[derek west]

as some of you may know, ive just completed the ltt 4 day leather cleaning and restoration coarse.
i would like to thank andy and judy for looking after me for the duration of the coarse, which i would highly recommend to anyone who is thinking of going down this route, there was no sitting at a desk being talked too, this was 90% hands on rstoration work, which you do yourself under the guidance of andy, i learnt how to repair all types of damage, how to mix colours, we were even let loose on some on going jobs in the workshop which andy encouraged us to do. the class was taught in a relaxed informal manner which made evryone feel right at home. the small class sizes gave you a chance to get quick answers without sitting around waiting for your turn.
on the last day i took along a 2 seater settee that need restoring, with andy's guidance me and pete, from carpete cleaning set about the task and (even though i say so myself) got a fantastic result, so much so that i now have to restore the 3 seater that goes with it.
i am now addicted to restoring leather and can't wait to start my first job, repairing a terracotta pigmented suite next week.

as i said before, i met carpete cleaning pete and would like to thank him for helping me transform the 2 seater settee into a masterpiece.

so for anyone that cleans leather, do this coarse and your confidence will grow 10 fold.
and all though i missed mike hallidays invitation, if anyone is taking a project up to ltt and needs to cut the cost down, give us a shout and if i'm free i'll definately be there.
derek

[mark shannon]

What's the cost Derek?

[derek west]

for all 4 days it was around £300 + the dreaded vat but you can do selected days and split them up, but personally i'm glad i did all 4 in a row, and ive all ready got 2 restoration jobs totalling £250 which i would of turned down before the course. worth every penny and really enjoyable work, if i could fill my books with leather resto work, i'd sell the truckmount tomorrow, or get my mate to run the carpet side of things, that would make better sense.
derek

[Steve Barnett (Carpet Care Plus)]

I did the LTT course last year Derek and I agree you can learn a lot and really boost your confidence.

I personally would rather clean and protect leather than upholstery any day of the week.

Unfortunately, even though I advertise leather and have a high google ranking for it, I find that enquiries are few and far between.

[Robert Watson]

  Nice one derek.
Thats how I felt when I completed the course at Gateshead.
For some reason the longer I left things the more I lost my confidence.
Next week Iv got 3 leather jobs to do, £480 quid and I know I could have got more if I was more confident.
This morning I refinished 3 base cushions and some minor scratches on my own suite to get back into it. Turned out pretty good, I could have made a better job of sanding down the filler (tips welcome) as you could see it slightly in a certain light. She was well please. Brownie points Fir Rabby Boy.
Glad you enjoyed it. I`m sure you will keep us posted.

Steve, it is out there. Iv found by just talking to people about it and always checking out leather when doing carpets you can pick up work. Up until now I have done very little about it, but next week thats going to change.
All the best.
Rab.

[markpowell]

Leather cleaning jobs seem to be very few and far between, i think the reason is because people buy leather so that they can clean it themselves. There should be more demand for the restoration side tho.
I agree Derek, Andy & Judy at LTT cant seem to do enough, i call them regular for advice always get excellent customer service.
Mark

[derek west]

we are always taught in carpet cleaning, to make sure you tell the customer, "i can clean it but it won't look like new". but with leather and restoration, you actually can make it look like new. i'm in the process of gettinmg a seperate website for leather cleaning and restoration and i'm gonna throwe a few quid at the seo, chris boswell is the man for that job. if i spend a £1000 on seo then thats peanuts to what i could get back with a few big jobs. roll on next monday
steve
what search phrases are you seo'd for.
i think auto is a big market, spoke to a few sales reps and they have asked me to give them a business card, so after the website i'm hitting the road and approaching all the garages within 10 miles of me.
derek

ps... does anyone have a close formula for terracotta :

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I know Ben at Furniture Clinic said that there is a massive market for car upholstery cleaning and repair and customers will pay for theri pride and joy to be restored, I did one a month or so ago, it was from an older 5 series BMW and cleaned and redyed 4 seats in this guys internal garage as he had taken out the seats for me and it looked stunning but ideally you want a workshop as you need a good clean enviroment so dust doesn't settle and things to hand.

BTW if you are having trouble mixing colours I send samples away to Furniture Clininc I think they cost about £15 for 125ml, but the LTT courses are fantastic I like both companies.

Shaun

[derek west]

got a work shop sorted shaun
my mates an upholsterer and said i could use his lockup, plus he hates colour mixing so i can see him passing a few jobs my way when he replaces panels.
gonna book the terracotta job in for next monday so i got 8 days to get close to the colour and then tweak it when i get there.
well looking forward to it.

rabby.
genuine question, how do you put a grain pattern in sanded filler?
derek

[Shaun_Ashmore]

You have to use the filler while it is wet like polyfiller so you apply and then put teh correct grain on to imprint hair dry to speed drying and then take off, modern day artexing.

Shaun

[Tony Gill Carpet Smart]

Shaun whats it like on that FENCE

[derek west]

shaun
i know how to put a grain pattern in filler, just done 4 days at ltt remember, i was asking rabby how he puts a grain pattern in after he's sanded the filler.
derek

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Tony what batting for both sides?

Derek I know but you have just been on a course but think on, you have just sanded down some DRY filler so it's smooth, you would have to apply some more moist filler ontop to then use a grain pattern.

Shaun

[Tony Gill Carpet Smart]

 :

[derek west]

or just get the filler right the first time so it didn't need sanding down.
derek

[LTT Leathercare]

Hi Derek thanks for the kind words.  It was a good week with an interesting mix of people to share information with.

As  you saw on the course we do not use fillers very often unless the damage is very deep.  Using the pigment to repair minor scuffs etc means that air dried fillers (or those dried with a hairdryer) are not required and there is no requirement to replace the grain pattern as none has been lost.  The scuffed area is not sanded off but remains intact to be pressed back into place after applying the pigment.

If grain pattern is required to be replaced or damage is sufficeint to require filling the heat dried filler is much quicker to use.

As for the 'terracotta' - get to work on those colour charts and the answer will be revealed!!!!!

 Nice to see you hope it all goes well for you.

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Spot on Derek.

Shaun

[CarPete Cleaning]

Hi there,  I attended the 4 day LTT course with Derek last week, and would just like to add my testimonial, that this was probably the best course I have ever attended in terms of the knowledge and hands-on experience gained.  Andy has a wealth of knowledge and puts this over in a clear and simple to follow way.  I would cetainly recommend this course (do all 4 days) to anyone who is thinking of branching out into the leather cleaning, repairing or restoration markets.
Cheers,
Pete

PS   It was great to meet Derek, who is not so scary in the flesh as you might imagine !!
PPS   There is no 'hard sell' of their products, but be prepared to hand over plenty of the crisp foldiong stuff, as you wont want to leave without being fully kitted out !!

[Shaun_Ashmore]

I agree there's definately no selling going on at all, items there if yo uwant to buy but if you don't no problem, I'd also agree with a 4 day course as you can absorb things better and try them out on the next day when it's all sunk in a bit and ask questions about them under the watchful eye of Andy.

Shaun

[derek west]

ditto on the 4 days, i felt sorry for the ones that did 2 and 3 days, they missed out as day 3 and especially day 4 is putting all the day 1 and 2 knowledge to work.
pete
i'll take that as a compliment as i always thought i was scarier than anyone could imagine.
and she wants the 3 seater doing pete so if your in the area next week i could do with a hand, hope i can get that paint formula right,
hoiw many drops of black was it??
derek