Thanks for the compliments!
It started out looking like this:
Lol, like I said this was my first attempt. I found these directions in a thread from Panera:
"Take from calf tan militare strap from gaemano
Soak it with some chemicals
Brush it gently till the some parts be came sueded
Take the patina
Coloured it with the patina
wrapp it up the revers side for giving some wrinkles
Brush it again for making light and dark area
Finally cover it with wax (shoe wax or etc)"
So, as you can read, quite a lot is still left for your imagination!
I substituted bleach for "chemicals" (lol)
Let it sit there for a good twenty minutes, scrubbed it with a stiff toothbrush and (believe it or not) wire brush
Rinsed it with water
Rolled it up, and used a rubber band to hold it like that overnight while it dried.
The next day, while it was still damp, I unrolled it and used the toothbrush to rub it a little further to even out the "patina" (lol)
Let it dry completely
Used beeswax over it. Later discovered "Simoniz" car wax works really good (the old stuff in the yellow can).
Final prep was just a polish like you're shining up your shoes
There you have it, not too difficult!
I'll keep everyone posted on the other strap, and of course the vintage Pam
