Bookbinding Course

Ra · March 26, 2020

Recently I did a 4-day book binding course over a few weeks at OrtBindery. The guy who runs it, Phil, is a great teacher, so if you’re based in Melbourne (AU) and are interested in book binding, his beginners course is quite fun. You’ll finish with 3-4 books depending on the pace of the class. The materials we used weren’t leather, but could easily have been replaced with it.

Book binding styles from top to bottom: Buttonhole, Japanese, Single, Case bound

Japanese Book Binding

The first book we made was a Japanese Stab. The mildly alarming name comes from the method of making holes. Loose sheets of paper are stacked with a back and front cover sheet, and an uneven number of holes are drilled close to the spine straight through the entire book block with a dremel and tiny drill bit. Embroidery thread was used to stitch the book.

I chose a 2-3-2 hole arrangement. The holes were marked and drilled.

Stitching starts from the centre hole, coming out top from in between the pages. Leave a tail behind for a finishing knot. The first stitch creates a central loop around the spine. After this you can stitch either towards the head (top) or tail (bottom) of the book. Once you reach an end, create another loop around the head/tail in addition to the spine loops. Then head back the other way, filling the gaps in stitching as needed. No need to loop on the way back. When you reach the centre again, continue stitching in the other half in the same way. To finish you will arrive back at the central hole. Open the book slightly to exit the needle in the same spot you started, where the tail is left in between the pages. Tie a reef knot and trim the edges.

Single Signature

This mini book is a good way to bind a small information booklet. For a single signature you can get a little fancy with the stitching on the spine as a decorative element. We did a sort of chain stitch. Starting from the tail end of the book, we stitched upwards towards the head, looping the thread through the previous stitch as we went. Threads were tied off at the beginning and end, and frayed.

Stacks of signatures can be stitched together to form thicker books, which we covered in the Case Bound Book.

Case Bound Book

This hard cover book was a lot more involved. The hard cover was made with book board, which was then covered with cloth. The book block was connected to the cover via the end papers.

We pasted end papers to the top and bottom signatures. After lining them all up we marked where the stitching would go by lining up the book block on a frame and tying linen strips to the frame in the desired position. The holes at the very top and bottom were sawed with a hacksaw about 1mm deep. This is where the knots that join each signature will sit. Each signature was attached to the previous one with a kettle stitch.

Holes marked. Top and bottom sawed 1mm deep

Stitching the signatures into a book block

After all the signatures were sewn up, the spine was knocked flat and glued. After the glue was dry to the touch, the spine was covered in glue again, and cheese cloth glued to it (the length of the cheese cloth was slightly shorter than the length of the book). After the cheese cloth was stuck on, another layer of glue was applied on to the spine to keep the cloth down. The flaps of the cheese cloth were stuck down to the book block.

While we waited for the book block to dry we started on the hard cover. The square (empty space between pages and cover) we were going with was 4mm, therefore the height of the cover was [height of book block + 8mm]. The width of each cover needs to allow for the french groove so it shouldn’t be right up against the spine. We allowed for twice the board thickness + a bit. The board was 3mm thick, so we left 7mm from the spine, and measure to the end of the book block + 4mm (square). The spine cover needed to be slightly narrower than the total thickness of the book to allow for the book to fully open. We measured it as the spine thickness + thickness of one board

Height = height of book block + 8mm
Width = [width of book block - 7mm] + 4mm
Spine = thickness of spine + 3mm

Determining the gap was slightly tricky. We needed to position the cover and spine cover boards on the book block to determine the gap. Once determined it is handy to cut out a strip of thick paper to the gap width to function as a spacer.

Determining how much gap to leave between the boards

We cut the book cloth larger than the boards, and applied glue to one side. We then placed all the boards down with the appropriate gap using the spacer. The corners were cut off 5mm or so away from the actual board corners. The head and tail were folded down first. The corner edges were mashed in before the side flaps were folded down. Excess material was quickly trimmed and removed before the glue set.

