Aging the iPad leather smart case.

[StreetCrawler]

I'm new here and honestly probably won't post a lot. I've had an iPad since release date and enjoyed all the generations but the 4.

Last week I managed to run over my iPad Air with my car. (long story). Which left the iPad Air in the Apple Leather Smart case smashed. It did however enhance the case with some much needed character.

Here is the case of the iPad Air for those of you that are curious.

After upgrading.....um.......replacing my Air with an Air 2 and an new smart case I decided that the Apple case simply looks too pristine and new.

To me, there is something about leather that just shouldn't look like plastic. Leather should have character.

So, I took my brand new case.......here it is before.

....and attacked it with Acetone, Coffee, wine and sandpaper

Honestly, letting the iPad case sit in hot coffee on the counter top stripped the dye better than the acetone.

The goal is pretty simple. You want to strip away the dye and add back some texture and color of your own. People have been aging leather for eons. The one thing that they usually do that I avoided was soaking the leather in water to get it to stretch and open up. In this instance I wanted to keep the shape of the leather but get it too look a little less fresh, generic and stale.

Here is my progress so far with about 20 minutes of light work. It may take a few days to get exactly what I want out of it. I have some more dye to get off and more stain to put in. Trying to just do it with some natural things I have around the house but you could play with actual leather dyes to get a cool look.

Just thought I'd share this since I searched the web and couldn't find anyone that had tried to age an Apple leather case......off to work on my iPhone 6 case next

 

[Ibill]

Back in my old biker days we use "age" our leathers and other stuff so we would look like we had been around a while. Never thought of aging my computer stuff

 

[jwt873]

I picked up an iPad 1 when they first came out and at the time, opted for the Apple synthetic case. This case is still in good condition four years later.

I now have an iPad Air 1 that's almost a year old. The black Apple leather case that I got when I picked it up is is still mint despite the fact that it has been banged around a bit.

Apple cases are expensive.. They probably cost quite a bit more than what you can get aftermarket.... But the quality is indisputable.