DJole

Got it all stitched up tonight! The Lewis Chessmen are a group of chess pieces found in the early 1800s near Uig Bay, on the Isle of Lewis. They are Viking era pieces, carved out of walrus ivory, and nobody knows why they were cached there. The pieces can be viewed in the British Museum in London, and the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. They're wonderful pieces of early Medieval art. This is the first of a set-- Queen, King, Bishop, Knight, Rook/Warder. The pawns aren't quite so photogenic for bags. Leather: 2 mm veg tan, Eco-Flo Red Waterstain. It's probably one of my Tandy stash of miscellaneous hides. Thread: Ritza Chestnut, 5mm spacing Fabric: Black denim (on the inside) and red Harris Tweed (backed with an iron-on stabilizer). Harris tweed is manufactured not far away from where the chess pieces were found, so it's fitting for use here. zipper charm: a Lewis chessmen bishop, from Ebay. Strap: purchased from Amazon. I could make a strap, but it would take FOREVER to stitch by hand. The price I paid is less than I could actually get the hardware and leather for.

Heh! The shoes to match this bag are Viking Era shoes.

The bag is almost done. I'm trying to decide which strap works better for this bag. The narrow strap is red leather, which matches the tooled front and back panels. The wider strap is red cloth, which matches the red tweed sides and zipper top. This is the Lewis chessmen queen-- more detail here for those who want a better look.

Nice design work! (I recognized Sigurd and Fafnir right away, but then again, I have read widely in Scandinavian and Germanic mythology) The colored edges look very good. Repetitive stamps like the dragon scales can be difficult to get right, but it looks like you've got the knack for it.

Nice! I made cases for all my stitching irons, but most of them are nowhere near this nice. I have them up on my website-- {http://djole.altervista.org/djole/Publications/Leather/I/Irons/IronCases.htm}

Rather breaking out the bottles of dye, can you use alcohol pens instead? Sharpies make a great black, for example. And rather than dye the whole surface, just dye the edges perhaps. I have a set of 5 alcohol art pens I use (Red, Green, Blue, Black, Yellow), with dual tips (brush and chisel) for this purpose. Nice contrast, especially when burnishing. And a lot less messy (or potentially messy, when working with Scouts).

Nice! Having it on the hatband gives the monster in question something to look at while you, the adventurer, quickly run away in another direction...

Welcome to the forum!

Welcome to the forum! I spent a few minutes admiring the things you've made so far... nice work!

Hey, that's a great idea! Nice work!

NIce work! and when the soles wear out, you can just cut the stitches and remove the panels for re-use on another pair of Vans!

I like the contrast visible in #1 and #3. Of course, I 'm not who you're making this for....

I decided that I needed a second, slimmer wallet, and I had some nice green remnants floating in my stash. So I whipped out a pattern for a bi-fold, extended it, eyeballed it, and about 6 non-contiguous hours later, here's what I ended up with. The inside uses three different card pocket styles, in black pigskin lining. Ritza sage green and Ritza green are the threads I used, with a 3mm stitching iron. Edges are black Tokonole. I love the color and texture of the green leather!

Nice work! Looks like your hands and brain remembered the process well!

You are asking for size, rather than brand, I guess? Many watchband makers go as small as 2 mm for a stitching iron/chisel. 2.8 mm is also available. Make sure the thread size matches the stitch width, of course.

That's a really nice piece, Stewart!

And as an appreciation gift, I made the customer a custom card wallet. The colors (dye and thread) and stamping pattern match the holster and belt. The color doesn't really fade from top to bottom -- that's just a photographic artifact. The purply-red leather is just a striking bit of on-sale remnant I had. It certainly makes a nice color pop! That's Fiebing's Antique Black Gel for the wallet, and the thread is Maine Thread .035 polyester cord, Golden Brown color. Stitching on the inside flat edge is 3mm, the perimeter is 5mm. The customer paid for the 3 and 5 hole bar grounder set (from Japan), so it was appropriate to use them in the tooling!

It's nearly done! The last thing we need to do is a final belt fitting to make SURE the buckle billet is long enough! (The 1st test fitting showed us that the customer didn't get the belt size quite right -- a couple inches off.) I finished the holster today. I'll upload belt pictures after I finish that up. Today I also sewed on the second set of cartridge loops, as the customer requested. Thanks, Fred! I've spent a while learning how to get it right, and I think I'm getting the hang of it now.

Oh, right. I forgot about that. Let me upload the photos for future reference.

No, I used it straight, onto vegtan leather.

I have used Angelus' Pink in this project: Skull Bag

No, I'm using Fiebing's antique black gel.

Yes, I get to keep the stamps. The price of the stamps (as part of purchased materials needed) is included in the price of the whole rig. They're not Barry King -- that would really push the price up!

Yes to all of the above! Will Ghormley's pattern pack contains patterns for 4 different pistol sizes and the belt. He also has additional information on his website about the tooling and dyeing process he uses, which has been very useful.

I've been working on this holster, from a pattern made by the person who created the movie rig. Western floral is not my usual style, but it's been interesting. The person who wants the holster bought 7 new stamps I needed for the pattern, so that's useful!