aged, cracked finish?

[JohnD]

I was wondering if anyone might have an idea how to create an aged cracked finish on leather?

I've done it before but it was unintentional and I can't remember what I did. About a year ago, I made a seat for a guy and in his car on the way home, stuff shifted and he ended up with a big scratch on it. He tried to touch it up but the color didn't match. He called me and I brought some of the dye I used and, with the wrong color stuff already there it didn't help. So we used something to remove some of the dye and I cant remember what, but after redying and finishing, The finish cracked and the seat look aged. It just so happened that the bikes paint job had been done in the same way to make the bike look like an old racer.

Now the same guy wants me to do a seat and pillion in the same finish and I can't remember what we used. Acetone maybe?

So, I'm curious if anyone might know of a proper way of aging the finish? In the meantime I'll be experimenting with some things to see if I cant stumble onto it again.

Thanks for any responses.

John

Also, the leather had been wet formed to the pan (before finishing), could this have contributed?