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Leather Cases - Patina Proud Photos

I don't have the patience to wait for 3 years or longer. By that time I'll probably have changed phones or be thinking of doing it. How good to me is a patina'd case that I'm not going to be using because I'm ditching the phone?

I like the way it looks now, but I'm 90% sure I'll like it more in the coming weeks, when the natural oil in my hands makes the grip areas even darker. It will also look much smoother and shiny. The REAL leather lays underneath the protective tan layer and I'm enjoying it earlier than those very patient.
 
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Young Turk said:
Great reviews! I have and like the Elago Clear, and have ordered the Barlow in black pebble from Burkley, the Bullstrap in Bourbon, and the Veil in Frost from Caudabe.
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Nice choices. I was between the black pebble Barlow and the antique distressed coffee, went with coffee. I should have it this weekend.
 
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I’m surprised by the number of 12 Pro Max leather cases that are sold out all over. I shoulda kept the 12 Pro —- but maybe my wallet not draining and need to be happy with the case I have is not a bad thing. :)
 
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pgarram said:
OK, so I guess I'm one of the first people to have the guts to destroy his Saddle Brown leather case (12 Pro Max) because I'm too impatient to let it patina naturally.

I got the case on the 15th of November and just a bit over a month later it was still pretty light and didn't see the progression I wanted. I've seen photos of previous models' leather cases after 1 to 3 months and they were much darker, so that made me think that this year's version had a thicker protective layer. From what I read in a few comments in this forum, other users mentioned the same, so I decided to remove that layer. It was done by rubbing a wet wipe really hard on the surface, which reveals the darker brown colour you can see in the photos. After I was done rubbing the light tan layer, I applied coconut oil, let it dry and painted the logo black using a Micron pen (I'll probably regret this soon), let that dry too and applied more coconut oil.

At this point, I'm pretty happy with the result, since the colour looks more like aged leather and the case seems to get darker and smoother as I touch/rub it with my fingers, which I love. I'm sure I'll have an even nicer patina in just a few weeks.

I hope this info is useful for those of you who don't mind destroying a $60 case. In my case (no pun intended) the result was worth it and I'm much happier with this than with the plastic-y light tan look.
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Did doing all of this reveal the round magnet mark I see, or do you use the MagSafe charger?
 
pgarram said:
OK, so I guess I'm one of the first people to have the guts to destroy his Saddle Brown leather case (12 Pro Max) because I'm too impatient to let it patina naturally.

I got the case on the 15th of November and just a bit over a month later it was still pretty light and didn't see the progression I wanted. I've seen photos of previous models' leather cases after 1 to 3 months and they were much darker, so that made me think that this year's version had a thicker protective layer. From what I read in a few comments in this forum, other users mentioned the same, so I decided to remove that layer. It was done by rubbing a wet wipe really hard on the surface, which reveals the darker brown colour you can see in the photos. After I was done rubbing the light tan layer, I applied coconut oil, let it dry and painted the logo black using a Micron pen (I'll probably regret this soon), let that dry too and applied more coconut oil.

At this point, I'm pretty happy with the result, since the colour looks more like aged leather and the case seems to get darker and smoother as I touch/rub it with my fingers, which I love. I'm sure I'll have an even nicer patina in just a few weeks.

I hope this info is useful for those of you who don't mind destroying a $60 case. In my case (no pun intended) the result was worth it and I'm much happier with this than with the plastic-y light tan look.
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I like the what you did with the leather, gives me hope that it will eventually look like that. Thanks for taking the extra steps 👍🏼
 
pgarram said:
OK, so I guess I'm one of the first people to have the guts to destroy his Saddle Brown leather case (12 Pro Max) because I'm too impatient to let it patina naturally.

