Members Neillo Posted July 19, 2012 Members Report Posted July 19, 2012 Nice work, no problems with the dye leeching out of the flesh side? I made a Kobo cover for my wife too, kinda like a black mailing satchel style, went with kangaroo lace to tie it up as i had no snaps at the time! Quote
Members lightningad Posted July 19, 2012 Author Members Report Posted July 19, 2012 no - not noticed any problems with leeching. My only problem seems to be in getting an even covering. I'm considering trying an airbrush on my next one, but as i'm really cack handed with things like that it'll probably still look patchy! Quote "You is what you am, a cow don't make ham!" Frank Zappa - Musical Visionary Barking Rooster Leather Goods Pinterest Page
Members Neillo Posted July 19, 2012 Members Report Posted July 19, 2012 yeah, I've had issues with that too, you tried wiping down the leather with acetone first? Some people use airbrushes even after wiping the glaze off, but a foam brush does well too. Quote
Members lightningad Posted July 19, 2012 Author Members Report Posted July 19, 2012 yeah - give it good rub down first with Fiebing Dye Prep... suppose it could also be less than perfect leather! Quote "You is what you am, a cow don't make ham!" Frank Zappa - Musical Visionary Barking Rooster Leather Goods Pinterest Page
Members CountryStyle Posted July 27, 2012 Members Report Posted July 27, 2012 That is fantastic. I need to make one for my Kindle Fire. Any suggestions for me? I assume the outer cover is all one piece of leather, just tooled to look like different patches of metal? Great work. I've been thinking of doing this for some time, just couldn't work up the courage to do it. Quote God is Great! Nathan Allison
Members lightningad Posted July 27, 2012 Author Members Report Posted July 27, 2012 Thanks. you're correct - The uter is a single piece of veg tanned leather. I did the design on Adobe Illustrator, then printed it out and used that for the template. The idea was simply because i wanted to find some way to tie in the ancient art of leatherwork and bookmaking with the modern hightech e-reader. Steampunk seemed like the obvious marriage of old and new tech. I quite like the notion of a nuclear powered, cog driven notebook! Tooling was surprisingly easy. The "metal plates" were tooled with a bevel on just one side of each cut line, then on the non-bevelled side i added a rivet mark. This then gives the illusion of the bevelled plate going under and being fastened. All the stamping was achieved with just a few basic tools - a smooth sided beveller, a cross hatched beveller and a backgrounder. Rivet marks were made with a ball stylus. The larger rivets were made with first the handle of a stamp tool, then the smaller circle was a hole punch very lightly tapped so as not to pierce the leather. Just bite the bullet and give it a go! The total cost of the leather for this project is probably around £2-£3 with a similar amount spent on the dyes, so its not like you are going to go bankrupt if its not a total success. Don't worry that you'll make a mistake, as thats how you learn. I made several on this project, but putting them right forced me to adapt the design (for the better) and it taught me stuff thats gonna be invaluable in future. Quote "You is what you am, a cow don't make ham!" Frank Zappa - Musical Visionary Barking Rooster Leather Goods Pinterest Page
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