The New Blog

 This blog has been a lot over the years. In the beginning it was a place for me to put all my thoughts on what I thought about the world, the going ons in my life, the craziness that evolves around us all. Then it became a University English Literature project. The only thing that changed was that I was suddenly being graded for my thoughts and how well I articulated them. Then the posts were all removed and you all were left in silence for some time before I thought it was the appropriate time to tell you all about a single significant event that had happened in my life that I thought some stressed out dog owners might be grateful to hear about. And now I am molding this blog into my leatherworking story where I will post pictures of what I create, along with some knowledge I have obtained. 

If you are new to this blog you should know now that I am by no means a master leatherworker. I am cataloguing this journey from the very beginning; the very first hide I purchased and all the "things" I made from it, and mistakes I made. 

For those of you returning, the 100 of you, welcome back. I'm sorry I left you, I hope my leatherworking journey will give you some entertainment. 

Here's my very first creation: A leather satchel made from 5-6oz Veg Tanned Leather. 

I made a lot of mistakes but I learned a lot. In this photo you can see there's a circle around the paw print I stamped. That's because when you stamp the leather you actually wet it first, and then stamp it so that it "takes". It is recommended that you let the leather dry for about 8 - 12 hours before dying it however after maybe 1 hour I thought "That looks and feels dry" and well.. it wasn't. 

So I learned that even if leather looks and feels dry, you should wait the full  8 - 12 hours. I've also heard you should wet the entire piece, even if you're only stamping (or forming) a small section. I imagine this would make the dye more uniform also. 

You can see in this photo there is a piece of a "C" on the top right hand side. This was the distributors mark and I could have just disposed of that piece and used another however this was my first piece and I figured it wouldn't matter if I used "shoddy" pieces of leather since the whole project was going to probably turn out a little rustic. Honestly I like it, it adds a bit of character.

The bottom right corner there is a bit of a miss. At some point in the measuring and cutting and sewing process I made a mistake, so the right side panel was too long for the front panel and stretches past it. That's okay- the bag still holds things. I'll just need to be more careful in future projects. 

So let's talk a little bit about my process. As I stated, I started with a 5-6 oz veg tanned hide. I purchased a half hide from Tandy for about $130.

This ended up being a huge amount of leather- I fully expected it to be but I honestly thought my project would take more than it did. This leather was fairly stiff and made my bag pretty stiff in turn, but that's okay. I'm told leather wears over time and will become "weathered" and become more flexible with use. The project took up maybe a 6th of the hide. And this is the only photo I have of my process... I'll be sure to take more photos in the future. For now you'll have to just read my long boring explanation if you're interested: 

I was given this kit as a Christmas gift along with a mallet, and a kit of varying colours of waxed thread. I read a lot of forums saying not to purchase cheap leatherworking tools, and I think that's all fine and good if you know you're going to adore the craft but if I'm being honest these kits have faired just fine over the course of three projects (one being this bag). They weren't amazing by any means but good leather working tools are insanely expensive. Where this whole kit was $70 you're looking at getting a single good tool for that much so I say have at 'er. 

I then purchased:

1. A single Heavyweight Natural Cowhide Leather Strip (72 inches long)
2. Eco-Flo Leather Dye in Bison Brown
3. Fiebing's Acrylic Resolene
4. A 10 pack of glovers needles (DON'T DO THIS)
5. A 1oz block of beeswax
6. And some fun stamps with a stamp handle (sold separately apparently)

Now I am by no means pretending anyone is following this as a guide but if you are (and you shouldn't be) don't buy glovers needles unless you are making gloves. When you're working with leather you typically punch holes for your needle and thread to go through. Due to this, most leather working needles (saddlers needles) are not sharp. Glovers needles however are very very sharp and they will stab you over and over again and make you bleed and make your fingers hurt. That is because when making gloves the leather is too thin and fragile to punch holes so you need those nice sharp glovers needles for precision and what have you. I learned this when posting on a forum I follow asking "Why does this hurt so much?"

Okay so! When I got all my fun new things, I made this: 

"Wow" you might say, "that's amazing" you might say, "What is it?" you might say, "May I purchase it?" you might say? It's nothing, and no. I just wanted to try out the new dye and leather and resolene and stamps and this is what it became. I then read the packages of the dye and resolene and saw that you're supposed to wait 8-12 hours for they dye to dry before putting the resolene on (I had waited 5 minutes) but... I dunno, looks fine to me. I followed the instructions for the bag though. 

So on to the bag process: 

1. First I made a "prototype" out of some cardboard. Boy do I wish I had photos but I don't... but I'm told this is how most leatherworking projects start- with some cardboard, and some tape. 
2. I then traced the pieces of my prototype onto the leather and cut it using a stenciling knife that I had purchased many moons ago for making cosplay costumes out of EVA foam. 
3. I cut grooves into each edge I would be sewing and then burnished the edges with a wood edge slicker and some water
   

   (Wood Edge Slicker, and a Groover)
   
   
4. I wet and formed the flap, then wet and stamped the front paw print (the leather needs to be wet to form)
5. After about 2 hours I checked the leather which looked dry, then applied a coat of Eco-Flo Leather Dye (Bison Brown) to each piece, front and back. This is when I learned that just because the leather looks dry, doesn't mean it is. I should have waited longer.
6. I waited a day for the dye to dry and then applied a coat of Fiebing's Acrylic Resolene. The Resolene should add a nice protective sheen and is supposed to be water resistant but I beg to differ (I have been using the bag for about a month now and it has water stains on it
7. I waited a day for the Resolene to dry and then punched the holes for my thread. 

8. 

   These guys punch the holes. You line them up in the ditch you made with the groover and smack it with the mallet. It is great fun.

   
   
9. I then hand sewed each piece together, working on the bag itself first, then adding the buckle and strap. Next time I will add the buckle prior to assembling the box as reaching into the bag to find the holes for the needle to go through wasn't ideal
10. I completed the piece by applying a coat of Aussie Leather Conditioner as the leather was quite stiff... I'm not sure if it helped 

And there you have it! In the end I had a bag that can hold things. I wouldn't go with a buckle again. I find myself constantly fumbling for my car keys, phone, and wallet... I was hoping that with time I would get really quick at opening and closing the buckle but by golly is it just not the best.

Now: I know you're all looking at the "8" up there beside the picture thinking "that's not right" but honestly.. I fought with it for too long and I'm just going to leave it. Sometimes formatting in a WYSIWYG isn't the best and I have accepted that. One day perhaps I'll whip out my web development skills in my off time and make this into a proper functioning website instead of leaching off of Google's "Blogger" (that is surprisingly still around) but for now I'll accept what I'm given. Beggars can't be choosers.