Saddle bag

[shirleyz]

I apologise, for those of you who have seen this, I'm reposting it for my buddy Clay, who was too bloody slow to see it before it went kerplunk!

Hi All,

My husband finally made up his mind and so I got to work on his saddlebags. As you can see, they are to fit a pretty unusual shape. I’m not really sure if I went about this the right way or not, but it seems to be working so I’ll stick with it.

I basically just cut stiff paper to the shape I wanted, and then just kept taping more pieces to it until I had the shape of the bag he wanted. He told me he didn’t want any seams other than the gusset. So, I ended up with one big, odd shaped piece of 8oz leather, and the gusset piece which I made out of thinner leather so that it would take a fold and allow the bag to sit flat when empty.

This first bag is for the left hand side of the bike. It is a Dragon, as the bike is going to have an Asian theme. It took me a little time to tool all those scales, which kinda irked me ‘coz the bag is now black. Apparently the paint is going to be a metallic green, which I want to incorporate into an antique, which I hope will make the dragon stand out against the black. I can’t do that though until I get a sample of the paint color to match.

I also used the vinegaroon technique to color the leather black. That way I didn’t have to line the bag, and if it should rain there’s no chance of dyeing the contents of the bag black.

I haven’t attached any hardware yet. I’ll wait until he attaches it to the side panels and see where it would look best.

I’m about to start on the other bag, which will be a koi fish.

I’ll keep you posted.

ShirleyZ

[ClayB]

Hi Shirley,

I wasn't too slow to see the pictures, just too slow to respond. I am sure glad I dont make motorcycle seats cuz painting all my work black would really put me in a bad mood. Even for your own hubby's bike. You'd think he would be able to see it differently. I'll be waiting to see how the green antique works out. It sounds interesting and maybe it will give it enough contrast to bring the colors together.

Thanks for re-posting the pictures. It's always fun to see what you are up too.

Clay