First question

[justme]

Hi all, This looks like a great group of people and I need some help. I work with polished stone and am trying to incorporate a polished cabochon as a design on some beautiful deer skin. The finished item will be a wrist band. This is for a friend who hunted the deer.

I have never worked with leather before but I notice that deer skin is more elastic than cow leather. I will post pics a little later so you can see what I am doing with this but my first question is

Even though the deer skin is completed in the tanning, leather process, are there any properties that I need to know about deer skin when cutting out for the wristband? It seems that the skin is more elastic when stretched one way than another and my first concern is that the wrist band will stretch way out once it is worn a couple of times.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I want to make this band look as nice as possible.

Thanks for reading.

Justme

[Dwight]

justme, . . . I've not been around as long as many folks here, . . . but all my experience with deer leather, . . . it has been "buckskin" tanned, . . . or very much like suede cowhide leather.

That gives it the properties you described.

If I were you, . . . (and IFFF I understand exactly what you are doing), . . . I would first make a vegetable tanned "bracelet" using a buckle and strap made out of probably 5 oz vegetable tanned leather.

Once it is finished (cut out, punched, edged, etc., and the buckle and keeper and associated snaps all done), . . . I would affix the stones to this piece of leather to a "flat" side of the stone, using contact cement.

I would then very carefully cut a piece of the deer skin, . . . make holes for the stones to come up through, . . . be very sparing with the contact cement, . . . and cement it to the bracelet, . . . covering the top, edges, and back, . . . but not the area where the buckle and strap are.

The vegetable tanned leather will give you a sturdy foundation, . . . and will allow you to make a very interesting and beautiful bracelet.

Best wishes, may God bless,

Dwight

[UKRay]

That sounds like pretty good advice to me...

Ray

[Regis]

I agree with most of the above except gluing the stone in. Use a setting suitable for the cab attached to the deer hide. I've seen setting with tabs to go through leather/fabric (certainly in brass or nickle but, not sure about sterling). Then glue & sew the deer to the leather base. Is this a hair-on deer skin? If so, you will have trim the hair around the setting, perhaps tapering toward the stone.

Regis

[justme]

Dwight and Regis, thanks for the advice. There is no hair on the skin. One side is leather, the other side like chamois. I read the proper terms for the two sides but it hasn't sunk in yet.

The stone is set in a pronged silver setting that I made and I am now working on attaching it to a square of skin that will eventually be attached to the wrist band.

Your suggestion using the vegitable leather sounds what I need. Now I just have to learn how to do that.

Honestly, I never thought stones would lead me to leather. I hope to finish the design part tonight and will post a pic. Does this board use photobucket? I haven't learned my way around yet.

Thanks again and look forward to learning a great new craft.

[justme]

Well, I finished the design part on a rectangle piece of deer skin.

The stone is a Bruneau Jasper that was ground and polished. The frame for the stone is a prong setting.

1st pic, I'm just laying it down and centering it. 2nd pic is the frame that I stitched to the skin securely with heavey duty thread. 3rd pic, it is done (I hope) and now I have to figure out how to make the band and attach the design.

I'll be searching the board for "how to" info on the wrist band part and also the glue that I think I will need. If any one can give me directions on where I can find the info, it would be appreciated.

Thanks

[rickybobby]

Justme,

Nice piece!! I took a lapidary class in high scholl and learned working with different stones, polishing ect. what I really enjoyed and used a lot after high school was to silver solder. Jewlery and leather!

To find something use the "search" button up in the right hand corner of the forum page. It is a great help.

Nice work, Please post a pic of the piece when you are done!!

Rick J.

[justme]

Thanks Rick, I just got back from browsing the forums and the masterful work I saw was unbelievable. I'm actually just learning to grind and polish stones. The one in the pic was sent to me. My forte right now is wrapping stones.

This piece hollers "Newbie" loud and clear but I have to start somewhere and the learning process is fun.

[Jim]

Justme,

You're right about the stretch properties of the tanned deer skin. The Chrome Tanned hides and even the Brain Tanned tend to have the same properties. Over the years I have made clothing, mocs, and bags of every size and shape from deer skin and found out quick that the stretch can either kill you or help you. That being said, it's possible to take most of the stretch out of the leather by wetting (and I mean soaking wet) a piece of the leather and re-strtching it.

You will need 12 pound nails and a suitable sized piece of 1/2" plywood. After wetting the deer skin, nail one side of the leather to the wood spacing the nails at or about 3 inches apart. Stretch the hide as you go until the one side is secure. Then follow up by pulling the wet hide out as far as you can and continue nailing it to the board until the entire piece is nailed around the perimeter. You may have to adjust and re-nail as you go to ensure the hide is stretched as much as possible.

When done, lift the edges of the wet hide up to the head of the nails all the way around to allow air flow between the hide and the board. Allow to dry over night.

When you remove the leather, it may appear stiff, but if it's good deer skin (See :Eindes Furs, St. Maries Idaho,) it will loosen up by simply working it in your hands for a minute. The pouch shown below was made with leather using the same method described here. The stretch had to be removed to keep the integrity of the quill work in tact.

You can double layer the band to keep its shape by glueing the two pieces together and the sewing it with stitches just snug enough to hold but not tight enough to cause the edge to pucker. I recommend hand stitching with the lock stitch when using deer skin and ALWAYS pre-punch the stitch holes. DON'T use a sewing awl!

Glue: I recommend Tanners Bond contact cement. Low vapor, works fast, and holds forever.

Hope this helps,

Jim

[Jim]

For all ya'll that read my reply, I would like to correct my goof.

That would be 12 PENNY nails rather than 12 pound nails.

See what happens when leather workers do carpenter work . . . . sheesh!

[justme]

Had to laugh. I'm a wire wrapper trying to be a leather worker who now has to be a carpenter.

Thanks Jim for that great information. If I do it right and it comes out right, seems I would get a lot more hide to work with afterwards.

Now where is that hammer.