Mikkel

I Prefer sewing the bottle from wet leather. This way you can pull the seams much tighter togeather. If you don't make tight enough seams, it will be harder to get the bottle to be watertight. Therefore I wouldn't sew the bottle from two pre-shaped pieces.

I have made several of these bottles using sand. And I always use beeswax to seal them. The beeswax hold up very nicely, and it doesn't need to be resealed later. I have tried making a leather stopper, but had a lot of difficulties getting it to work and look propper. So I turn the stoppers from wood (usually oak). If the stopper is slightly tapered it will work just fine. This is my latest one.