Can I use shoe polish on a leather jacket?

[DuneMuadDib]

I'm having some trouble distressing the jacket for my Ninth Doctor jacket. The tests with acetone haven't yielded any result and I'm leery to go at it with sandpaper. I threw in the dryer on no heat several times which softened it and nicked up the edges well. The only problem is that the leather seems to be aging grey instead of brown like the Doctor's coat. If I go at the worn areas with brown shoe polish will the raw leather take the polish well, or is this a completely bad idea?

Furthering that, what are some good way to naturally distress a jacket at a faster pace? I'm in southern California, so wearing leather all the time doesn't always work so well unless I wanna sweat myself to death (though it's getting colder now) but I'm feeling a bit impatient about it looking well worn :confused

 

[superjedi]

There are dyes that are made specifically for leather.
Maybe you could check around for some shoe repair places to see if they carry them. Maybe tack shops as well.

 

[exoray]

Furthering that, what are some good way to naturally distress a jacket at a faster pace?

Put it in the dryer with a few tennis balls and/or some old gym shoes and some small pieces of wood, no heat, you will need to tape (secure) the door shut and you will probably want to leave the house as it will make a bunch of noise

As for dye or polish it should work, but I have no idea if it will actually get the desired results you are looking for....

 

[DuneMuadDib]

I did the dryer numerous times with old tennis shoes. It scuffed up the edges, but it also took off most of the buttons on the coat If there were a way to do it and protect the buttons I'd go nuts doing that, but after the eighth button resewn in leather I got a bit sick of that. Ran out of black thread too

 

[Lan-Ed-Tul]

tandy leather, gett the brown leather dye. i use dyes from there when i make any jedi belts or pouches.

 

[UFO]

i cant really contribute anything, but, where did you get the jacket?

 

[DuneMuadDib]

I got it here. It's not 100% accurate to what Eccelston wore onscreen, but I'm fairly certain it's accurate to what he wore in promo pics and what Tennant wore in the Children in Need special and the cold open of Christmas Invasion just following the regeneration. It's close enough for my tastes in any event. At some point I'll get photos of me decked out as the Doctor.

Now to find a Tandy's close by. Now for the areas I want to "age" from black to brown do I need to hit that with acetone or sandpaper before the dye, or is it just magically going to take the brown over the black? Having never dyed leather I'm a noob at this, so pardon the dumb question

 

[Lan-Ed-Tul]

nrowne over black will give it a very lite shade of brown witht e black underneath, and at least when i accidentally did this once, it kinda looked like old weathered and maybe slightly burnt look to it.

if i was you, get a scrap piece, hit the black dye on it, then the brown. maybe after a few tries different amounts of brown, youll hit the magic range your aiming for.

but use some scrap pieces beforehand till you get the results the way you wish.

 

[kalkamel]

Try Pecard's leather dressing. http://www.pecard.com/store.php/