Fred's ramblings

[fredk]

I thought I'd just a thread to write down some of my rambling ideas, thoughts and findings

Just one thread, instead of starting new ones or tagging on to old ones

I'll start with this observation. I'm starting to make a dice cup. I've cut the leather to go around my former. I'm making this one flesh side out-grain side in. I wrapped the leather around my former grain side in and cut it to size. Just by chance I lifted the cut piece to check it and wrapped it flesh side in.

This is what I noticed;

grain side in = perfect fit

 

But the same piece of leather wrapped grain side out = a gap, of about 6mm / 1/4 inch !

 

I'll be back with more ramblings

[tsunkasapa]

Gremlins.

[Handstitched]

Weird !!  Wet it, stretch it .  Nice colour . 

[Matt S]

@fredk I wonder if this is because the flesh side has more stretch to it, the fibres being coarser/looser than those of the grain layer? While it's something that I'd often "known" I had never considered quantifying the difference or what practical effects it causes. Thanks for providing an example where this slightly abstract material property makes a real-world difference!

[fredk]

Matt, I think you must be correct. 

Handstitched, that is Fiebings Purple, same on both sides. As it fits perfectly the way I want it to there is no need to stretch it

tsunkasapa, Gremilns only cause problems with RAF machinery. 

As an aside; at least into the early - mid 1970s putting down 'Gremilns' on an RAF aircraft service card was a legit reason for when a ground crew could not locate and fix an intermittent fault as reported by the air crew. Gremilns were first discovered by the RFC during WW1. They are not what the 1984 film portrayed

 

[tsunkasapa]

In Norway my people had trolls. I'm glad they didn't bring any over with them.

[chuck123wapati]

so then you trace your pattern on the grain side ?

[fredk]

When I cut the piece to go around the former, its about 4 inches high by about 9 1/2 inches long. I hold it in place and mark where the overlap is as the former is about 9 1/4 round. Then I trim off that overlap.

I'm doing this one flesh side out as I'm going to glue onto the outside a thin leather with a snake skin pattern on it

[fredk]

I started to make another dice cup today. I'm making it the same way. I cut my piece from a different hide but of the same thickness. I cut it to size with the flesh side out. Then I turned it around. A very slight gap, maybe, its under 1mm, maybe as little as under 0.5mm. Close enough to be the same size

[fredk]

On Wednesday just past I happened to be in my local Community Hall and I found out by accident that there was to be a show for local home crafts this Saturday (today)

Entry fee of 50p per item. As many items as you want to exhibit. To be in place on Friday between 5 and 8 pm on Friday

I sorted out 12 items, finding that some items I would have liked to show are with my 2 agents. I also made a couple of things, such as the dice cup

There were different classes for different crafts but not one for leather so the organisers put my things into a very general section covering many crafts

What I displayed; from left to right and from back to front; (the wood fairy door is not mine) Leather chess board (with a few pieces), Knitting belt, Hnefatafl game set, a decorated belt, a small valet tray, a key-ring coin purse, a small draw-string bag, a 1/2 moon coin purse, a wrist purse, a hat, a golf ball caddy and a notebook cover

Judging was on Saturday morning. The judges decided to divide the main Class into sub-classes

I got 1st, 2nd & 3rd place in the sub-class and 1st overall in the main Class 

The Hnefatafl game set took 1st

The decorated belt, which is actually not that great and was just put in to bulk up numbers, got 2nd place

And a Golf Ball Caddy, from a Tandy pattern, got 3rd place. Apparently there was a lot of interest in this, no-one having seen one before

I know the judges had lifted and studied most of the items as I had left them in a certain way and most of them had been put back differently. At some events the judges just have a basic look at items.  My prize is a £20 voucher card for a local craft shop.