Wested distressed lamb - WOW!

[IndyK]

I have to share my excitement over my latest project. Having now distressed both a cowhide and a goat Wested, I finally became the owner of a lamb Raiders.

After having made several studioshots, I decided to start distressing, using some of the same techniques I used for the goat. Mild sandpaper (240) and a lot of patient rubbing, turning and twisting resulted in the best jacket I have had so far.

When new, the lamb is very soft and drapes perfectly but the surface has a glossy look. I believe the trick is to rub this coat of shine 95% of - but not more. The rest has to come from daily wear and natural use.

The lighting in these before and after photos are very different, but the point is to show what the glossy jacket can look like in natural light after a surface treatment.

I'm very happy with the result, though I'm not finished with the details; pockets, edges etc. The feel of the hide is absolutely stunning - like velvet/suede and extremely comfortable to wear.
I also think this is the first jacket I have had that has the mat-black look I saw in Raiders, and not the browninsh look from LC.





Cheers

Indy-K

[Indiana Croft]

Thats awsome, I love the look of the after shot, I myself wouldn't go to much further and instead I'd let nature take it's course. From what I've heard of Lamb it distress quickly. So if you do to much now, it might after a year look like it ready for the bin.

But I love the way it looks. I just got a Todd's lamb and I'm glad it doesn't have the glossy look like the first shot.

Nice jacket wear it in very good health.
Croft

[ydam]

that jacket is lookin very nice. I am lookin forward to seeing some of the finishing touches you put on it.

[VP]

Authentic or Dark Brown?

[IndyK]

Authentic or Dark Brown?

Authentic.

[Indiana G]

k, that looks great! she looks like an old friend thats accompanied you on many journeys now. very well done sir.

[indy89]

Good job!

[mufflowne]

awesome dude! love the after shot. wish my jacket looked like that!

[Tennessee Smith]

That looks great, at what point of the sanding did you realize it was going to have that dark of a color?

[coronado3]

Wow! that authentic brown is much darker than other aut. brown lamb jackets I have seen. Hmmmm..

C3

[JulianK]

Yup, there's nothing that feels like a Wested lamb is there!?!

That after shot is awsome. Unfortunately mine still looks like the before shot and I've promised (my wife) that I'll leave the lamb looking slightly more dressier than my other two jackets which mysteriously both (what a coincidence!) got rubbing alcohol spilled on them!

...and who knew that you're not supposed to remove rubbing alcohol by rubbing it!?!?!? I mean, it's right there in the name and everything!

[IndyK]

Julian K, Yeah, accidents DO happen. Tell her that! I accidently dropped a roll of mild sandpaper on my jacket, and next thing, trying to remove the sandpaper, it was all over the jacket. I fought and strugled but nevertheless - the sandpaper unfortunately had allready touched the surface of the hide, all over and in some places even twice..)

Erin Jones, I didn't expect it to be that mat/black after I had made the studio-shots. But now I will have to do the shots again to see how it reacts to the studiolighting.
But more important, having now distressed both the cowhide, goat and lamb, I have learned my lesson. I now know why the lamb looked like it did in Raiders, and that was all that I could hope for.
And to those who are still thinking about what jacket to buy: For screen-accuracy, go with the lamb and distress it. For partly SA and real life durability: Goat. BTW, I will have to make some pictures of the distressed goat as well...

Cheers
Indy-K

[Tennessee Smith]

And to those who are still thinking about what jacket to buy: For screen-accuracy, go with the lamb and distress it. For partly SA and real life durability: Goat. BTW, I will have to make some pictures of the distressed goat as well...

Cheers
Indy-K

Thanks for the info but how less durable is the lamb? I mean, what is the feel of it compared to the goat?

[IndyK]

Thanks for the info but how less durable is the lamb? I mean, what is the feel of it compared to the goat?