Book cloth cut oversize. Boards dry-fitted with spacer

Boards being glued to book cloth with spacer marking the gap

Corner mashed in before sides folded down

The last part was to attach the book block to the cover. The way we did it was by lining up the book block to the cover, applying glue to the top end paper, and gently closing the book on it, trusting to the measurements. In the future I wouldn’t do it this way because it ended up misaligned and we had to remove it and place it down manually. In the future I would line up the glued end paper to the cover, and smooth it down to prevent air bubbles. Two rods were then attached to the spine to form the french curve, and it was left in the press for a few hours.

ButtonHole Binding

The last book we made was a buttonhole bound book, essentially the cover has a hole in it of any shape you desire, and the rest of the cover acts as a support.

I went with a classic circle for my book, where the spine would be sewn with a curve to it too. We started with ten signatures. The spine width was halfway between completely slack and very compressed signatures.

We cut out some board to the exact height of the book block, but slightly wider than required. We pasted down the top paper. After trimming off the excess paper, we folded the spine. We scored a line on the spine to encourage it to bend. Then we cut out our buttonhole shapes. We stuck down the inner cover paper, and cut the shape out of that.

This next step is completely optional. I wanted the hole to show a pretty pattern on the inside, so the top and bottom signatures had an additional sheet of patterned paper glued on. Then thin strips were cut just wide enough to cover the spine of each signature.

Signatures, their spines covered in patterned paper

With the signatures arranged they were knocked into position in the cover, and the buttonhole pattern marked only on the spines of the signatures. These marks were then pierced with a needle and sewn, one side at a time. Kettle stitches attached each signature to the previous one.

Tool Suitcase

Ra · January 26, 2020

I’m travelling interstate in a few months for a week-long workshop and will need to take most of my tools with me.

I winged this one a little. I cut out two outer panels that will make up the two main faces of the suitcase, and two inner panels on which the tools will be mounted.

I airbrushed dyed these pieces. I’m pretty new to airbrushing, so what better way to practice than on a personal project.

I laid out some tools I’ll be taking onto the inner pieces to see how much room they’ll take. I’ll mark where the loops will go, make some slits, and thread through a strap.

I cut out a long strap from some scrap leather. I then marked the positions of all the tools and made a slit as wide as the strap, with circle punches at either ends to prevent distortion. Then I looped the strap through each slit. For the larger tools I opted to use rivets and snaps to fasten the straps.

With all the fasteners attached, I decided to stiffen the leather panel. To do this I used some black book board sandwiched between two layers of leather. I pre-punched the holes around the perimeter and pricked matching holes on the leather liner.

The book board was cut 5mm smaller than both leather pieces. The edges of the leather were skived down. The book board was glued to the liner, and then the leather panel sewn to the liner.

This project is a first for a lot of things. I wanted to try out piping. The first prototype left much to be desired, but the second one is closer to the mark. I’ll be using this where the gusset joins the top and bottom face of the bag.

With some form of plan in my head I cut out the gusset leather and lining. I’m using veg tan dyed Golden Brown for the outer leather, and scrap yellow goat for one lining, dyed similar yellow for the other. Like I said, this is a prototype project, nothing needs to be pretty.

Next I cut out zippers to size. A few teeth needed to be removed in order to size it correctly and insert the zipper pull. This is cut from a YKK #5 strip. The zips were then aligned very carefully using a zipper guide to ensure even space of ribbon, and stuck to the gusset using double-sided tape. Gluing would just have been incredibly messy. With the zippers in place I stitched the gusset to the zipper and creased the edge.

Next it was time to do the piping. I pre-punched the piping as close to the pipe as possible. I laid down the piping around the edge of the base panel, with the piping facing towards the center of the panel. So it could turn the corners properly I fringed the piping material. I stuck the piping down with double-sided tape. Where the start and end of the piping met I cut through to create a flush join, and covered it with a thin strip, and punched through that. With the piping in place I punched through to the other side of the bag base.

I marked the center of the base, then aligned the gusset carefully, fringing the corners to make it sit flush. I pre-punched the gusset and aligned to ensure it could be stitched. This was tedious.

I cut out a bag base, the leather that would span the space between the zip/gusset. To do that I counted the number of pricking holes I’d need to cover, plus two more holes on either side for overlap.

