I am thinking of distressing my Jacket

iwsmith · Post by **iwsmith** » Fri Dec 26, 2003 8:32 pm

Hi,

I have two jackets, a pre-distressed cow-skin and a goatskin. I am thinking of trying to distress my goatskin myself. I have done some searching on these forums and could not find any one guide on how to go about this. Are there any? Does anybody have any advice?

The only one entry I found said to do the following, fill jacket with paper and then cycle around with the jacket dragging along behind the bike. I am on the edge of trying this. Any comments?

This enthusiasm for a original looking jacket has come about after my wife bought the Indy DVD's for Xmas, what a great present.

Sincerely

Ean

whipwarrior · Post by **whipwarrior** » Fri Dec 26, 2003 10:01 pm

Don't do that. It's a very bad idea. The jackets in the movie were very carefully distressed too look the way they appear. Dragging your jackets around with a bicycle will not make them look that way. You will get them filthy with that black tar crud that passes for street paving material nowadays, plus nails, broken glass, motor oil, and whatever else people have discarded.

What you need is acetone, very fine sandpaper, water, and plenty of movie stills for reference. Oh, and a lot of patience, too.

-Dale

IndyBlues · Post by **IndyBlues** » Fri Dec 26, 2003 10:12 pm

I would suggest checking this out:

http://www.regular-guy.com/jacket.htm

MK will show you the way!

Captain D · Post by **Captain D** » Fri Dec 26, 2003 11:39 pm

You "may" want to use just Fullers' Earth. This is simply a movie dust to help make objects look "aged." This way, if you ever decide to make your jacket look brand-new again, all you can do is simply wipe it off. Plus, Fullers' Earth looks great when applied! (especially if it is a light brown to use along the seams of the jacket). As for the acetone and sandpaper...it's irriversable...once you use it, you can never go back

.

Just a suggestion!

Captain D

Lindiana · Post by **Lindiana** » Sat Dec 27, 2003 12:01 am

Amen to that Captain D, especially with the goat. The Goat is a very hard leather to distress anyway just cause of it's strength. I love the look of the distressed jackets from the movies but then again there were many of them and sadly on my salary I only have my goat and lambskin. I find it really hard to take sandpaper and acetone to each of these $250.00 jackets that I would like to last as long as possible to get the natural distressing going on. I used Fuller's Earth for Halloween and what a difference. It made the jacket look perfect, just like the film versions and a couple days later I got caught in a rain and when I got home the jacket looked like it did before I applied any Fullers at all. I little Pecards on it and voila back to looking like the day the package arrived at my door.
Lindiana

JAN · Post by **JAN** » Sat Dec 27, 2003 7:58 am

My jacket being in lambhide made the job easier, but I´ll recommend sandpaper combined with brickwalls

.

It will give the distressing some variations so it will look more autentic.

You can get an idea on how it looks by looking at mine right here :
Jacket

Best regards

JAN

whipwarrior · Post by **whipwarrior** » Sat Dec 27, 2003 10:45 am

NICE jacket, Jan!!! Looks very Temple of Doom! I can tell that you took a lot of time and care to make it look authentic. Very impressive! I think results like this should help advocate more artificial distressing of leather jackets, because it's proof that, when done right, there's nothing more awesome-looking than a distressed Indiana Jones jacket.

-Dale

Pyroxene · Post by **Pyroxene** » Sat Dec 27, 2003 9:52 pm

I used standard Isopropyl Alcohol 91% to age my Wested Lambskin in an LC style.

There was no damage to the skin of the jacket. I just removed the color from the leather.

Pyro.

IndyBlues · Post by **IndyBlues** » Sat Dec 27, 2003 11:44 pm

I wonder. Will Isopropyl Alchohol work on a Cowhide wested?

Pyroxene · Post by **Pyroxene** » Sun Dec 28, 2003 1:43 am

IndyBlues wrote:I wonder. Will Isopropyl Alchohol work on a Cowhide wested?

I haven't had much success with it. I have rubbed over a quart of acetone on my Wested Cow and it has done very little to remove the color.

I had to use the sandpaper method. I sanded on either side of the stiching so as not to damage the thread. Even then, results were so-so at best. The cow is some serious leather.

Wested Cow is my winter/rain coat. My lamb is my Spring/Fall coat. I will get a cotton wested for summer evenings.

(Note: the pen caps were my attempt at a color reference.)

Indiana Joe · Post by **Indiana Joe** » Wed Dec 31, 2003 12:36 am

whipwarrior wrote:Don't do that. It's a very bad idea. The jackets in the movie were very carefully distressed too look the way they appear. Dragging your jackets around with a bicycle will not make them look that way. You will get them filthy with that black tar crud that passes for street paving material nowadays, plus nails, broken glass, motor oil, and whatever else people have discarded.

What you need is acetone, very fine sandpaper, water, and plenty of movie stills for reference. Oh, and a lot of patience, too.

JAN, that's a great looking jacket!

Dale, I know you're an expert in the LC distressing department--your jacket is the one to which all others should be measured. That said, I don't recall a photo reference here on the forum. Do you have one from our meeting earlier this year?

IndyBlues · Post by **IndyBlues** » Fri Jan 02, 2004 5:18 pm

Pyroxene, that jacket looks fantastic. All you used was alcohol? Amazing. I'm probably going to be getting a Wested lamb, and I'd like to get that look. Fantastic.

whipwarrior · Post by **whipwarrior** » Fri Jan 02, 2004 6:51 pm

Sure, Joe (Thanks for the compliments, by the way!). I didn't take any photos from the meeting, although I did shoot a video (Michaelson has a copy). Before and After photos of my jacket can be seen here:

http://www.geocities.com/pangaeascape/jacket.html

-Dale

Hemingway Jones · Post by **Hemingway Jones** » Mon Jan 12, 2004 10:29 pm

I think that the distressed jackets look great, especially Dale's and Pyro's. -Great Job. But, I am entirely too OCD to do that to mine. I just got my Lambskin Wested, just before Christmas, and I have decided to distress it the old fashioned way: I'm going to wear it as much as possible. (Not possible currently in Boston, as that it has been around 10 degrees!)

-Tim

billy3ci · Post by **billy3ci** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 1:31 am

Hemingway Jones wrote:I think that the distressed jackets look great, especially Dale's and Pyro's. -Great Job. But, I am entirely too OCD to do that to mine. I just got my Lambskin Wested, just before Christmas, and I have decided to distress it the old fashioned way: I'm going to wear it as much as possible. (Not possible currently in Boston, as that it has been around 10 degrees!)

-Tim

10 degrees? try 0 degrees!!! (i am in central massachusetts)

...and i wear my lambskin TOD

Hemingway Jones · Post by **Hemingway Jones** » Tue Jan 13, 2004 8:45 am

OK, Maybe it's possible to wear it, but not particularly comfortable. For those days, I wear my Thinsulate L.L.Bean bomber jacket. It has a certain amount of Indy-ness and it is much warmer. I do find myself wearing the Wested around the house.

Hats off to you, for toughing it out in Central Mass.