Tutorial on Mug Making

[Angster]

Thanks for the tutorial and the detailed reply! I do have a question, I was planning on heating the wax for the initial soaking in a crock pot, not a double boiler. Will that make a difference? Also, do you have any pictures of your finished mugs? I'd love to see them!

Yes, it will make a difference, of a sort... Both methods will heat wax past the melting point of wax. However, the double boiler will get the wax up to around water's melting point, then pretty much keep it there. A crock pot will keep heating wax beyond that point. DANGER, DANGER. You will need to keep an eye on the crock pot to make sure the wax doesn't get too hot. Not sure, but I think if you just left it, you could get the temperature past the flash point of wax. My crock pot has several temperature settings. I'll start on high, wait for the wax to melt, then turn the crock pot to low. This slows down how quickly the wax gains temperature. You may want to buy a candy thermometer to keep track of the heat of the wax. Keep it around 200 and you should be fine.

Look for the thread 'My Take on Leather Mugs'. I have pictures of some of my mugs there.

Jason, my crockpot, when full, will melt the beeswax in a couple of hours. I guess it has a cumulative effect on the wax as it melts. Starts slowly, then the melting process sort of speeds up.

Edited October 2, 2010 by Angster

[Urshag]

Yes, it will make a difference, of a sort... Both methods will heat wax past the melting point of wax. However, the double boiler will get the wax up to around water's melting point, then pretty much keep it there. A crock pot will keep heating wax beyond that point. DANGER, DANGER. You will need to keep an eye on the crock pot to make sure the wax doesn't get too hot. Not sure, but I think if you just left it, you could get the temperature past the flash point of wax. My crock pot has several temperature settings. I'll start on high, wait for the wax to melt, then turn the crock pot to low. This slows down how quickly the wax gains temperature. You may want to buy a candy thermometer to keep track of the heat of the wax. Keep it around 200 and you should be fine.

Look for the thread 'My Take on Leather Mugs'. I have pictures of some of my mugs there.

Jason, my crockpot, when full, will melt the beeswax in a couple of hours. I guess it has a cumulative effect on the wax as it melts. Starts slowly, then the melting process sort of speeds up.

Thanks again Angster! Yeah I already bought a thermometer to keep an eye on the temperature of the wax. I will keep a close eye on it. By the way, on another post about mugs "Big Steve's First Mugs"

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=25297&st=0&gopid=169102entry169102

I asked him about how he achieves the sort of reptile skin look of the mug on the top row far right. Any idea on how he does that? I assume it's a carving stamp tool of some kind but I can't seem to figure out which one it is. :/

Thanks again for answering all my questions. I'm sure as I attempt my first mug I'll have more. lol

Dennis

[Angster]

Thanks again Angster! Yeah I already bought a thermometer to keep an eye on the temperature of the wax. I will keep a close eye on it. By the way, on another post about mugs "Big Steve's First Mugs"

http://leatherworker...02

I asked him about how he achieves the sort of reptile skin look of the mug on the top row far right. Any idea on how he does that? I assume it's a carving stamp tool of some kind but I can't seem to figure out which one it is. :/

Thanks again for answering all my questions. I'm sure as I attempt my first mug I'll have more. lol

Dennis

Honestly, I've been thinking about that as well... Unfortunately, I've had instances where I've gotten a really cool look, but couldn't for the life of me replicate it.

However, I have an idea... Take the leather and just sponge-wet the top of the leather. Then dimple it with either a ball-peen hammer or pear shader. Then you're going to 'bake' it in the oven for a bit. Have the temperature of the over really close to boiling point of water. Since the wet leather will want to shrink when it dries, and the dry leather underneath won't want to, I wonder if it will add a layer of 'shrivel' to the surface... Only problem I see is that the hardened surface of the leather won't then want to be shaped into the mug barrel... Hmmm... Something to play around with?

[Urshag]

Honestly, I've been thinking about that as well... Unfortunately, I've had instances where I've gotten a really cool look, but couldn't for the life of me replicate it.

However, I have an idea... Take the leather and just sponge-wet the top of the leather. Then dimple it with either a ball-peen hammer or pear shader. Then you're going to 'bake' it in the oven for a bit. Have the temperature of the over really close to boiling point of water. Since the wet leather will want to shrink when it dries, and the dry leather underneath won't want to, I wonder if it will add a layer of 'shrivel' to the surface... Only problem I see is that the hardened surface of the leather won't then want to be shaped into the mug barrel... Hmmm... Something to play around with?