I got the case on the 15th of November and just a bit over a month later it was still pretty light and didn't see the progression I wanted. I've seen photos of previous models' leather cases after 1 to 3 months and they were much darker, so that made me think that this year's version had a thicker protective layer. From what I read in a few comments in this forum, other users mentioned the same, so I decided to remove that layer. It was done by rubbing a wet wipe really hard on the surface, which reveals the darker brown colour you can see in the photos. After I was done rubbing the light tan layer, I applied coconut oil, let it dry and painted the logo black using a Micron pen (I'll probably regret this soon), let that dry too and applied more coconut oil.

At this point, I'm pretty happy with the result, since the colour looks more like aged leather and the case seems to get darker and smoother as I touch/rub it with my fingers, which I love. I'm sure I'll have an even nicer patina in just a few weeks.

I hope this info is useful for those of you who don't mind destroying a $60 case. In my case (no pun intended) the result was worth it and I'm much happier with this than with the plastic-y light tan look.
Click to expand...
That looks pretty good to me. It definitely has that aged leather look now and it’ll eventually even out once the coconut oil and oils from your hand start to absorb in different areas of the case. Good job for this being your first try! I’ve ruined about 3-4 saddle brown cases in the past. Heh...
 
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Seth Matthews said:
Did doing all of this reveal the round magnet mark I see, or do you use the MagSafe charger?
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It was revealed after rubbing that area, though in real life the mark is very imperceptible. Also, the colour is darker than in the photos and it's already started to smoothen. I was concerned about doing this to the case, but I'm very happy with how it turned out.
 
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sahni130 said:
I decided to try this leather conditioner/cleaner on my Baltic blue case and I’m happy with the results. The stickiness is gone and it smells a lot better too.
I tend to clean/condition my leather stuff/car regularly so I don’t mind conditioning the iPhone case as well.

Btw, love the Bellroy wallet and key case but still hesitant to try their iPhone case. Maybe if it was leather all around.
View attachment 1700040
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This is the way.
 
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madrigal77 said:
Am I the only one who actually wants it to look new for as long as possible? Some of yours just look gross lol.
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I don’t want mine to look gross, but I went with the Saddle Brown color because I wanted it to darken over time. Can’t say mine has really done that over a month in. If it doesn’t soon I’m either going to start using the Nomad case I already have or find an alternative (perhaps Bullstrap or even a black leather Apple case).
 
AZSpinach said:
I don’t want mine to look gross, but I went with the Saddle Brown color because I wanted it to darken over time. Can’t say mine has really done that over a month in. If it doesn’t soon I’m either going to start using the Nomad case I already have or find an alternative (perhaps Bullstrap or even a black leather Apple case).
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Might consider Burkley (Blackbrook) if you’re looking.
 
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I ordered the Bullstrap in sienna on Monday for my 12 pro. Was hoping it would get here today but with the mess that is the USPS right now, I wasn’t expecting it.

I had ordered a mujjo in green to try and it was okay. I really liked the color and the leather was all right. Ended up returning it in part because the buttons weren’t the best.

Also ordered the blue and saddle apple branded ones and wasn’t impressed. The apple leather case I had for my X was much better quality. And the older model saddle color I had for my 7 was also great and aged well. Buttons worked great but I returned those.

Looking forward to the Bullstrap.
 
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😃....... 😫

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O really like it, it reminds me of a mozo cover i had on my lumia 950, the patina effect looks really great
 
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Got a saddle brown leather case for my 12 Pro Max, I actually kinda dig that the patina doesn’t show after 2 days of use, however, the thing that I dislike most is the closed bottom, I know it protects the phone better, but the open bottom cases feel and look much better imo, am I the only one that thinks that?
 
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memento mori said:
Got a saddle brown leather case for my 12 Pro Max, I actually kinda dig that the patina doesn’t show after 2 days of use, however, the thing that I dislike most is the closed bottom, I know it protects the phone better, but the open bottom cases feel and look much better imo, am I the only one that thinks that?
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I may be biased cuz I've been using open bottom cases for a long time now. I prefer it. I feel closed bottom cases look more like a Tupperware bowl effect in a way. :p
 
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