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anidel-
Soaked it in hot water so the leather went soft. I gave it a good scrub clean at the same time. Then I set it up to dry out with a soft faced clamp to press the high spot out the leather and just a cable tie round the skirt to hold both sides in the same place. When it dries, the leather hardens again, holds its shape and you can work wax and dubbin into it to make it flexible.
Jonny69
Funny this thread should pop back up. I've stripped the paint off my Parkes frame today.
Naked! I thought the blue was the original colour, but under the blue there was clearly a gloss black layer. I had actually matched up some paint quite closely to the blues, both Rover colours: Henley Blue for the light and Tahiti Blue for the dark. I did quite fancy changing it to black, though, and since I now know it was originally black, it's going to go black. I'll pick out the ends by hand in gold pinstripe.
I've also given the saddle a good going over. Reshaped it, lots of Dubbin underneath, a light coat of Dubbin on top and then two coats of beeswax. It's come up quite nicely but I'd probably give it a coat of shoe dye on the bare leather if I did it again. A job for next time, when my bum has rubbed all the wax off...