I am a fan of vintage leather bags and one of them that I fondly collect is of that Dooney & Bourke brand because of things I’ve noticed with the brand throughout the years. The brand is timeless and classic and those vintage ones are sewn with thick threads, the bag gold tone are heavy and it was strung with a leather thread, they hold the shape and that smell of leather is built into the bag.
Over a few years when I stumbled with one for such a good price, I will buy it and I do targetted the one from 1980 and older.
I will go online and look, just to find out if what else are some of the styles that came out. There are so many and most will price it high, even they are not in best condition, and even when I like them I will not even dare to make an offer.
Patience I have that and I do practice it by not rushing on buying just because it is available.
Weeks past then one night I came across this vintage 1980 bag, and the seller listed it as “Classic Bowler Bag by Dooney 1980,” and it was listed for $24.00. For that price that is cheap, but I wonder why it was listed that low.
I found out it was out of shape and was not taking care of well therefore, I went ahead and bought it, and I will figure out what to do with it later on.
That seller description of it required TLC I immediately recognized I want to be the next owner of this bag and will take care of it.
When it arrived I was in the middle of painting my shoes, and decided it is still early so what not go ahead and handle the cleaning now. From the first sighting it looks rough and neglected as the leather is dry and scuff, the handles are sticky and inside smell like vintage bag.
Then I looked at my shoes and I said “Oh, I can actually paint this bag as well” and make it more beautiful.
My process started with wiping the entire bag with wet wipes to remove skin oil, dirts and whatever that needed cleaning. After that, lysol wipes will follow and for this process alone it took me ten minutes but I had to wait for it to dry.
Then the areas where I don’t want to paint I wrapped it with washi tapes. Mixed my acrylic leather paints because I decided to paint it in different colors. I do not have a definite color in mind when the bag arrived but then when I saw the orange which is sitting on my table I goes that is actually a good color for the trimming. For the turquoise I like the brightness of it and that applied on top, with darker brown on the handles and the bottom edges that was an experimentation color of blue and gray. All these colors I used were the available colors that time and I didn’t regret it.
Painted started but it was a slow process as it required different strokes with different sizes of paint brush. It took me 45 minutes on painting because I had to wait one side to dry before painting the other side. That was just the first one strike of paint.
I had to take a break while waiting for it to be dry. After that another layer of paints will be apply and that is another 45 minutes of painting.
I waited more than an hour to dry the second layer of paint. Once it was dry I had to apply a coated paint to keep the paint permanent.
It will take at least two days before the bag can be use but sometimes more than that and with this bag because it is summer it dried faster.
But that is not the end of the process yet because I had to cleaned up those areas where splatter can be seen. To me this is the step I don’t want to deal with but I have to do it.
The last step is I put a leather conditioner on the bag to keep the bag in good condition.
Here is the before and after result.
From a bag that was black and brown to the new color of turquoise, dark brown and an orange trim made the bag more noticeable and lovelier.
I contacted the seller and showed her the outcome and she was impressed as it looks like a different bag.
The brand Dooney & Bourke wayback then used a high quality leather, and because they are built to handle the test of time and the leather they used were thick, this is why their vintage bags are heavy.
When I took the initiative to paint this bag I know it is in a safe hand, because I enjoy applying leather conditioner to most of my bags, and then when I do not use them they stay inside a bin with the lid.
I have the coloring books to thankful for because in coloring I learned different ways how to handle crayons and colored pencils in different angles, how to color in areas where I had to curved my hands, how to color deeper or lightly. I started coloring wayback in 2015 and I took it to our travel on a weekly basis because it easy to pack and entertaining. The idea of taking something to switch focus when Rebel and I were traveling is more than just a coping mechanism. I prove it to myself that some hobbies can be done while on the road or when it was time for us to park for the night. In coloring it doesn’t require talking but rather having the mind being active.
That enjoyment I felt when I colored pages, I also felt that whenever I am painting bags and my shoes.
I am proud of myself for doing a good job even I am not a professional painter.
