brown ( sienna kind of orange warm brown )
and Dark Brown as well ( umber, on the cool side, like dark chocolate )
This stuff stains and is not very forgiving once applied, so care should be taken and even some experimenting may be in order. For example, the tan may give a lighter blue the green look.
Also, if you apply after the wrinkling, it will have a settled in look, if applied then wrinkled, it will have more of a flat appearance. After wrinkled and applied, you can lightly wipe the top with a damp rag and you'll get a very natural look as if it's been dirty and then worn. In otherwords, remove a little of the ecoflow from the high points. After some practice, alcohol works faster and like the opposite of a paintbrush when using a q-tip to remove color.

 

[TankBuster]

Very nice looking patch. It would look great on a beat up jacket!

 

[EMBLEMHUNTER]

I make my patches look used/older with a "wash" of thinned black or dark gray acrylic , I usually do this in a hit miss over the patch, I skip around so as to get an uneven looking patina to it , I think it works pretty good.
Johnny

 

[shedonwanna]

Acorns are plentiful this time of year and when smashed and mixed with a little warm water make a nice "tea" that will add some color to leather.