Stitching took a while, but we got there in the end. After stitching I trimmed the excess. I stitched up the other side of the gusset in much the same way, but this time instead of attaching the piping onto the body, I attached it to the gusset. This may have resulted in my gusset ending up a little shorter. I don’t know. To compensate I had to round out one of the corners a bit more to reduce the distance the gusset needed to travel.

With that disaster out of the way it was time to try my hand at zipper pulls. They’re harder than they look. I made many variations. The final shape is something I’m roughly happy with, but it’s still very unrefined and definitely an area of fine workmanship that requires a lot of attention.

The last thing left is the handle. I wanted a handle that wouldn’t stick out when not in use. I used two layers as the core, and barely had enough leather to stitch around it. In hind sight I should have oversized the handle and then trimmed it.

The little arrows I think would have worked better as larger semi-circles, so that’s what I’ll do next time. I also should have made the gusset deeper so that the handle would be centered on the bag. As it sits now, it’s very much to one side. Not the end of the world, I can still use the bag, but I’ll do it differently next time.

Tricorn hat / Pirate hat

Ra · November 18, 2019

A friend asked me to make them a tricorn hat for a pirate costume a while ago, but before I agreed to it I wanted to make one for myself to make sure it was an achievable goal. So after I successfully finished my Indy hat, I started to have a think about how I’d make this tricorn hat. I decided that I was going to make a modified version of the Indy hat for him.

Prep Work

I printed out the pattern on paper in the size I needed it for his head and got him to pop it on to make sure the fit was fine. A little loose is fine
We then made adjustments to the pattern while it was on his head, deciding how much to shorten the crown and how much to widen the brim
I added 5cm to the brim, and marked 2cm from the bottom of the crown
I assembled the adjusted pattern and trialed it on the client’s head. It’s a perfect fit and the brim is a good width
Now that the pattern had been finalised, I lay it all out on leather and cut it out roughly to size
I dyed, buffed, and finished the leather, making it ready for the final cut

Assembly

I placed the paper templates on the leather, and lightly scratched around them with a scratch awl, carefully cutting the outlines
I left the templates on the cuts, and marked any holes (e.g. I have stitching holes marked on my template), then punched them out
Putting the brims flesh side together, and sandwiching the crown gusset between the layers, I stitched around the brim. This was very tricky because saddle stitching requires two hands, and you might be holding the hat with one, so do what you can to make it comfortable (I rigged a pulley with a bulldog clip and kitchen twine to hold the hat up while I stitched)
One of the last steps in assembly is stitching the crown. The way you stitch it is up to personal preference. I like the turned edge where the stitch line is on the inside. Once that’s done, turn the hat outside in
The brims need to be attached to the crown. I decided to do a double attachment. The inner brim is attached to the crown by a rivet, and then four holes will make an X-mark to attach both brim layers to the crown
With the brim attached, I will attach a strip of cloth to the brim so that accessories can be hung from it
I stitched the fabric strip onto the front brim, and made slits in the brim for the fabric to tuck in between the two brims
Next I punched holes all around the outer brim and refastened the X to keep the outer brim in the correct position. Then with an awl I pierced the second brim layer as I saddle stitched. After the whole brim was stitched, I trimmed off the excess to make both layers flush
After the stitching is done, a quick dye and burnish on the edges and the hat is complete!

One brim layer riveted. Holes for X punched

Brim being awled prior to saddle stitching

Valet Tray

Ra · October 13, 2019

I was getting pretty tired of coming home and emptying my pockets on the kitchen counter, so wanted to make a nice home for my pocket contents.

I mocked one up out of paper. It’s 23 x 23cm. It seems to fit everything I carry on me. This will also serve as my template.

Now to pick a colour. I have quite a selection. I decided to go with Fiebings Pro Light Brown, followed by a light Dark Brown coat.

Next steps were to finish the leather. After it’s been dyed there is still some dye pigment left on the surface. These need to be buffed off, otherwise you’d get dye rub off. Buffing is just wiping vigorously with a cloth. Then I sealed the leather by applying Carnauba Creme and buffing it again.

I cut the leather to size and made slits where the tabs would turn. At the end of every slit I made a small circular hole to prevent that area from wearing too much. The tabs I rounded with corner punches, and punched a hole in the centre where the rivet would go.

