Club Obi Wan

Ok, so the headers a little vauge. My MKVII bag "had" a black stain on it when I first got it so many years ago. I tried to remove it and now theres this one spot thats way to light and you can still see the black stain (might have been from a sharpie).

Now the area in question isn't so bad that I haven't been able to live with (ya I know, has that adventure look to it) it, but I was wondering if any one know which RITT dye to use to try and cover it up, just so it's not so apparent.

I mean should dip the whole bag or is there another way.
Here's some pics.
Let me know your thoughts and ideas.
Croft

EDIT: sorry, I've erased my answer because I had not understand the question...

When I got mine it was nasty. I washed it in the washing machine with detergent and once dry I spray painted it after the paint dried I washed again and it came out great

I've said this in other threads. The Army used to have a liquid 'dressing' for web equipment. Varyingly called Blanco, Capo, Webo and others.
This dressing amounted to being like a latex paint. Certainly water based. It came in a number of colours, tan, olive, etc. It was applied to the web equipment with a small stiff brush and worked in. When dry was sometimes buffed over again to harden the surface.
You could accomplish re finishing these bags by duplicating this process with flat latex paint. Select an appropriate shade at your local paint supply, probably thin it some as in this case you are more interested in the colour equalising effect, and go to town.


(edited for spelling and typos)

Hey R C Signals,

Wow, good to know. I'm always impressed with what people know around here! It's amazing.

Dan S

These bags are incredibly colorfast. I recently tried to add some color distressing by soaking the bag in hot tea water for an hour, and the canvas didn't take a drop of it. Not one drop. So I tossed it in the dryer and called it a day. The Wested shirt, however, if boiled in tea for an hour, will end up nearly the exact shade of the Noel Howard shirts.

Since they are made of canvas the canvas may have some sort of water resistant treatment applied by the textile mill. For both the reproductions and original but especially the originals

Not to change gears in my own thread, . But when you boil a shirt in tea, is it permanet or do you have to repeat the process.

And as far as my MKVII, I'm going to dry hot water w/Ritt dye of a green OD color, all I'm trying to do is just disguise that one little area, I never should have scrubbed so hard with a spot remover.

Croft

Not to change gears in my own thread, but when you boil a shirt in tea, is it permanet or do you have to repeat the process?

According to my dad, who I asked the very same question, it is utterly and irreversibly permanent. He said that tea will NEVER come out of fabric once stained. Being the cautious fellow that I am, I started with only 1 tea bag, boiled and stirred the shirt with a wooden spoon for about 30 minutes, and then rinsed the shirt off and threw it in the dryer for an hour. Zero color change. So I decided to use 2 bags of tea, and let the shirt soak, with less stirring, only lifting it periodically to expose the folded parts of the shirt. Same process: soak, rinse, dryer. The color was almost perfect to the NH shirts. I decided to stop after that, instead of risk dying it too much and getting the wrong color.

Good to know, thanks. Any paticular type of tea...Earl Grey (hot)........

Well I put the MKVII through a dye bath. Using Tan & a little brown. It's drying now. I can see the area were the old black spot was, I can see the black spot but know the color around it is uniform. This was the effect I was looking for. Once dry I'll of course take pics and post ;0 , might be a day or two for it to dry completly. Then I might give it a light Todds distressing technique on it, but not to drastic.

Croft

Well hey, it's just me agian. Well it's dried, it's a little more brownish tan than, but still a greenish hue to it. Over all it's ok.
Next week I'll hit it w/Todds distressing, but not a heavey dose, just lightly.

Here are the pic's from the first post.




And now the after shots.



And heres one out side.


Croft

MUCH better. The spot is much more subtle now. That's something I could live with. And to answer your question, I just used plain old Lipton tea.

Gave mt MKVII a dose of Todds distressing technique, it's sitting in a bucket of dirt as I type. To much rain in the forcast to bury it out side. So in acouple of days or next week, I'll unearth it, clean it up. Take two more shots and we'll see.

Croft

Ok, well I've given it a dose of Todds distressing, sat in dirt for four days, dried in the sun and then beaten "lightly" .
I like it, unfortunatly you can see more of that dratted black stain. Debating of staining it again wRitts Taupe just for kicks and leaving it at that. I'm just going to do the close up shots for the prossesion of project. Your thoughts are of course most welcome.
Croft
Here are the pic's from the first post.

After the dye bath.


And now after the Todds distressing. (click on pic for a better view, sometime I just can't figure photobucket)

I think I'd just leave it alone now. The bag looks nicely used and worn. The spot just adds to the character and looks like it belongs.

I had a similar thing with my old MKVII a kid from the neighborhood, sanded a big part of it, at first I didn't know what to do as well, and then I decided to leave it at that, Like Rcs said it adds character.

Also, check out Soldier Of Fortune. They have both liquid (reenactor) and bar (genuine) Blanco:

http://www.sofmilitary.co.uk/products.asp?pg=513

Regards,
Swindiana

While there was a bar form of 'Blanco', it was usually or often issued as a liquid in a can with a screw top.
To call the liquid 'reenactor' only is a bit of a misnomer.

whipwarrior wrote:

Not to change gears in my own thread, but when you boil a shirt in tea, is it permanet or do you have to repeat the process?

According to my dad, who I asked the very same question, it is utterly and irreversibly permanent. He said that tea will NEVER come out of fabric once stained. Being the cautious fellow that I am, I started with only 1 tea bag, boiled and stirred the shirt with a wooden spoon for about 30 minutes, and then rinsed the shirt off and threw it in the dryer for an hour. Zero color change. So I decided to use 2 bags of tea, and let the shirt soak, with less stirring, only lifting it periodically to expose the folded parts of the shirt. Same process: soak, rinse, dryer. The color was almost perfect to the NH shirts. I decided to stop after that, instead of risk dying it too much and getting the wrong color.

Caution: You should be very careful which tea you use. If you use Chamomile, you could find yourself falling asleep while driving. Apparently the high strength of the tea will seep into your skin from the shirt and send you to sleep. You might want to use a zinger tea.

Thanks for the tip and link to Blanko, but what exactly is it? A cleaner or a dye?

Croft

RCSignals wrote:While there was a bar form of 'Blanco', it was usually or often issued as a liquid in a can with a screw top.
To call the liquid 'reenactor' only is a bit of a misnomer.

RC:

Sorry about that, I was only quoting their stock.

Regards,
Swindiana