Finished -- I think -- Distressing my Wested. Opinions?

HigHurtenflurst · Post by **HigHurtenflurst** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 11:46 am

This is my Wested authentic dark-brown lamb. Too shiny originally, I started with just acetone to try to reduce the shine. That didn't do enough so I took the big leap to sandpaper. Took a long time to work up enough nerve to work my way up from 1000 grit automotive sandpaper to 320 grit, but when I did, I started noticing some results. That and a little acetone, and I'm fairly happy with the results.

Of course, once you start, do you ever stop distressing? Should I, shouldn't I, what do you think?

JAN · Post by **JAN** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 12:03 pm

Nice job.

In my opinion You just made the bacic distressing.

Now You need to do all the seams, and afterwards make
some "combat" distressing.
Here I am taking about single distressmarks ex. on the elbows,
on the back (truck-toow-marks) ect.

That way Your jacket will look much more "authentic".

Is´nt it nice to know that You still can do some work on Your jacket

Best regards

JAN

J_Weaver · Post by **J_Weaver** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 12:09 pm

I like it as is. It has a nice subtle worn look to it.

Indiana Wayne · Post by **Indiana Wayne** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 12:20 pm

Looks good!

HigHurtenflurst · Post by **HigHurtenflurst** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 12:24 pm

JAN wrote:Nice job.

In my opinion You just made the bacic distressing.

Now You need to do all the seams.....
Is´nt it nice to know that You still can do some work on Your jacket

Best regards

JAN

It's funny, now that I look closely, the sanding on the seams just doesn't seem to show up very well in the pictures... Especially the back panel and the shoulders. Must be the lighting. But you're right, I've enjoyed distressing it so much I really didn't want to "let it go, Indiana". Back to the 320 grit!!

Post by **Ken** » Sat Jul 30, 2005 1:45 pm

Dont rush in to anything - the jacket looks good as it is. Its a good distressing job, not uniform or anything but as Jan says not the heaviest (man you should see HIS jacket).

If in time you want to add to it you can, but its a lot different if you OVER distress the jacket.

Ken

Erri · Post by **Erri** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 12:17 pm

I'm not a fan of Distressing Craft but anyway it looks very good distressed to me, the rest would come naturally using it

:post: Indiana Tone you look like Harrison Ford in poison

Zach R. · Post by **Zach R.** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 2:11 pm

Harrison Ford had his indy costume in Poison?

BTW, I'm not a fan of heavily distressing your jacket, I think it looks fine as it is...now put down that power sander.

HigHurtenflurst · Post by **HigHurtenflurst** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 5:02 pm

Thanks for you input guys! I worked a little more at the seams, though it still doesn't seem to show up as well in the photos, but now.... I. AM. DONE. I swear. Well, I think I'm done. I hope I have the willpower to just leave well enough alone.

The final product:

Kt Templar · Post by **Kt Templar** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 5:16 pm

I like it, it's less distressing to the jacket and to the heart. Maybe we can call it seasoning or tempering a jacket instead!

Nice work!

KT

HigHurtenflurst · Post by **HigHurtenflurst** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 6:14 pm

Kt Templar wrote:I like it, it's less distressing to the jacket and to the heart. Maybe we can call it seasoning or tempering a jacket instead!

Nice work!

KT

I like it! "Lightly seasoned with 320 grit sandpaper, with just a hint of acetone for flavour!"

Serial Hero · Post by **Serial Hero** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 6:54 pm

Very nice. Great job on the seams, and the jacket as a whole. Not too over done.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Fri Aug 05, 2005 9:41 pm

I also think it looks great as it (now) is, HigHurtenflurst.

Sandpaper - wow, I think someone would have to actually drag me underneath a truck for a while
before I'd agree to attack my one, my only, my ... PRECIOUS (jacket) with sandpaper of all things.

Like I said - yours definitely does look good - I just can't see myself doing that.
Maybe when I get a second one, I'll feel different ... but then again - I doubt it.

No offense, Dark Side (Distressing) fans,

IndianaRedmon · Post by **IndianaRedmon** » Sun Aug 07, 2005 1:41 pm

Looks great HigHurtenflurst, make me want to start thinking about distressing mine.

J_Weaver · Post by **J_Weaver** » Sun Aug 07, 2005 2:39 pm

Looks great! I'd definately quit while I was ahead.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Sun Aug 07, 2005 6:44 pm

OK, I'm sensing a win-win opportunity here ...

It starts with 2 people:
Person 1 (Your Basic Live and Let Live Leather-type person who would rather scrape their own forehead with sandpaper than their nice, new Wested).

Person 2 (Your Basic Leather Must Suffer Now and Repeatedly-type person who enjoy making leather scream - I mean they actually enjoy it).

It works like this - kind of like having your dog trained by an expert for 1 month - only instead of dropping off your dog - you leave your Wested in the hands of a trained, acetone packin', leather-scraping mercenary. Then, after Person 2 has gotten his/her jollies and have reamed, rubbed, scraped, and dragged your jacket relentlessly - you pick it up (not looking at the whole jacket in its entirety mind you

(far too painful for a single setting) ... but in sections - you slowly reveal and take joy in the glory of your Indy Screen Accurate jacket - $\:D/$

Quelle idée ... mais c'est bête enfin !

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Sun Aug 07, 2005 7:38 pm

P.S.>

No offense - but I can't block out this imaginary picture I have of you guys the day you receive your shiny, new Westeds ...