To mark the corresponding hole on the back of the tray I bent the tabs into position, clipped them in place, and marked with a pencil where the hole should go. Simply marking the centre in a mirror position from the tabs doesn’t work, because leather doesn’t behave like paper.

I put my mark in the middle of the tray.

After all the holes were punched it was time to finish the edges. I beveled the top side first. The bottom still has a rough finish so I slicked the edges with water and beveled the bottom.

The entire under surface I slicked down with Tokonole for a nice smooth finish to lay down the fibres nicely.

I dyed the edges with a cotton tip, gave it an initial water slicking, then a final slick and polish with Tokonole. Once all the edges were done, I set the rivets, and we’re done!

Roo Ring Binder

Ra · October 9, 2019

I’d never made a ring binder before, and am quite intrigued by book binding, so this was my baby step in that direction. I used black chrome-tanned Kangaroo leather.

Steps:

I started out by cutting card board to size. Nothing special about the card board, it was just the packaging material from a set of Ikea drawers
I pasted graph paper behind the three panels to keep them aligned, then trimmed off the excess
I cut two roo panels 1cm bigger all around
Now it was time to assemble the whole thing. This is the point at which I should probably have stamped my logo, but I completely forgot. Oh well, maybe on the next one.
I glued the front panel to the card boards and smoothed out any air bubbles with a bone folder
I punched through the back of the leather to mark the ring binder holes
With the mechanism holes clearly marked, I glued the inner panel to the card boards, once again smoothing out any air bubbles
Once the glue had set I used the outer holes as a guide to punch all the way through the inner leather
I punched the stitching holes with pricking irons. On this one I used 3mm KL French irons
I stitched with black Vinymo MBT #8 thread. The total thickness was probably about 1-2 mm
To finish off I attached some M3 nuts and bolts to fasten the binder mechanism, and rounded the corners with an corner punch

Safari Bag

Ra · September 19, 2019

This bag was for my sister. She had some dimension requirements, and one request of “lots of pockets, including in the flap” to paraphrase. So I got to sketching.

I’m never quite sure how much someone wants to be involved in the process when I make them things. Maybe she thought I was bugging her too much about a simple bag, or maybe she thought “hey this is bespoke so I have all the input!”. Who knows.

This bag was a real challenge. I thought I knew how I wanted to construct it, but I changed my mind at the very last minute. I made a paper prototype, saw where dimensions needed to be tweaked, and then got to prepping the leather.

I learned to always, always, check how much dye you have left. I thought I had enough. I did not. Almost 3/4 way through the second coat I completely ran out. I was sponging the sides of the container to get as much as possible, but in the end I had to place a rushed order for more. That’s the danger of letting dye dry, then going back to fix it. That’s also the danger of dyeing in the first place. If this was a paying customer, I’d have gotten a pre-dyed piece of leather. I managed to cut around the worst transition points, or hide them in pockets, but still, lesson learned.

I had decided to make this a proper challenge:

use 3mm french irons (I’d just recently received Kevin Lee’s irons and hadn’t had a chance to use them yet)
use vinymo mbt 8 (a thread I’ve only heard good things about, but had zero experience with)

I think I finally learned how to stitch correctly with this project. The number of times I looked up Little Leather Co’s story on how to saddle stitch will have completely skewed his Instagram Insight numbers for that week. Oh yes, did I mention that there was a time limit on this?

When you’re in a rush you tend to make mistakes, even when you’re careful. I had a disastrous issue when trying to edge dye the flap prior to burnishing. Yes, I cried. Then I sucked it up, trimmed the edge, and got on with the bag. This was another very valuable lesson learned.

I’d never tried a full gusset, so hey, why not just wrap everything I’ve never done into one project? A challenge is a challenge. It turned out okay. I should have added the enchapes before stitching the gusset, but to be honest I had no idea how they would turn out, where they would sit on the gusset, would I need to trim the final gusset when it was done? It was all up in the air, so I just did it afterwards, with great difficulty.

The drop liner, thank god, I made a prototype of. It was too large. A great lesson was learned on how fabric behaves compared to leather even at exactly the same dimensions. I made the final liner out of linen, which is a lovely material to use for liners. I think I might even rip out the liner in my Ovi bag and replace it with nice linen.

