Making a Leather Bottle

[MikeDB]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to put this or if it's ok for someone new to post such a thing but I thought some may be interested.

A very non-definitive guide to how I make a leather bottle.

This bottle is based on the ones recovered from the wreck of the Mary Rose.

Bottles like this were commonly in use in Great Britain from the 11th century to the beginning of the 17th and hopefully this will be an example of traditional wax cuir bolli (soaked in boiling beeswax to create a great strength within the leather and a waterproof and fairly easily maintainable finish.

It starts out with a paper pattern and some 3.5mm (ish) veg tan shoulder

I have a master pattern in card but use paper on actual cutting.

Cut out the two halves and then the welt.

Some of the recovered bottles only had a partial welt, it seems to preserve the round shaping of the neck but I have found that the full welt not only adds much to the strength but also, when combined with a narrow edge prevents any warping of the leather.

The above shows the two halves and welt glued and the stitching pattern marked out with an adjustable groover. You need to be a little more creative with the stitch marks around the handle sections, just a matter of care, time and patience.

If I'm going to add any decoration I scribe in the design at this stage, be very careful not to go through the surface of the hide, if you do it can split open when it wet moulded.

Once I have got this far and am happy that it looks ok I mark the handle holes and cut them out. Now it's looking more like a bottle, hopefully!

Now it's off to the bath. I soak a bottle this size in several changes of hot water for a couple of hours, at least until the leather stops fizzing.

Pointless picture of leather fizz….

Once I'm happy the leather is pliable enough it's time for shaping. I used to use sand but found it a bit of a pain really and now use pearl barley. It's still traditional and much easier to remove from the item.

Packing the barley take a bit of time and the judicious use of a length of dowel to make sure it takes the shape you are after. It's a fair effort too, a guide being that if you push hard enough to break the dowel then that's too hard!

You also need to take care that you don't mark the surface of the leather; any scratches on it now can be a pain to remove later.

I've just used a cork to seal the top here and will now let the poor thing rest on some scrap leather till it's dry, weather permitting a couple of days. Any hint of water in the bottle can ruin the wax dipping so it's really worth waiting.

It at least looks more like the final shape now.

Well it's been 48 hrs and the bottle is near dry so just a few more steps to go in the making.

Time for a tidy up of the edges now the leather has settled a bit.

There are many methods for smoothing the cut edges but I just use a bone folder and either gum trag or saliva. (if you want to be traditional then spit works really well as the enzymes react with the leather fibres)

It's really just a matter of patience and work till you get the level of smoothness you require.

I've tried to show here how the bottle edge isn't straight, this is caused by the moulding process and sometimes the leather drying out at differing rates, however this can be corrected after the bottle is wax dipped.

After I have the edges and any handle cut outs smoothed off to the degree I want it's time to start adding colour, the process that for me starts to change the whole look of the item.

For a period looking bottle I'm going to use three oil dyes.

First a coat of mahogany then mid brown ending in a coat of dark brown. These coats are not even so when the bottle is waxed you can see a slight variation and depth of colour.

Looking more like the finished bottle now methinks. You need to bear in mind that the wax dipping will change the colour so the whole bottle will be darker when it's finished.

Next the waxing……..

Well I guess it's time for the last bits on bottle making.

Waterproofing and hardening the bottle.

I'm not going into too much on Cuir Bouilli methods of which there appear to be legion, lets just stick with dipping the finished bottle into hot liquid beeswax.

Firstly then, get yourself a reasonable amount of wax and a gert great double boiler and let it melt. For a pan of this size (13 litres) it took about 2 ½ hours to melt fully.

I usually do this on a propane burner in the workshop but to aid pictures you will have to put up with the kitchen. Always keep a fire blanket to hand chaps, while beeswax melts at a mere 62 degrees and has a flashpoint of something like 254 degrees it will still burn if ignited, think huge candle and the sort of burn injury Ivan the Terrible would classify as 'most amusing'

When the wax is melted it's really just a question of immersing the object (turn off any flames)

(As you have spent a long time and much effort to get this far I'd recommend trying a test piece first)

When the bottle is submerged in the wax any air in the leather is given off and it bubbles, possibly another route for the term boiled leather as opposed to water boiling.

You can just see in the above picture the amount of fizz generated by the bottle.

I leave the bottle in the wax till the bubbles stop, no real timing as different pieces and different leather thickness will change the immersion time.

Once the bubbles have stopped remove the bottle carefully. Although it was fairly rigid from the wet moulding it will now be pliable and a tad hot! Wipe away any excess beeswax while it's still hot, much easier than trying to remove it when it cools and leave the bottle to cool.

When the bottle is cool enough to hold but still fairly warm you can turn your attention to coating the inside and the seams. I simply use a funnel and pour some of the liquid wax into the bottle, keep the bottle moving to swill the wax around.

After you have built up a goodly coating of wax on the inside of the bottle let it cool off totally before you test it for leaks. Filling it with cold water too early can cause the wax to crack.

After it's cooled off I just fill with cold water to test it. If that's all ok then I fill it and leave it full for 24 hours just to be sure.

All that's left now is some polishing and fitting of a stopper.

I've seen many types of stopper fitted to period bottles, some roughly carved from wood, others more elaborate and made from rolled leather.

I've just added a rudimentary wooden one here but may well change that, anyhow, it looks a little different from the flat and undyed shape of earlier.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and suffering my rambles.

Cheers

Mike

[Luke Hatley]

Mike the "BOTTEL" LOOKS GREAT. I HAD FORGOT HOW MUCH IS INVOLVED IN MAKIN ONE.

HAVE YOU LINED ANY OF THEM WITH"BREWERS PITCH"?

[TomBanwell]

A really great tutorial! Thanks so much for posting that. I learned a lot from it. Very detailed and complete.

[MikeDB]

Thanks for the positive comments.

I don't line the flasks with pitch just the beeswax. I've used brewers pitch a couple of times in tankards but I prefer the hardness the cuir gives, also there is some argument over the food safety on pitch in the EU so many clients won't use the finished article even if it's more in keeping with the period of the item they have chosen.

Mike

[Beaverslayer]

Mike, this tutorial is great. an excelent post for just showing up here. This is what makes this site the best on the net. Thanks so much for taking the time to do this and share with all of us.

Ken

[Spider]

This is BEAUTIFUL!!! WOW

[Luke Hatley]

MIKE THE WOODEN STOPPER , WILL IT CAUSE A LOT OF WEAR ON THE BEES WAX LINING, THE NECK OF THE BOTTELL ?

Edited May 21, 2008 by Luke Hatley

[Regis]

Welcome Mike. And, that is one great treat to lean how to make these.

Regis

[Myriam]

Wow, super great tutorial, Mike! Thanks for posting. Valuable information in here.

[wildrose]

That is beautiful, and I loved reading how you made it. I met Frank Zigon at shows and he does leather bottles too. I think it's such a fascinating topic. What really made me laugh though was when you said about using spit/saliva. I actaully "discovered" that when edging a project recently - it works great! Better than plain water, that's for sure!