Made this belt bag

[dhaverstick]

I finished this bag tonight and I will be donating it to the silent auction held at the annual convention of the Conservation Federation of Missouri at the end of the month. Hopefully, it will make the organization a little money. The body of the bag is made from cape buffalo hide. The purple and periwinkle bling is ostrich leg skin and the black trim is deer hide. I carved the clasp from a piece of deer antler and sewed it all up by hand using artificial sinew.

Darren

 

[PastorBob]

10 hours ago, dhaverstick said:

I finished this bag tonight and I will be donating it to the silent auction held at the annual convention of the Conservation Federation of Missouri at the end of the month. Hopefully, it will make the organization a little money. The body of the bag is made from cape buffalo hide. The purple and periwinkle bling is ostrich leg skin and the black trim is deer hide. I carved the clasp from a piece of deer antler and sewed it all up by hand using artificial sinew.

Darren

 

That is striking!  And for such a good cause.  Just looked up Fair Grove.  You are only about an hour away.  I am in Carthage.  Heading up to Springfield Leather later this afternoon.  We may have to get together sometime.

[dhaverstick]

2 hours ago, PastorBob said:

That is striking!  And for such a good cause.  Just looked up Fair Grove.  You are only about an hour away.  I am in Carthage.  Heading up to Springfield Leather later this afternoon.  We may have to get together sometime.

Bob, it is great to hear from a fellow Missourian! Springfield Leather is like a second home to me. I should just have half my paycheck automatically sent to them to make things easier. When I walk in the door, they all holler "Darren!" just like Norm in the old show, "Cheers". 

BTW - Thanks for the kind words.

Darren

[chuck123wapati]

your work is always an inspiration.!! 

[GrampaJoel]

On 2/9/2023 at 6:18 PM, dhaverstick said:

I finished this bag tonight and I will be donating it to the silent auction held at the annual convention of the Conservation Federation of Missouri at the end of the month. Hopefully, it will make the organization a little money. The body of the bag is made from cape buffalo hide. The purple and periwinkle bling is ostrich leg skin and the black trim is deer hide. I carved the clasp from a piece of deer antler and sewed it all up by hand using artificial sinew.

Darren

 

Your leather work always catches my mind and eye. Your choice of color and leather posted above is superb !!

Is the back side braiding a pair of belt loops?

I have blown the photos up larger, but I still can’t figure out how you did the braiding and edging. Is

will you share?

Joel
 

Edited February 15, 2023 by GrampaJoel

[dhaverstick]

On 2/15/2023 at 11:05 AM, GrampaJoel said:

Your leather work always catches my mind and eye. Your choice of color and leather posted above is superb !!

Is the back side braiding a pair of belt loops?

I have blown the photos up larger, but I still can’t figure out how you did the braiding and edging. Is

will you share?

Joel
 

Thank you for the kind words, Joel! Yes, I am happy to share anything that I do.

For the edging around the bag, I glued a piece of deer hide all the way around. I poked my sewing holes with an awl below the edge of the glued-down deer hide. Then I sewed the hide down using a whip stitch. I poke the needle through one hole, bring the thread back over the top of the deer hide, and stick the needle into the next hole. I make sure to pull the thread tight with each stitch. When I get to the end of a seam, I reverse the process which creates an "X" where the stitches cross on the top of the deer hide. This type of stitching on the soft deer hide causes it to puff up and gives the sewing a very distinct look.

For the belt loops, I do something similar. For a loop to fit a 2" wide belt, I use a piece of deer hide 3 1/2" long by 1" wide. I put contact cement all over the flesh side of the piece and wait until it gets tacky. Then I fold the long outside edges towards the center of the piece and keep pressing them down until they stick. This will leave you with a belt loop just a little shy of 1/2" wide. I put something heavy on top of the loop to flatten it out and let it dry for a few hours. After it dries, I square up the ends and make sure the finished piece is 3 1/2" long. When I am ready to sew it down, I first poke holes with an awl 1/4" a part down the long centerline of the loop, down its entire length. I sew one end down onto what I'm attaching it to and then start doing the whip stitch on one side until I get to the end. Then I sew that end down and bring my whip stitch back. When I reach the point where I started, I go down the other side and then come back. The end result is really cool looking. The biggest trick to sewing them is to make sure to give yourself enough thread. Even though the pieces are short, they take a surprising long piece of thread to sew them completely.

Hope this helps!

Darren

 

[GrampaJoel]

3 hours ago, dhaverstick said:

Thank you for the kind words, Joel! Yes, I am happy to share anything that I do.

For the edging around the bag, I glued a piece of deer hide all the way around. I poked my sewing holes with an awl below the edge of the glued-down deer hide. Then I sewed the hide down using a whip stitch. I poke the needle through one hole, bring the thread back over the top of the deer hide, and stick the needle into the next hole. I make sure to pull the thread tight with each stitch. When I get to the end of a seam, I reverse the process which creates an "X" where the stitches cross on the top of the deer hide. This type of stitching on the soft deer hide causes it to puff up and gives the sewing a very distinct look.

For the belt loops, I do something similar. For a loop to fit a 2" wide belt, I use a piece of deer hide 3 1/2" long by 1" wide. I put contact cement all over the flesh side of the piece and wait until it gets tacky. Then I fold the long outside edges towards the center of the piece and keep pressing them down until they stick. This will leave you with a belt loop just a little shy of 1/2" wide. I put something heavy on top of the loop to flatten it out and let it dry for a few hours. After it dries, I square up the ends and make sure the finished piece is 3 1/2" long. When I am ready to sew it down, I first poke holes with an awl 1/4" a part down the long centerline of the loop, down its entire length. I sew one end down onto what I'm attaching it to and then start doing the whip stitch on one side until I get to the end. Then I sew that end down and bring my whip stitch back. When I reach the point where I started, I go down the other side and then come back. The end result is really cool looking. The biggest trick to sewing them is to make sure to give yourself enough thread. Even though the pieces are short, they take a surprising long piece of thread to sew them completely.

Hope this helps!

Darren

 

Thank you Darren.
My brain is still spinning from your quality of work. 
you make it sound sooooooo, simple.  But then, I find that masters of all fields of creation,  often do, when explaining their methods of creating their works of art.

Thank you for explaining your methods.

Joel

[Hags]

That's just a great looking bag! What do you say Chuck, I could pick you up and we could  be there for the event!

[Stetson912]

Cool stuff as usual