It goes like this -
Step 1: (See Avatar) A little "how do you do" session just to loosen the jacket up a bit ... whilst screaming like a banshee:
"You will never look this new again, ___ !!!"
Step 2: You drag it across some dirt and loose gravel over to: The Acetone "Table of Woe."
Step 3: You introduce your jacket to your "Sandpaper Torture Chamber" where you proceed to get 'medieval' on it.

... and REPEAT.

Ark Hunter · Post by **Ark Hunter** » Sun Aug 07, 2005 9:46 pm

Looks good! I see there's another Dark lamb in our midst.

Nice!

Looks like you need some sun and to put on a few pounds though...oh wait, that's your chair.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 12:17 am

Indiana_Tone wrote: Actually, Spooky, the decison is very daunting.
The first day's arrival of a new Wested consists of marvel, amazement, admiration, and awe.
The first few steps in distressing are the timid, barely noticeable passes along the leather for testing its marking threshold.
It's this next step that forces one to commit to the distressing since there's no turning back. That first, hard, scrape! (Now, you've done it! There's no turning back after that one.) You wince, study it a little more, and realize that it doesn't look so bad - but it does look out of place with the rest of the shiny, new jacket. You must continue.
It's not so much a need to drag the thing all over the place and ruin what you can on a brand new jacket but very much an artistic approach to manually aging the thing without looking like it's been manually aged. There are mishaps that occur just in getting the feel for how the tools one uses and the jacket itself react to one another. Having tried this myself and being fairly happy with the results I've learned that it really is an artform to distress a jacket in this way without showing much flaw or man-made markings on it in the process, which is why I can express such appreciation for some of the work I've seen on these jackets. HigHurtenflurst's and Flattery's recent distressings having proven to be some terrific examples of "just right".

Agreed - HigHurtenflurst and Flattery did outstanding work on their jackets.

Thanks for the description, Indy_Tone - it sounds pretty intimidating.
The fact that you describe distressing as an "artform" makes it even more foreboding to COW members like me who barely survived arts and crafts class.

Hey ...
:idea: This sounds like a perfect show & tell event at the next summit ... I'm sure someone would be happy to donate a piece of gear to have some of the really gifted Gearheads in this forum demo their Sith-like magic and enlighten (read: seduce) the rest of us into the cold dark web of the Dark Side (Distressing).

Take it easy,

Texas Raider · Post by **Texas Raider** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 1:20 am

Is it just me, or do the pockets on this jacket look DRASTICALLY different in size? Is it an illusion?

have a nice day.

Xhiwar · Post by **Xhiwar** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 9:40 am

Umm... so it is a dark brown lambskin?

Looks good. I'll have to reconsider ordering a dark brown instead of an authentic lambskin wested...

Indiana Croft · Post by **Indiana Croft** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 8:23 pm

Love your hany work, looks real good, for me I've been distressing mu Auth. goat off an on over a period of time. This way it doesn't look like I did it over a couple of days, but I do it over the course of months and every one will think it's natural distressing. Haven't done any for a while, so I'm thinking....watch a little baseball, sand my jacket hmmmm.
Croft

J_Weaver · Post by **J_Weaver** » Mon Aug 08, 2005 11:51 pm

Tex, your right! The jackets lrft pocket seems smaller than the right. (Yes, I realize that the bottom the the jacket isn't aligned) It must be an illusion though.

Texas Raider · Post by **Texas Raider** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 1:08 am

Xerox wrote:Umm... so it is a dark brown lambskin?

Looks good. I'll have to reconsider ordering a dark brown instead of an authentic lambskin wested...

That would be a good decision, Xerox. Personally, I think the dark brown is more screen accurate "looking", simply because Harrisons jacket is so worn looking, that it looks dark. I have the dark brown and the authentic, I personally like the dark better. JMO.

have a nice day.

Dre · Post by **Dre** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 1:19 am

i ordered an authentic brown (should be here within 1-2 days i figure!). starting to regret not choosing dark brown though...but im sure it'll be great

Ark Hunter · Post by **Ark Hunter** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 7:49 am

That photo of the lam looks like it was taken from farther back, so you don't see as much of the texture. (if I'm remembering correctly)

zeus36 · Post by **zeus36** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 9:50 pm

Love that color!

My next jacket will be Dark Brown....

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 10:04 pm

OK, Indy_Tone ... let's hear it ...
What the heck happened? (Avatar)
I told you guys all that gung ho medieval distressing would put someone's eye out !

HigHurtenflurst · Post by **HigHurtenflurst** » Wed Aug 10, 2005 2:41 am

Thanks for all the compliments guys! Indiana Tone, you nailed it when you described the angst involved in distressing something as sacred as this jacket... I've been waiting all my life for this puppy to come along, and the last thing I wanted to do it was over do it to the point where the distressing looked too intentional, and I'd be embarassed to wear it in public.

Yes, this is the dark brown authentic, and yes, it was just as shiney and smooth... It actually looked great out of the box, but it bore no resemblence at all to anything remotely Indy-like... which was the whole point of getting it in the first place! As for the color, I really like the dark brown; To my eye the color looks perfectly screen accurate.

As for the pockets, I nearly had a brain embolism until I dug this one out of the recycle bin, showing the pockets to be more or less the same size... Now I can sleep tonight:

Now if only the @#$%!!!! weather would cool off enough for me to wear it once in a while!!

Finished -- I think -- Distressing my Wested. Opinions?

Finished -- I think -- Distressing my Wested. Opinions?

Jacket

Distressing Kings