Build album here.

Brush Roll

Ra · August 18, 2019

A passing comment “…perhaps you can make me a paint brush scroll…” turned into a real project. It’s a straight-forward piece, no different from a tool roll. So why was I so keen on making this? Well, because it was for my cousin, a fellow artist and all around fantastic person. She’s the sort that truly values things people have made with their hands, and I selfishly wanted a “Ra” to be part of her collection.

I made this one out of sheep leather because I wanted it to be nice and soft, floppy enough to roll up tight if she wanted to. I think the natural colour on the inside works well so that the brushes stand out a little more.

I ummed and aahed about the thread colour, wondering if I should match it to the inside natural, or the outside mahogany. I don’t completely regret my decision, but I do wish I had stitched a lot better. I learned on this project the correct way to set threads on very thin leathers like sheep and goat. I mostly got it right, but the places where I got it wrong I wish the thread were lighter to hide my unsightly mistakes. The next time I work with sheep will be better.

Build album here.

D&D Condition Rings

Ra · July 11, 2019

The world is full of people with brilliant ideas, and sometimes we are lucky to see those ideas acted on. I’ve been watching Critical Role for a while, a YouTube series about “a bunch of nerdy-ass voice actors sitting around and playing Dungeons and Dragons” and one of the nicest things about it is the creativity of their fan base. Often fans will send them items to use in their games. One such creation was a set of rings that showed what condition a character was under e.g. Poisoned.

We had been using the rings off drink bottles, and rubber bands to mark the minis to remember that there was a condition on them, but when I saw what a fan had sent to Matt Mercer for Critical Role, I knew I had to try making something like that. I got permission from the person who made the original ones, so I don’t feel too badly about blatantly copying their work.

Build album here.

Passport Wallet

Ra · July 10, 2019

As someone with multiple passports, and who likes to be organised, I wanted a nice travel organiser. My criteria were:

it needs to fit multiple travel docs like passports
it needs to fit multiple types of currency
it needs to hold the boarding pass in enough of a shape that it doesn’t crumple by the time I board
it needs to hold any declaration documents for immigration
it needs to hold a pen
it needs to hold my Kenyan ID and any lounge access cards I might be so fortunate to have

I had some extra leather from my Ovi bag which I used as the outer, but for the lining I chose to use natural sheep leather.

Only time will tell if I made the right decision in choosing this lining material. I’m happy with the design insofar as my criteria are concerned. If I could make it shorter, I would. Perhaps a v2 in a few years might be a good idea.

More pictures can be found here.

Indy Hat

Ra · June 23, 2019

I’ve never found a hat that fit me, but I’ve always wanted a cowboy hat. I had some time, and I needed a new project anyway. I looked up lots of DIY tutorials for leather hats, one of them was a YouTube video run by a man in a loin cloth. That was extremely disturbing. I thought to myself “Ra, this one is going to be tricksy while patterning on your own head, just like that dress you wanted to make, but couldn’t pin it just right because it was on yourself, and you had to twist and turn to get to the spot, which flattened out when you got to it. It’ll be like that. Do us a favour and buy a pattern if you can find one”.

I’m glad I listened to myself then, because not long after I stumbled upon an “Indiana Jones Hat” pattern made by DieselPunk. It looked like what I wanted, and was cheap, so why not! I bought the pattern, picked the smallest one, and set about assembling the paper version to check if it fit my head. It did!

I wasted no time in picking a dye colour and preparing the leather. The worst part about the whole process was that I needed to punch each hole with a round punch. One. At. A. Time. What a nightmare! I should’ve bought a good round punch beforehand, but I was in a rush so made do with a scratch awl. I assembled it slightly differently to how he does it, and I think the final results look rather good. I’d change up how I finished the rim, and might even try an accent colour next time. Now that I have a hat pattern I can make as many as I want, and they’ll ALL fit me!

Build album here.

The Ovi bag

Ra · June 14, 2019

I wanted to make a new hand bag. The requirements were that it should fit my drink bottle, umbrella, long wallet when I carried it, and a few odds and ends. My cousin Ovi (yes, that’s her nickname) has a really nice bag, there’s nothing special about it per se, it’s just simple and functional. So I asked her to take pictures of her bag from all sorts of angles, and I aimed to replicate it with minor changes to fit my criteria.

