Q: My daughter used a blue ballpoint pen to put her hair up in a bun and unknowingly wrote on our camel-colored leather chair. We looked online for advice, then tried rubbing alcohol on a spot on the back of the chair, which is never exposed to sun. It looked pretty good, with no change to the color of the leather. We then tried rubbing alcohol on the front and blotted with a Q-tip. That removed the ink but also left a light spot. On a leftover piece of the leather, we tried two types of leather cleaner, which did nothing. Magic Eraser removed some ink but not before creating a light spot. White vinegar also left a white spot but didn’t remove ink. Is there a solution?
A: Stained leather upholstery can be relatively easy to clean — or maddeningly difficult. The kind of stain matters, of course, and so does how long it’s been in place. But the type of leather is what matters most.
Some leather upholstery is bare, with no surface coating. Other leather has a surface finish. And there is in-between leather, with a thin surface coating. Bare leathers, known as aniline leathers because they are colored by being soaked in aniline dye, include pull-up, waxed, oil-tanned, suede and nubuck leathers. They are especially supple and luxurious, but the lack of finish makes them especially vulnerable to stains, scratches and fading. Fully finished leather resists damage much better, but it’s stiff.
The in-between leathers, which are most popular for upholstery, are called semi-aniline. These are colored by soaking in aniline dye, but then they are treated with a finish that has a small amount of color. That evens out the variations left from vat-dying because some parts of a hide are more porous than others. Over the colored finish, semi-aniline leathers get a clear topcoat — not as thick as in fully finished leather, but still enough to block many stains, especially if spills or smears are wiped up quickly.
When attempts to remove a stain wind up leaving lighter spots on leather, that’s a sign that the leather is semi-aniline, said Jason Murray, senior technician for ADV Leather, which sells leather-care products to consumers and professionals and manufactures products sold by other companies under their own labels.
If something spills or smears across semi-aniline leather, it’s important to clean it as soon as possible, ideally before the stain works through the coating. Some companies recommend having leather cleaner on hand so you’re ready to respond to accidents.
But things you probably already have in your home may also work, as your test showed. For sticky spills, start by wiping off the material with a damp cloth. In an emergency, you can also use a few drops of hand dishwashing soap in warm water, although for routine care, it’s safer to use a product labeled for leather care. Leather is acidic and fares better when cleaners are, too, but most household detergents are alkaline. “One incidence of using an alkaline cleaner won’t affect leather much, but continuous use will,” Murray said.
Apply the cleaner to a soft, clean cloth, not directly to the leather, and rub it evenly across the entire surface. Turn the cloth frequently, and apply a little more cleaner each time so you don’t wipe the grime you remove back into the leather. (A 16-ounce bottle of ADV Leather Cleaner is $29.90 on the company’s website.)
Two kinds of stains can be especially difficult to deal with: dye transferred from fabrics and ink from ballpoint pens. Decorative pillows, especially in bright red or pink fabric, sometimes have excess dye that rubs off onto leather. New, unwashed bluejeans can also transfer color.
Rubbing alcohol can sometimes remove transferred dye, and it dissolves fresh ballpoint pen ink, as you found. But in both cases, too much alcohol can also take off some of the color finish on the leather, especially if the clear coat is already damaged. Ink stains cover smaller areas than transferred dye, so you have a better chance of removing those stains without also taking off some of the leather color.
Dab the alcohol onto an ink stain with a cotton swab rather than rubbing it on with a cloth, so you put the alcohol just where it’s needed. If you have a handful of swabs, switch to fresh ones often to avoid smearing the softened ink on nearby leather. If you don’t have rubbing alcohol on hand, use alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
Be aware that you might be more successful on some parts of the upholstery than others. Christopher Repp, a professional leather repairer who offers do-it-yourself advice on his website, LeatherHelp.com, said that the topcoat on the back of your chair was probably as good as new, while the coating on the front had probably worn through from use or been damaged by the sun. There, the rubbing alcohol dissolved the ink, but it also stripped some of the color.
On bare leather, stain removal is even more difficult. Just plain water can make the leather turn darker. Blot up spills as quickly as possible. Then scrape off as much as you can, rather than trying to wash a stain away. But if there is sticky residue, you probably need to rinse, ideally with distilled water. Use a hair dryer to speed drying.
It’s usually futile to try to remove stubborn stains, Murray said. Instead, try applying colored finish over the area, as if you were painting over graffiti. A similar approach also works to even out color when stain removal has left light patches on semi-aniline leather.
The biggest challenge is to get an exact color match, which is especially important if the marks are in a prominent place, such as the center of a seat cushion. Companies like ADV Leather can custom-match the color if a customer sends in a small sample of the leather. Customers often harvest a swatch from a small piece that manufacturers often attach under a cushion, or they tip over the sofa or chair and clip off a little extra leather underneath the frame.
ADV Leather sells finish in both stock and custom colors — but the custom colors require color-matching, which costs $125. ADV Leather can also match colors of Benjamin Moore paint swatches, which works great when customers want to refinish a whole chair or sofa. But this is riskier for a spot repair because a color that’s close but not exact can still be quite noticeable, Murray said.
It’s also possible to buy leather dye at a craft store or online and custom-match the color yourself. You’d probably need to get several related colors, such as light, medium and dark brown if the leather is brown. Then mix them to get the precise shade you need. “If you have an eye for color, it is not impossible to get it right,” Repp said. It helps to have leftover pieces of the same leather to test how touch-up dye will look once it dries.
Or, of course, you could hire a professional. It might cost only a little more than getting a custom-match color and doing it yourself, especially if you do it right by starting with primer and winding up with a touch-up to the clear coat. Repp makes house calls in the Baltimore/Washington area and would charge approximately $275.