Green and Englush Tan Deco Tote

[Silverd]

Good afternoon 

Today, I'm presenting a recently completed Tote that I designed as a wink to the turn of the century art deco style period.  The outer bag is made using 2-3 oz Herman Oak that I died green using Tandy water base die applied by conventional spray method.  The inner layer of the bag is Sheep Skin as well as the zipper surround and some of the internal elements. The tote has a wet molded hard bottom made from Herman Oak 8-10 oz.   Handles and deco geometry are made from HO as well are died Saddle Tan and have integrated padded rope core handles that are easy on the hands.  Spring wire stiffeners sewn into the handle tops prevent buckling when the bag is fully loaded.  Buckle Guy hardware and full length YKK zipper.   Interior features a big pouch with flap, a zipper pocket and a collapsing sunglass tube.  

If comments come in I'll add more photos.

[TomE]

That is a beauty!  Interesting construction and a work of art (deco).  Now my wife wants one.

[Scoutmom103]

Nice.  would love some more pictures. Especially of the handle build with the spring wire and rope.

 

It definitely reminds me of styling in an Art Deco building I used to work in located in Downtown Indianapolis on the circle.

 

[Silverd]

2 hours ago, TomE said:

That is a beauty!  Interesting construction and a work of art (deco).  Now my wife wants one.

Wow!  Thank you!

Silverd

[Silverd]

1 hour ago, Scoutmom103 said:

Nice.  would love some more pictures. Especially of the handle build with the spring wire and rope.

 

It definitely reminds me of styling in an Art Deco building I used to work in located in Downtown Indianapolis on the circle.

 

I used a groove tool to create a space for the spring wire to live inside the handle.  I'll attempt to find pics of the rope handle.  For this I used 3/8" weaved rope that I wrapped with thing foam then with 2-3mm leather.  

[Silverd]

I made a wet molding form tool that was used to make the bottom.  I think I bought the spherical feet from Ohio Travel Bag.  They are perfect for this deco design.

[Silverd]

Internal space is very important in most bags and everybody has their personal opinion as to what is the ideal configuration.  I have been making a sunglass tube for other bags that I believe works well and did the same for this project.  But I added a snap feature that allows the tube to be folded away.  Of course, a flapped and zipper pouch of some sorts are also nice features. Here they are integrated into the main zipper pieces.  I don't have formal bag making training and am likely doing things the hard way!

Silverd242 

[Silverd]

2 hours ago, Scoutmom103 said:

Nice.  would love some more pictures. Especially of the handle build with the spring wire and rope.

 

It definitely reminds me of styling in an Art Deco building I used to work in located in Downtown Indianapolis on the circle.

 

The pocket panels are held in place at the top via the zipper surround and at the bottom with 3 snaps on each panel and 3 reciever snaps that are sewn into the bottom. Something like this is required because when sewing the molded bottom into the main, the area inside the bag must be clear.  The panels are the last things that are assembled into the bag.

Silverd242 

[Sheilajeanne]

Awesome work!

I've been trying to design pockets, etc. for a bag I made. You've given me some interesting ideas!

The pockets look like they were wet moulded, too. Is that how you did them?

Edited June 25, 2022 by Sheilajeanne

[DJole]

That's a really nice design, and great work putting it all together! Two awls way up!