Cleaning the leather part of a concho belt

[Vicki]

I danced this past weekend in close to 100 degree weather. Well, I wore my brown concho belt and I was sweating really, really bad. When I took my belt off, I had sweat stains all over the leather part. How can I clean that part of the belt? Help!!

[Singing Otter]

Hey Girl :)

I usually wipe mine down with a slightly damp cloth. Every now and again I'll take off the conchos and clean it then put a light finish on it.

[Vicki]

Hey ! How come you didn't come down to Louisiana this past weekend? I'm gonna try wiping it down w/ a slightly damp cloth and if that doesn't work, then I'm thinking about taking the conchos off (they need cleaning anywayze) and dying my belt. But, I'll let you know how that goes. I couldn't find any leather for my handle either this past weekend! Darnit! I'll get it all together. :D

[lsijohn]

That's what I was going to suggest......is that you might have to take the conchos off, then put a new finish on the belt.

100 degree weather, already?? That's great. Where I live we are still getting snow!! :)

[Vicki]

Thanks Singing Otter and Redfringe for the suggestions! Yep, already close to 100 degrees all the way down south. I rather dance in the fall and winter than in the summer. I'm going for a day to the Tunica-Biloxi Powwow in Marksville,Louisiana , but I'm not dancing. It's just too hot. Then there's another one in July in Mississippi, but I'm going to only dance Friday and Saturday night at that one cause it gets hotter over there than here. But thanks for the responses. Oh yeah, I bought brown shoe polish today and I'm going to dye my belt later on. :D

[Matoskawin]

cleaning concho belts

Hau! When I had begun dancing, especially in the hot summers of SD, my mom and I would clean the stains and dirt off our concho belts by using either fuller's earth, or an artgum art eraser which seems to lift out most of the stains. Also, we would wrap a dark assumption sash around our waists before putting our concho belts on to keep sweat stains off the belt and on our dresses to a minimum.

Toksa ake;

Matoskawin
Ft. Campbell, KY

[Singing Otter]

Vicki,

Gull you KNOW I ain't got a car!!! :p How's everybody doing?
hehehe I'm gonna try to get down there for the Nov powwow. Gotta wrap up a few things here before I do though.

I have some leather, not sure if you can use it, pm me your email address and I'll send you a pic. It's gold buckskin.

Treena

[Vicki]

Everyones doing good here Singing. :D Jojo, Rhi, and I contested in Ladies Jingle last weekend. It was fun. We were all tied. But, I gave you my e-mail address for the buckskin . Thanks.

Thanks all of you for the responses. I was gonna have a heart attack after I seen what my belt looked like. LOL

[Vicki]

I dyed my belt today. It's a totally different color than what it was before, but I think it looks good. What I need to know is ...what kind of material can I get to wrap around my waiste before I put the belt on. And do I just tie this material on or can I pin it on the sides? Matoskawin, help! :D

[Matoskawin]

Hau V.W.!!!!

To answer you query, any dark colored cloth sash will do, provided it blends with the color scheme of your regalia. I either use simply a dark blue woven assumption sash, or a sash made from a strip cut out from an old US Army Blanket where I tie at the back of my dress. Or you can use safety pins and then place your concho belt over the cloth sash and then let the tension from the concho belt keep it in place.

I use the same method when wearing my jingle dress dance regalia as well, since both of my dresses are made out of that metallic satin cloth (red and Navy blue).

Toksa ake;

Matoskawin.