The lamb is pure softness compared to the goat. The question is really a tricky one, since most of us think of durability when we are talking Indy-jackets.
My first jacket was a cowhide, ordered simply because I wanted a jacket that was durable, but the look, feel and drape of it did not match the look from Raiders in any way. I even tried rubbing my back against a brick-wall but it was practically unharmed and never even came close to look distressed.
So I sold it and bought the goat, and having distressed that one I decided to finally go for the original lamb.
In my opinion the goat is almost as durable as the cowhide but not as "stiff", and today its my everyday-jacket and also my ToD-jacket. The lamb however is probably durable like any other lambskin-jacket You find, but it's the only one that matches my impression from Raiders in every way. I'm not an expert on hides but the lamb today from Wested seems to be a very fine quality and it feels a lot better than other, ordinary lambskin-jackets I've seen.

Cheers Indy-K

[Satipo]

Great results! Did you ask for any special SA specs?

Adios,

Satipo

[IndyK]

Great results! Did you ask for any special SA specs?

Adios,

Satipo

No, not at all. I asked for a standard Raiders jacket, off the rack, so this should be what You get if You ask for a Raiders authentic brown lamb.

Cheers

Indy-K

[thePawn]

Can you give us a step by step instructions on how you obtained this look.

Thx.

[K on the run]

Please come to the summit I NEED to see that jacket in person. It looks absolutely GREAT in the photo

Cheers
Kim

[IndyK]

Can you give us a step by step instructions on how you obtained this look.

Thx.

Step by step is actually very simple: Work the whole jacket with small, gentle strokes and twists with a mild sandpaper. I concentrated on just removing the glossy surface, as to "break the sealing" and then leave the future use to distress it the places where it would naturally be distressed. I have only used sandpaper this time. I tried acetone on a pocketedge, but it did not do anything the sandpaper could'nt do, so I prefer the non-chemical way.
A tip: Start with the places that is not too visible; the innersurface, backside of the collar etc., so that You get a feeling for the sandpaper. I do the back last because it's a big and very visible surface so it needs a little more trained treatment.
I was a little more rough with my goat, same treatment, and the result is that it looks very ToD, but the stitches has gone loose in some places. Try not to rub too deep around stitches and hit the edges themselve instead.

Good luck!

K, I will do what I can to attend the summit )

Cheers
Indy-K

[Holt]

please read when this thread was posted. its from august 2007.


better pm him instead waking up dead old threads to life.

[Holt]

I understand. no problem.

you could soak the jacket body and just wetten the sleeves a bit to get a wrinkling effect. wear it until it dryes. then it will mold to your body type.


good luck

bests
Holt

[IndyK]

The jacket in the last photo was also treated with water, but it had no effect as to the matter of the mat finish. I beleive it only helps drying out the leather a little.
So the effect was really just a matter of taking the time to give it a gentle treatment with the sandpaper. Avoid long strokes of scratching and dont press too hard. Let the sandpaper work almost only by its own weight, controlled by a mild pressure from3-4 fingers.

Note: When You use sandpaper You should be aware that the stitches could be ruined, so it may be a good idea to try using alcohol on pocketedges. I tried, but I decided to go gentle with the sandpaper instead, so the trick is to take Your time

Indy-K

[IndyK]

I'm 99% sure the water was one of the things I tried first. I simply gave it a rinse with a shower, but as I remember it the glossy surface was intact. But come to think of it, I think the water was only tried on my previous jacket, which was a Wested goat. Anyway the effect was only a dryer leather an not a distressing effect as You see in the photo.
Both my goat and the lamb in the photo was treated with sandpaper, and thats where the mat finish came from. The light in the first photo showed in this thread is studio-light and the photo is taken for Wested and is the one seen here: http://www.wested.com/raiders-of-lost-a ... -103-p.asp

After I had finished the distressing I made the second photo and thats pretty much the color as You would see it most of the time. The brown look changes when the surface is mat, so it looks a lot more like the Raiders black-look I remember and which also was the goal for this experiment. But light changes a lot for most of the gear and I think dust also has a lot to do with the look we see on film.

Indy-K