Thanks Angster!

BTW, for the PVC thing you're using for the base, is it 3" across measured from the outside edges? I bought something that was marked as 3 inches but the mug it ends up making is HUGE. lol

Dennis

Edited October 14, 2010 by Urshag

[Angster]

Thanks Angster!

BTW, for the PVC thing you're using for the base, is it 3" across measured from the outside edges? I bought something that was marked as 3 inches but the mug it ends up making is HUGE. lol

Dennis

Yeah, the piece I use measures 3" across from the outside edges. I think it's a drain fitting (it has a couple of tabs on the inside that you can screw a metal plate to). However, I was looking for some more a while back and couldn't find them. I guess anything that is solid and measures 3" would do.

[Urshag]

Yeah, the piece I use measures 3" across from the outside edges. I think it's a drain fitting (it has a couple of tabs on the inside that you can screw a metal plate to). However, I was looking for some more a while back and couldn't find them. I guess anything that is solid and measures 3" would do.

Yeah I ran into the same problem. I found one that measures 2 3/4 and one that was 3 2/3. The latter is too big but the smaller one works well.

Another question, when I dye/paint the leather, I should do it BEFORE the wax, but are there any types of dye (Such as an oil/alcohol based vs water based like the antique dyes) or paint that react better/worse with the wax?

Thanks again!

Dennis

[Urshag]

Yeah, the piece I use measures 3" across from the outside edges. I think it's a drain fitting (it has a couple of tabs on the inside that you can screw a metal plate to). However, I was looking for some more a while back and couldn't find them. I guess anything that is solid and measures 3" would do.

Thanks to your amazing tutorial Angster, I've got my two mugs ready to go for the process of coating the inside with the 50/50 mix of beeswax and brewer's pitch. I had a couple of questions;

1. How hot should the mix be before pouring into the mug? 200 degrees Fahrenheit like with the beeswax bath?
2. How long do you wait between coats of wax?

Thanks again for all the help! I'll be posting pictures as soon as I am done.

Edited October 25, 2010 by Urshag

[MarkH]

Thanks for the tutorial! I've been waiting for it for a while.

I was pretty much out of leather so had to dig through the scraps to manage a mini-mug. Okay, its more of a shot glass than mug. The idea scales down.

[Angster]

Urshag, sorry about that... Been trying to get caught up with real life after the IFoLG convention.

I don't keep track of the temperature of the wax/pitch blend, but since I only use the double boiler for it, I would imagine it's between 180-200 degrees by the time I use it.

The trick with sealing the inside is to pour the mix into the mug quickly then pour it back out slowly, while turning the mug. You want to make one complete revolution of the mug before pouring all of the mix back out, coating the entire inside of the mug. If you look inside the mug, you'll notice where you finished pouring looks thicker than where you started. This is ok. Then wait about a minute (doesn't take long) and do it again, this time rotating the mug in the opposite direction. You'll want to start where you finished the previous pour. This time when you look inside, the coating should be fairly even. Look along the seam and the bottom edge where you stitched. If it looks solid and thick enough, you should be ok with just two pours. There's no problem doing another pour just to make sure.

A couple of things to keep in mind. You want your mug to be room temperature before you attempt to seal it. The warmer the leather, the less the wax/pitch blend will 'stick' or cool against the leather, creating the seal. You also want to move smoothly as you're doing the pours. By this, I mean if you pour the mix into the mug and it sits for a length of time, it will heat up the leather and you'll notice the coating is thin on the bottom of the mug. To fix this, just let the mug cool down and do it again.

Hope this gives you the information you were looking for. I'm back online more consistently now, so please feel free to ask if you have any further questions.

Mark, awesome... I started making shot glasses a couple of years ago and they seem a big hit with the Renaissance Faire crowd. I'll try to get a picture or two posted of what mine look like. Keep it up!

[MarkH]

Mark, awesome... I started making shot glasses a couple of years ago and they seem a big hit with the Renaissance Faire crowd. I'll try to get a picture or two posted of what mine look like. Keep it up!

Pictures would be great. I thought about slotting my dowel base template with a router bit to give it the outward angle of a real shot glass but I just started with simple. At that size, they are pretty tough to stitch. Not that I proclaim any expertise.