Jewelry Care Archives - Style and Fashion Blog

Leather Oil 101 – How a Good Leather Oil Can Increase the Life of Your Leather Jewelry

Aug 112012

As discussed in a previous post, leather is really not water resistant, therefore using a great leather oil to protect your jewelry, is mandatory.

I really don’t want to repeat myself but I hear the same question all the time – why is it that I can’t wear my leather bracelet when taking a shower? Well, do you wear your shirt when showring? Or your jeans? Or your leather belt? I hope that the answer to all of these is “NO”.

Look at leather as a fabric. Leather does soak up water, it does fade, and it does deteriorate.

I don’t really want to go in detail since we are discussing jewelry right now but this is a quick note for those of you who have motorcycles with leather seats and backs – leather cracks from a long exposure to sun. Think about it, it’s like your skin. You wear sunscreen if you are going to spend more than 15 min sunbathing. What about your bike, staying under the damaging sun rays for hours?

Enough warnings…Let’s go back to business – it’s nice to have a good leather oil to rub in your leather goods to protect them from whatever damage might come their way. You want to use leather oil for regular maintenance and preservation of leather items.

I have tried a few leather oils and I have to say that Obenauf’s Leather Oil is the one that I like the best. Obenauf’s Leather Oil is a gentle blend of natural oils, waxes, and propolis that extends the life of leather and also rejuvenates neglected, dried, faded leather.

A good leather oil:

Restores dried leather to a soft and supple condition.
Restores sun-faded leather.
Repels water.
Resists cracking, scuffing, and dry rot.
Applies easily with the applicator cap or with a clean cloth.
Penetrates deeply into leather.
Can be buffed to shine or polished over.
Contains no harmful silicones, petroleums, solvents, or neatsfoot.

You can use leather oil not just for your leather jewelry – it is also perfect for leather furniture, exotic dress boots, saddles & tack, motorcycle leather (provides outstanding protection against wind, sun, and water), garments, baseball gloves, work boots (firefighters use it to protect their boots from scorching heat of forest fires), automotive seat leather (protects it from the baking sun) holsters & scabbards, and much more.

Spring Trend 2012 – Safari Chic: Yes, It Exists!

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Apr 092012

If you’ll recall last week’s post on the Spring trend 2012 – pretty pastels and buoyant fabrics – hitting fashion spreads, runways, and department stores the world over, you might be surprised to learn that quite an opposite trend has also taken hold for Spring and Summer 2012. In stark contrast to the breezy, retro styles that are currently worn by the “in” crowd, a safari-inspired look is a timely crowd-pleaser too.

Spring Trend 2012 Safari Chic: Yes, It Exists!

Spring Trend 2012 - Safari; image source: stylebakery.com

While this might conjure up images of big game hunting and the requisite faded black and white photos that go along with it, there’s a way to pull this look off in a way that’s chic, feminine, and modern. And you certainly don’t need experience in the Sahara or the Congo to do it justice—channel the swanky desert-chic of Kristen Scott Thomas in The English Patient, and you’ll be well on your way.

This look is all about mixing materials. The four items you’ll definitely need in your wardrobe are a high-quality white or light blue cotton shirt, a slim-legged pair of khakis, a sturdy shirtdress in a neutral color, and a wide leather belt—from there, anything is possible.

During the day, be sure to sport a wide-brimmed hat, a pair of aviator glasses, and, for a bit of edge, try a knee-high duo of gladiator sandals. And, in the sunlight or shade alike, Sivani’s long leather necklaces look seductively rugged with an open cotton blouse. For the transition to evening, Sivani’s leather necklace with copper and amethyst provides a subtle infusion of natural color. Throw on a leather jacket and tie a silky, animal-print scarf around your neck to lend your look a while touch. Voila, you have pulled off one of the hottest Spring trends for 2012 – the Safari look!

Your leather jewelry worst enemy

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Feb 022011

Guys, I am sorry to break this down to you, but leather jewelry is really not water resistant!

Do you want to have your leather jewelry forever? Do you want to pass it on to future generations?

Than you have to put some work into it. But you say: “I love it so much, I don’t want to take it off! I want to shower with it, wash dishes with it (some of you might actually wash a dish or two…), swim with it, work out with it…”

Let’s face it – leather is like fabric. Every shirt you wear, it gets dirty, it gets sweaty…The difference is – you can put that shirt in the washing machine and have it cleaned BUT you can not do that with leather. Actually, you can clean it, but the more you do, the more essential oils you are stripping off it.

Think about it a little more – you wash and wash your shirt and ultimately it deteriorates. Wholes start popping out, colors get washed out…Do you really want to do this to your leather bracelet?? It is not that hard to take it off and spare it another wash. The less you soak (ultimately never) that leather bracelet, the longer it will stay with you!

And YES, there are products out there that you can apply to your leather jewelry that will make it water resistant BUT they are going to make it water resistant for a short period of time. Eventually, my friend, you will have to constantly re-apply that product over and over again. Did I mention that is not easy to apply a protective coat on a leather jewelry piece.

There are three other steps that you need to go through before you even get to applying the protective coating. Ok, I get it. You want to know them. May be, explaining them will help me prove my point:

First, you have to clean the leather with leather cleaner that is gentle enough to not strip the oils of the leather. Also, don’t use something with any type of grease in it because that can cause the leather to actually fall apart and break the strings holding it all together. This also can cause bacteria to grow in and around the leather (nice!). To add to that, you should clean the leather in a well ventilated area, which immediately should ring the bell that you will be working with harsh chemicals.

Second, conditioning…When conditioning a leather bracelet you should use a conditioner with fats and natural oils. Stay away from conditioners that have petroleum products (this is obvious, but just to throw it out there). Conditioning is something that should only be done occasionally because as the leather ages, it will break down the bracelet.

Third, polishing. Polishing should only be done if you want to achieve some shine for a more elegant look. Before adding the polish to the entire area of the leather bracelet, you should test it to a small area and make sure that the polish isn’t going to clog the leather pores and isn’t going to come off of the leather onto your clothing.

After all this struggle, you are ready for the application of the water protecting coating.

I hope that by explaining all the nuts and bolts on how to clean, condition, polish, and protect your leather jewelry, you will do me a favor and try to TAKE it OFF before starting all your lovely water routines.