For a first, this bag turned out amazingly. I made oh so many mistakes. The drop liner material was cheap calico material. I thought “Hey people carry around totes of calico, surely it’ll be strong enough for a liner”. It’s mostly fine, but the stitching has come undone in some high wearing areas. I plan to redo the liner when I have some down time and I can muster up the courage to pull the bag apart.

The bag is a unit though. It’s been through all the crazy weather Melbourne can throw at it and come out looking fabulous. I love the dye job, the first very large piece I’ve done. I had intended this bag to be prototype for my sister’s Safari bag, and if it turned out okay I had planned to send this one to her. But I liked the colour too much to send it her way, and I’d rather give her a version 2 than a prototype.

Build album for the Ovi bag can be found here.

Card Wallets

Ra · May 28, 2019

Quite often a new leather worker would ask “I’m new to the whole thing, what should I make first to learn some skills?”, and a bunch of people from the community would answer “A card wallet because it’s a small project and will teach you accurate templating, cutting, gluing, stitching, and edge finishing skills to name a few”. This answer would crop up so many times. I did make a card wallet as one of the first things when I did that class so many months ago, but those panels were already cut to size.

I decided that I wanted to make one from scratch. How convenient that one of my friends who had come to visit and check out our new house wanted one when I showed him mine. We won’t touch on the fact that he never came to pick it up, so I started using it as my EDC. Let’s just gloss over that bit.

You know what’s really great? When you’re having a chat to your dentist who happens to be incredibly friendly and interested in your hobbies, and she asks you to make her an exact same card wallet. I got the chance to tweak my design a little when I made hers.

Build album for the first one here, and the second one here.

Itty bitty work

Ra · April 26, 2019

Another trade I did was when a friend who has a 3D printer agreed to print a mini for me. I already had an .stl file, so it all came down to what he needed. His dad had given him a watch, and my friend wanted a nice watch strap to complement it. Having never made a watch strap before, I was very much up for the challenge.

This time around I wanted to make a prototype. I’m glad I did, because it gave me a bit of an idea of how hard this was going to be. With small goods, all mistakes are amplified. If something is misaligned, you can fudge the mistake and hide it on a bag, but not so much on small items like wallets and watch straps.

For a first time, I’m not too disappointed, but I know I can definitely do better. Build album here.

Notebook Cover

Ra · April 21, 2019

We finally killed the big bad guy in our D&D campaign, and it was now time for the new arc to begin. How convenient that I ran out of pages on my old notebook and needed a new one.

I bought a Leuchtturm1917 and used it to measure out the cover.

I thought I might use my new tiny ensso fountain pen, so I made sure the loop would be the right size. This would also be the first time I used my stamp.

Next time I think I might attach the loop a little differently. This sleeve is going to last me a very long time though, and it smells great!

Build album here.

Trades

Ra · April 15, 2019

I highly value people’s talents and creativity, as I hope people would value mine.

I needed a logo and had an idea in mind, and my designer friend was in need of an iPad sleeve. It only made sense that we would make a trade.

It’s certainly not the prettiest thing in the world, but it’s a start. I completely messed up the depth required for this and ended up putting side gussets in. It was a little stiff, but I hope it gets softer with use.

In exchange he designed my logo. The bull signifies the animal that the leather comes from, my stubbornness, and if you want to push it, my star sign. The horns are arranged to spell “Ra” in arabic. I think it turned out rather nicely.

The build album for the iPad sleeve is here.

Bits and bobs

Ra · April 1, 2019

Sometimes you just want to make little things that require little thought and scratch that itch to work with your hands. There was no real purpose behind any of these, except maybe for the swiss knife, that probably needed a sleeve.

More pictures of the knife sleeve can be found here.
Tiny hat’s build album can be found here.
Tiny bag’s build album can be found here.
Pencil topper build album can be found here.

Leather Keysmart

Ra · March 30, 2019

I bought a keysmart a long time ago, maybe when it was on Kickstarter? Anyway, it’s a really good key organiser; no jangling, and all the keys are nice and contained.

