Ruined My First Project!! Or, Help Me Fix It Please:-)

[MarkInKy]

Hello everyone,

First time project (other than some practice stuff) and first time posting.

I decided to craft a book cover for a 2018 daily planner for my wife.  I had already purchased this prefabricated book cover so I thought I would do this for a first project.  So here's what I did, right or wrong :-)

Did not clean the leather.

1. Cased & tooled.
2. Applied a light coat of Olive Oil
3. Rest a day
4. Stained the tooling on the front
5. Rest a day
6. Applied 1 coat of Super Sheen over the entire front of the cover.  So most of the project never received dye/stain directly.
7. Rest a day
8. Applied another coat of Super Sheen over the entire front of the cover.  
9. Rest a day
10. Applied a thick coat of Eco-Flo Saddle Tan Gel Antique (Could have been previously frozen).  Applied with a dauber for some reason, should have sponged it on apparently.  Had a little streaking (see picture)
11. Rest a day
12. Applied coat of Aussie Conditioner
13. I was happy with the results even though the project came out partially orange... see picture.  Maybe it's orange because the gel froze?
14. Let sit for 4 to 5 days and liked the results
15. Read a post here that said a person should dye any parts of a project you can see.  I could see the inner, unfinished flesh side of the cover so I decided to dye the inside.  So I grab some Bison Brown Eco-Flo water dye and add a bunch of water to it.  Proceed to apply the dye with a sponge but it wasn't picking up the color very well on the flesh side to I end up adding too much dye... because it bled through!  
16. Surprisingly I did not cuss or moan or throw anything.  I beat myself up mentally for feeling the necessity to follow all the advice I read!  Note to self, don't feel the necessity to follow all the advice!  Don't experiment on finished projects!  Listen to inner self say "I could bleed through, nah!"
17. Came here for advice on fixing my mistake

Need advice or ideas of what you guys would do to hide the mistake.

Please feel free to offer advice on the workflow I used to complete the project!  This is project number one:-)  All advice would be helpful at this juncture in my novice leather career:-)

Thanks in advance everyone!  

Mark

 

 

Edited December 15, 2017 by MarkInKy
Clarification :-)

[Northmount]

Not too bad really!  Just accept the learning experience and continue on.  If you want, you can beat it up a bit and call it distressed, aged, etc.

Now you know that dye can bleed right through the leather.  So the best treatment inside may be just to slick the inside with gum trag to lay the fibers down.  Or better yet, line it with a thin lining leather like pigskin.

Tom

[bikermutt07]

I'm no expert. And this would be an experiment.

I would try to get more to bleed through to give it an overall mottled effect.

But, that is just me. Throw this advice away as soon as it turns bad.

Good luck .

[fredk]

I'd go with bikermutt's suggestion; try to get more bleed through. if that doesn't work you're no worse off

Over-all thats a nice bit of stamping etcetera - its worth trying everything to save it

[Instinctive]

I might be tempted to just leave it and let it pick up a patina. Here is a before and after of the same finish after a couple of years use.

[bikermutt07]

15 minutes ago, Instinctive said:

I might be tempted to just leave it and let it pick up a patina. Here is a before and after of the same finish after a couple of years use.

Yeah, the spots would just kind blend into that finish, huh?

 

[Mjolnir]

4 hours ago, bikermutt07 said:

 

have you ever cut your own hair? I don't recommend it. When things go awry you think to yourself, 'maybe if I just shave a little to the left'. Next thing you are bald. if you think you can pull of bald, ie scrap your nice work. keep shaving. A maker will see every flaw in his own creations magnified a thousand times. A True Persian rug always has one knot tied wrong. 

I think your wife will love it. nicely done.

 

Edited December 16, 2017 by Mjolnir
ps

[MarkInKy]

Thanks guys!

So I took it outside during the day so it could dry out quicker and it turns out most of the darkening you see in the picture was just water!  The actual dye must have stayed on top of the inside of the leather letting the water seep through (glad it was like 75% water!).  The appearance of the stain has faded quite a bit and I will take the advice of Mjolnir and others, I'll do nothing:-)  Talk about lucking out!

Thanks and I look forward to more projects:-)

Edited December 16, 2017 by MarkInKy

[cord1974]

On 12/15/2017 at 10:44 PM, Mjolnir said:

have you ever cut your own hair? I don't recommend it. When things go awry you think to yourself, 'maybe if I just shave a little to the left'. Next thing you are bald. if you think you can pull of bald, ie scrap your nice work. keep shaving. A maker will see every flaw in his own creations magnified a thousand times. A True Persian rug always has one knot tied wrong. 

I think your wife will love it. nicely done.

 

I go through this with every single piece I make.

Something, anything, makes me think, "it's ruined". Yet, when the person it's made for receives it they never see the flaws I see.

Someone told me that's being a true artist, always striving to make the next piece better than the last.

Edited December 17, 2017 by cord1974

[robs456]

6 hours ago, cord1974 said:

Someone told me that's being a true artist, always striving to make the next piece better than the last.

'Someone' should be a philosophy professor. If we don't better ourselves we've stopped learning and if we've stopped learning we've stopped living.
 

Well, this message this powered by 15 year old Dimple so take it for the philosophical masterpiece it obviously is... 

[Firewalker]

On 12/15/2017 at 10:07 PM, Instinctive said:

I might be tempted to just leave it and let it pick up a patina. Here is a before and after of the same finish after a couple of years use.

Even better with time!  I dig it!  

To the OP, I would also just roll with it.  If you need a pick me up I will show you a properly ruined piece that was going to be dyed a light blue with some USMC black soaked all the way through.  I used a dauber to apply it and I wanted it nice and dark.  Well...... it turns out that passport wallet needed to be black inside and out.  Poof!  Lemonade.  Nice job on your project! 

Scott 

[Grumpymann]

I had the same problem (still am really)  for me it came from the finish soaking through and pooling. I had to change the way spread it on the back side of the project.

[Sheilajeanne]

My SIL made a Roman blind for their living room. She pieced together 3 swathes of upholstery fabric which were left over from recovering one of their couches. The first time I saw it, I told her how beautiful it was and what a wonderful addition to the room it was with the way it matched the couch.

She told me I had NO IDEA of the struggles she went through making that blind, and how awful she thought it was. The main problem was the fabric stretched as she was trying to sew it. so the blind turned out uneven.

I had to look at it VERY closely to be able to see what she was talking about.