Removing Candle Wax From Leather
Having issues with candle wax on your leather items ?
Had an accident while out for a romantic dinner and managed to get candle wax on your expensive designer handbag or jacket ?
Following a simple process to remove this will make light work of the situation.
There are many ways which you can remove candle wax from leather. These are freezing, warm water, methylated spirits etc etc.
After years of research and testing Restorers have found the safest way to remove candle wax from leather. It is to gently heat the wax with a hair drier.
Using the hair drier melts the wax allowing this to be removed very quickly, safely and easily.
As you are gently heating the candle wax, use a pure white kitchen paper towel. This absorbs the candle wax into the paper towel. DON’T push hard on the wax. You just need to allow the liquid to be soaked up into the paper towel.
Always start to soak up the candle wax at the thinnest points of the wax. Then slowly work your way to the thicker areas, carefully soaking up all the wax along the way.
Pigmented Leather
Pigmented leather is by far the easiest to remove candle wax from. This is because it has a protective clear coating layer protecting the surface painted sections. Once the candle wax has been has been lifted away from the surface, you can use a very small amount of alcohol cleaner mixed with a small amount of leather cleaner. Then using a cotton bud gently wipe over the surface to remove any excess.
Different types of leather require different approaches. On items like aniline and suede you don’t want to turn the candle wax back into a liquid while heating as this could soak in further to the leather and through its natural pores. The natural pores are hair follicles that were removed in the tanning process.
The best way to remove the wax on these two types of leather is to gently heat again, but not too far so it forms a liquid, just enough to allow this to be soft enough to pick them from the surface with a fingernail.
Never scrape the leather as this can cause damage to the surface coating or embed it further into the pores of the leather on natural leather, including suede and nubuck. Leather Types
With the wax removal process, clean the leather after you have removed the wax. Then make sure you apply several coats of leather protection to keep your items protected at all times.
For further details and advice please don’t hesitate to contact us info@leatherrepaircompany.com