My partner’s keys, on the other hand, were on a key ring, all dangling, jangling, his USB stick on a thong getting all tangled. It was a mess.

It only made sense to make him something. I sketched out a few ideas, but at the end of it all I couldn’t get past the elegant solution that Keysmart had already come up with. So, yes, I blatantly traced around my own one.

At the time I was in discussions with a fellow leather worker on his dyeing techniques. He recommended cleaning the leather with rubbing alcohol prior to dyeing. I’m always up for experimenting, so I decided to make use of the swatches for this project.

Using just leather wasn’t rigid enough, so I cut up the lid of an ice cream container and sandwiched that between two layers of leather to give it some firmness.

More pictures here.

The Dopp Kit

Ra · March 29, 2019

I got to a point where I started looking around the house for things I needed. My partner didn’t have a toiletries bag since his last one made of PU Leather had finally started falling apart and was flaking. It only made sense to make him one and learn things in the process.

The new challenges I’d face for this were stitching a zip, and making boxed corners. This was also going to take patterning practice.

My initial idea was to line it on the inside with some umbrella material. After trialling it I realised that I was out of my depth, for now, with liners, so I ended up slicking the inside with water and burnishing it to lay the fibres down. I think I also may have used tokonole to slick it down, which is how I learned that when you wet a tokonole-slicked surface, it becomes tacky. It goes away when dry, so I’ll just have to remind my partner to not put wet things inside.

I think I did alright with this one. I’m certain that my next one will be better. I made this bag to fit a long toothbrush in a travel container. That’s the longest thing that will go in here. His cologne bottle is also quite wide, so I needed to make sure it would fit that. The surface was sealed with Resolene, and though I got a little flack for that from some leather working community members, I don’t regret it. This bag will very likely be in wet places, so why not protect the surface.

Build album is here.

D&D friends need swag too

Ra · December 28, 2018

The glorious game of Dungeons & Dragons inspired me to make a few things for my DM and party members. The usual dice tray, dice cup, dice bag seemed like good quick and easy projects. I didn’t want it too basic though; it should at least have some uniqueness about it. By this time I had joined the /r/Leathercraft subreddit and was getting plenty of inspiration from there.

I turned my previous handbag into a lovely, soft, floppy dicebag for a party mate. Hers was overflowing. A few steam punk charms to add a little bling to an otherwise boring brown worked out well. She loved it.

The natural dice tray was the simplest, but instead of the standard corners, I made it into a sort of swastika arrangement.

The kangaroo dice bag was also pretty easy. It was essentially a turned bag, with eyelets to thread the thong.

Slightly more complex was this dice cup. I made it out of three panels, trying to get the pattern just right. I still like it.

The most complicated of the lot was this dice tray that rolls up with the cups on either ends, leaving enough of a hollow inside for your dice. I found this design on reddit and shamelessly copied it.

I finished these just after christmas so presented them as holiday gifts. The party was very pleased (I think).

My first few projects

Ra · December 15, 2018

I’m not entirely sure why I got into leatherworking, but I do remember how. I had signed up for a class that went for a few hours on a Saturday afternoon, one of those spend-a-few-hours-here-and-take-home-whatever-you’ve-made things. It didn’t cost much, but was a good taster for what leatherworking was about.

First wallet, black kangaroo leather, in construction

I came back with a little card wallet and a belt. I was pretty excited with the afternoon’s work. I think that energy and enthusiasm stayed with me until I watched a whole ton of leather working videos, most of them by Ian Atkinson.

I made a list of all the tools he used when he was making something I found interesting. Not knowing who else to ask advice from, I decided to get pretty much what he was using: Seiwa diamond chisels in 3mm and 4mm, and a few other basic things.

This was enough to get me started.

I found a local supplier (I had no idea how lucky that was) and went in. The place was huge! I was easily overwhelmed! Wanting to keep the costs down I asked for a veg tan side.

With strap cutter and dyes in hand, my first project solo was going to be a reversible belt. I did not anticipate the amount of stitching, especially for a first time project. The dye job was off, the belt wasn’t perfectly straight, all in all plenty of disastrous mistakes. Thankfully my partner loves me enough to wear it and not be ashamed by it.