Thornale

I guess that's easy to do, find a human ear with some skin around, tan it and glue it to the phone case !

If you want I can give you the French situation. I haven't seen any English classic books (i.e. Al Stohlman, F.O Baird...) translated in French and as far as I'm concern, I can read easily English resources. We have a few modern French book about leather-craft but not so much. However we have a publisher who is specialized in re-publishing old crafting manuals (for leather of course but also for wood, blacksmithing, jewelery ...) from 1850-1930 which are goldmines. That was my two cents.

If you need anything else, do not hesitate to ask !

The easiest (non period) way to add padding is to glue some foam from a camping mat inside the gauntlet, so you should have a good 1/2 inch of allowance (foam thickness plus a few so your hand can move), the best way to know is to test.

The work is clean and the overall look is very good, but depending on how you want to use it you will have to do several modifications. I don't want to be blunt, take this as an advice. Firstly, I find it too small, you cannot wear a glove inside or add some padding (if you do steel combat only leather, whatever the thickness, is not enough). Then, there is the binding method, lace is not good, you should have opted for a wider strap (about 1/2 of an inch) because lace tears easily and broke often. Finally, Chicago screws doesn't looks very "period". On the ones I used to make, I stitched the part together with a border stitch (on the inside of the gauntlet with holes exiting on the edge of the leather, like in a turn-shoe sole).

I know a very good article about medieval box making but it is in French (I will source it at the end of the post though). Boxes like the one in the middle were made with thin and supple leather. The leather pieces were put in a collagen solution. While damp, this make the leather behave like play-doh and almost as hard as wood after drying. The damped leather pieces are stretched over wood last and worked with a bone and other modeling tools (a bit like for Comedia del'Arte masks). Then they are let to dry (for small pieces allow 24h) and are workable. There are some easy ways to create your collagen solution. Period method uses bone glue, fish glue or skin glue. You can also use gelatin sheet for cooking ( a ratio of 2 sheets per 25cL of water works fine). Your solution must be a bit heated to optimize the collagen penetration into the leather. It should be around 35°C and should not get over 40°C. When you put your leather in the solution there will be some bubbles around (and that's where the term "cuir bouilli" come from, don not put your leather into boiling water unless you want to have something as brittle as glass). Let it inside until there are no more bubbles. Hope this will help ... Edit : I forgot to mention but this will only work with veg tanned leather. (further reading : http://astelier-medi...e-12542584.html)

Hi everyone, I just came across the scan of an old French manual from 1922, so I figured I could put it here. It is about different techniques for leather carving. Even the book is in French, some patterns in the book may be of use to someone. L' Art du Cuir Leo

Hi, Looking at what you want to build, you'll need something to cut your leather (an xacto or a utility knife will do good), some round punches to pierce the leather where you will have the snaps and where your metal parts are attached to the belt, an awl and two needles to saddle stitch the contour (you can lookup on this forum, there are plenty of good posts about hand stitching) and some thread (my preference goes to waxed linen but any synthetic equivalent would be ok). You will also need a tool to set the snap buttons. However i don't know where you can find the WWE metal parts. EDIT : I forgot to mention a stitching wheel to trace your stitch line. But what you will need the most is patience. take your time, work a LOT on paper on scale 1:1 as it costs nothing (it is better to ruin a large piece of paper than a large piece of leather). Welcome to leather-crafting and enjoy you first project !

The marble effect looks very good ! How do you do that ?

@Django57 -> I have no idea, I think the best is to ask them. @King's X -> Thank you !

Here the knife I use : http://cuirschadefaux.com/catalogue/outillage/outils-de-coupe/article/tranchet . They are handmade by a French knife maker only for my leather supplier. It is very durable and allows me to cut easily very thick leathers (sole leather for instance).

I have a few of Vergez Blanchard tools, my leather supplier is a direct reseller. I have an edge beveler which is 4 years old now and I have sharpened only twice since I bought it. I also have several awls. Back then, if I remember well, the awls were about 6€ each and the edge beveler was 35€, but prices may have grown up since I got them.

Hi ! I've been in the leather-working for several years now, I was mainly crafting pieces for medieval re-enactment such as belts, pouches, shoes, armours, sword scabbards. But I want to do more (every day items, holsters ...), and share experiences with other leather-worker (I have some home made patterns for pouches and armor pieces that I will gladly share if needed). Outer the leather field I'm also into a lot of things including music, IT, home-brewing, Tabletop RPG and half a million of other things. PS : I hope my English doesn't looks weird.