Ageing and Distressing

 

Sweat Stains - Baby oil produces realistic sweat stains and doesn’t evaporate. you can faintly see the stains on the seams just under and around the sleeve.

 

 

Blood – add the desired colour dye to either PVA or latex and apply to the prepared wounded area. Dry with a hairdryer and move around to create a broken skin area. After the PVA has dried seal with either a clear varnish also mixed with a little dye.

 

Bullet wounds made with a knitting needle. 

 

 

 Dirt – Fullers Earth is a hygienic type of dust used to make mud. It’ll make a nice greyish looking mud that dries a lighter whitish grey. This is even better than potting soil and certainly better than dirt from your backyard as it’s free from bacteria, germs and other living things. If you want it ingrained, wet the surface of the cloth/leather first and then sprinkle and rub. You can add more when it dries for top dust. Add to PVA and rub into the garment for a more permanent effect.

 

 

Other ageing and distressing techniques:

Rips and Tears – get a wire brush like the kind for taking paint off walls. Run this across the garment. It will snag and tear the fabric. You will probably need someone to stabilize the fabric and then you hold right where you are brushing and pull it off the edge. Sandpaper, stitch rippers and cheese graters all achieve a more realistic tear or rip compared to a crisp clean cut that scissors create.

Breaking Down the Garment – the easier way to make something look older is to wash it a few times. This will fade both the colour and soften the fabric removing the scratch. If you have a backyard, leave it outside to weather for a week in the sun, wind, and rain. You can use sandpaper on the area of wear: knees, elbows, seat of pants. Start with a coarser sand paper the finer grades further out. Fill the pocket full with pebbles and leave to hang for a few days. This stretches the pockets out. Creases can either be pressed or steamed in.

 

Leather – sandpaper, wire brushes, rusty chains, hammers and “kickin’ it around the dusty gravel driveway” are all good for creating scuff marks on leather. Leather balm applied heavily and rapidly with a cloth and rubbed off can give the look of greasy wear marks.

Dyeing and Bleaching – you can give the garment an aged sun bleached effect by adding some bleach to water in a spray bottle and then apply an even coat of the solution. You can also use lemon juice to bleach out colour. To give the garment an aged dirty look you can over dye the garment with a light grey wash.