Urshag

OK, well I went ahead and made the pouch. I've attached several photo's below. I sewed the embellishments on and then painted the thread with an antique gold acrylic paint. I'm happy with how it came out but I'm also excited to make the next one with some changes and improvements. I made it with a buckle, but the whole buckle assembly is attached at the top with a snap so it has the buckle 'look" but has the snap convenience.

Thanks for the fast replies! I should have included the dimensions of the embellishments, but the holes are too small for any rivets I have ever come across. Otherwise that would have been a great idea! covering the edges by using a leather frame unfortunately would defeat the effect I am looking for. There was a post in march of someone making a leather pouch that has a similar look: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=30281 I can't tell by the photo of the underside of the flap if he sewed it on or if the embellishment had metal brads that were punched through and bent over. Would e6000 glue (If anyone has any experience with it.) be a good choice for filling in the hollows of the stamping in the top embellishment? Thanks! Dennis

I have bought the two types of embellishments in the photos below. I want to attach them to the the front flap of a leather pouch. In both pictures, the top one is right side up and the bottom one is the underside of the embellishment. The question is, how to attach them? Glue isn't going to be strong enough on its own to do the trick I am thinking. I was planning on using thread and sewing them onto the leather through a few key spots of the embellishments. But, should I use glue as well? And if so, what kind of glue? The first one is a stamping and is hollow beneath the structure, so it would need to be a glue that would "fill in" the stamping. The other one is flat on the bottom, so then again, what kind of glue is best? OR... is there another method that I am not thinking of that would be better for attaching them to the front of the flap of the leather pouch? Any suggestions would be appreciated! Dennis

I am making a belt for a friend of mine who does SCA (Medieval) combat re-enacting. He needs a white belt (People who have earned the title of "Knight" are identified by a white belt) for use in combat. Painting a veg tan belt white seems out of the question as I would think that the paint would quickly wear off, crack, etc. on a belt that going to get the rough treatment. It's going to get wet, sweat covered, banged, hit, rubbed against other armor etc. I've tried using the white dye at from Tandy but that just seems to be a base used to make other colors brighter after application. A friend of mine at a local leather supply shop suggested gluing a thin white leather on top of the veg tan. So far this seems to me to be the best option. Does anyone have any more information or a better suggestion? (I've done some searching here and elsewhere but I'm not sure the advice applies to a project such as this that is going to see such rough use.) Thanks for any suggestions! Dennis

Hmmm... well I found a link for a paraffin wax that has melting point of 163 degrees Fahrenheit. It's 10 pounds for $16.95. (http://cart.candlesupply.com/product.php?productid=18818&cat=479&page=1) At that price I think it's worth a shot. I just wish I could find Brewer's Pitch at a cheaper price than $14.00 a pound as Jas Townsend. (http://jas-townsend.com/product_info.php?products_id=373) I'll give it a go and let everyone know how it works when I finally do it. Dennis

Well, I've had a mug from a company called Ye Dragon and Unicorn for 10 years and they claim that they use paraffin wax. Here is the page: https://3harpiesltd.net/dandu/history.php I'm just curious if anyone else has tried it and has any pointers. Dennis

I am currently following Angster's great tutorial on leather mug making. I am wondering, instead of using beeswax and brewer's pitch if I could use paraffin wax for both the soaking and for the lining? Anyone with any thoughts or experience with paraffin wax? Dennis

Hi Steve! I had written a reply the day after you had written yours but I don't see it here so it must not have posted correctly. When you say "what did you use" what are you reffering to? If you are reffering to the stain, I used Medium Brown Antique stain on the one with the Oak leaves and I painted the leaves with an acrylic gold paint. The one in the group shot on the far left was also done with the Medium Brown Antique stain. The other two were done with a medium brown dye. Dennis

I just spoke with a rep at the company that makes Envirotex Lite and they said that when exposed to extremes ( like a really cold or hot beverage) it can cause the resin to crack or become unsafe for food use. She mentioned she gets at least 1 call a week from people asking the same thing! lol She stated that as far as she knows there is no food safe finish except for the Salad Bowl Finish, but she is unsure how that would work for lining a mug or a bottle. She stated that if any of us finds one that works to let her know so she can pass on the info to others that call her. I may make a test mug using the Salad Bowl Finish and see how it holds up to testing. If I do that I'll report my findings.

Thanks! I was using a light cube but maybe I need stronger lights.

I finally finished my first four mugs today! Here are some pictures. The really big one was my first mug and it holds 33 oz. The other mugs with the exception of the one that is a little short (It was the last scrap of the hide I was using) hold 16oz. Two of the mugs have two layered handles. Let me know what you guys think! Thanks again to Angster for his amazing tutorial and his many replies to my many questions as well as the help of others on this forum!

Thanks to your amazing tutorial Angster, I've got my two mugs ready to go for the process of coating the inside with the 50/50 mix of beeswax and brewer's pitch. I had a couple of questions; How hot should the mix be before pouring into the mug? 200 degrees Fahrenheit like with the beeswax bath? How long do you wait between coats of wax? Thanks again for all the help! I'll be posting pictures as soon as I am done.

Yeah I ran into the same problem. I found one that measures 2 3/4 and one that was 3 2/3. The latter is too big but the smaller one works well. Another question, when I dye/paint the leather, I should do it BEFORE the wax, but are there any types of dye (Such as an oil/alcohol based vs water based like the antique dyes) or paint that react better/worse with the wax? Thanks again! Dennis

Actually the process of dipping the mug in the melted wax causes the leather to stiffen to the point where it is like a really hard plastic. I've been using a mug with a flat handle like this for years and it's never bent even when the mug is full of a tasty home brewed ale.

Thanks Angster! BTW, for the PVC thing you're using for the base, is it 3" across measured from the outside edges? I bought something that was marked as 3 inches but the mug it ends up making is HUGE. lol Dennis

Wow, that's a shame! That's a hell of a good looking mug. It's a shame you can't replicate it. I'll give it a shot myself and see how it turns out. I checked out your site, awesome work! I'll post some pics of my first mug. Any suggestions for any kind of reptile skin backgrounds? I have an idea to do some armor with that kind of a pattern. Thanks for the info!

Thanks again Angster! Yeah I already bought a thermometer to keep an eye on the temperature of the wax. I will keep a close eye on it. By the way, on another post about mugs "Big Steve's First Mugs" http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=25297&st=0&gopid=169102entry169102 I asked him about how he achieves the sort of reptile skin look of the mug on the top row far right. Any idea on how he does that? I assume it's a carving stamp tool of some kind but I can't seem to figure out which one it is. :/ Thanks again for answering all my questions. I'm sure as I attempt my first mug I'll have more. lol Dennis

Wow! Those are amazing! For the mug on the top row, far right, how did you achieve the reptile skin look? Was it a stamp? I've been looking for somehow to do this as I've seen armor and such with this kind of look to it. Thanks for any help!

Thanks for the tutorial and the detailed reply! I do have a question, I was planning on heating the wax for the initial soaking in a crock pot, not a double boiler. Will that make a difference? Also, do you have any pictures of your finished mugs? I'd love to see them!

Well I just found out the answer to one of my questions. I've read online that the wax process does indeed harden the leather. So we can assume the handle stays stiff after the soaking in the wax. Now if I could just find something that mentions an average time to leave the leather in the melted wax....

I have a couple of questions about this. I know the tutorial said to use the bubbles as a guide for how long to leave the mug in the wax. But could someone suggest an average time? Does the soaking in the wax make the leather stiff like I've heard boiling does? Any information would be appreciated! Thanks!