Applied 10% alcohol solution to remove oil from scratch

[gamerfry]

Hi Shoe repairer forums, I would like to start this post by saying that I am a massive idiot and did stupid things. Now that that is over with. three days ago I slipped on some ice and got a scratch in my new shoes. It was about 1 inch long and was surrounded by smaller surface scratches. In order to rejuvenate the leather I applied a leather conditioner that night. The following morning most of the color had returned to normal around the scratch but the scratch itself was much darker and noticeable. This continued into the next day resulting in this picture: http://imgur.com/D4FgfFQ,hiSL0lw,xACTDNM#0 [1] I read some techniques online for removing the oil and lightening the color. The technique I decided on was taking 70% isopropyl alcohol by volume and diluting it 5 times down to 14%. I applied this to the scratch with q-tips in a light fashion. I then would scrub with saddle soap. I repeated this process about 3 times. What I noticed however, was that instead of getting lighter, the scratch was actually getting bigger and darker! After much panicking and repeat attempts the final product now looks like this: http://imgur.com/D4FgfFQ,hiSL0lw,xACTDNM#1 [2] As you can see there is a middle area which is dark which I would guess is the area of the original scratches. The leather does not look very cohesive, almost like a suede, with pieces being somewhat flaky. The surrounding lighter circle was not scratched and maintains a normal leather look albeit lighter probably due to the removal of some of the dye. The weird thing is when I apply ANY substance to anywhere in the affected area including wax, saddle soap, conditioner, the alcohol solution, water... It immediately soaks it up and has a very rough texture. It looks like this: http://imgur.com/D4FgfFQ,hiSL0lw,xACTDNM#2 [3] is this due me having removed all of the wax? If I apply the wax it keeps that dark color so how do I get back to the original color? I am so confused and lost as to what to do. I described my problem to two cobblers and they didnt seem to want to take it on. How can I restore these shoes and not lose a $400 investment after less than a week? Thank you all!

[hibsjo(SCO)]

i would use a mixture of meths and surgical spirits to remove the wax from the leather and allow to dry

this might "bleach" the area but you will need to polish the colour back onto it anyway

carry on!

[Georgios6567]

I've delt with this kind of situation before. The process of that leather has a sort of paint over the top. When you used the alcohol it took off that surface. The only way I have found to repair those is with and expierenced cobbler. My technique to fix that for my customer was to match paint and feather coat the uppers. I don't believe a light polish over a dark surface would do the trick. Of course this is all based off of the photos. We would have to see it to confirm.

[Georgios6567]

As for the "sueding" texture only think to fix that is to iron or burnish.