Celtic Horse Bag

[LHissong]

Just finished my latest project.... a friend of mine wanted a bag made for his wife and provided an image that he wanted. Constructive comments definitely welcome. I'm finding messenger bags to be fun, but taking alot of leather and a ton of time to stitch. Luckily, most people who have items I've made seem to enjoy the rough around the edges look and feel, but at the same time I really would like to refine everything some more and I'm not sure how to do so....

Any advice?

-Lee

[Halitech]

Your carving looks great. 2 things I would suggest is first, round the edges on the flap so they don't get banged up so bad. Second, to finish your edges, bevel them, then burnish. There is a good tut in the how do I do that section by hidepounder

[Thor]

Hey Lee, it looks good to me, except for that unequal piece on the gusset. What I would suggest is to skive the edges before stitching. If wet formed before stitching it may be easier and faster to stitch. One option would of course be a sewing machine

There's a gorgeous article on burnishing edges on here. Don't remember who wrote it, but believe it was hidepounder.

You've beat me on the reply halitech

Edited May 7, 2015 by Thor

[MonicaJacobson]

What they said. I love the horses, and that's a cool and interesting way to close the bag.

[DeVillage]

Was the back piece and flap meant to be 3 pieces? might reduce some stitch work and refine it a bit to make the back and flap all one piece of leather.

[LHissong]

Hey all, thanks for the advice.

DeVillage, this one was meant to be 3 pieces. With the leather I had at the time I was unsure about getting one full back/flap piece. I had also cut a sample piece to try testing the design and it came out like my friend/customer wanted so I improvised with the pattern a bit. I've screwed up some large pieces by bad tooling and I was looking to lessen that impact.

[leatherwytch]

I personally would have made the front and back flap one piece. I would have rounded the corners and burnished the edges. The carving however is stupendous, very excellently done. I don't like the front flap it does nothing for the look of the bag being sewn that way. One thing you must remember is that you are the leather worker. You are supposed to have the expertise, many times customers want something but it won't look good. That is just their misguided fantasy. You are the one who needs to steer them the right way. I would have also lined it because if one is putting anything like a tablet or computer that could scratch in it. A nice pigskin lining adds class and makes the bag very nice and soft inside.

Edited May 8, 2015 by leatherwytch

[Tinneal]

I absolutely love the Celtic horse pattern!!

[byggyns]

If you do make the back & flap out of separate pieces, I think it is better to have the seam on the back rather than on front of the flap. Having the flap curve around to the top of the back piece gives a better visual flow.

I'll echo the comments about rounding the corners & burnishing edges. It gives a more finished look.

That's a very nice tooling design.

[carr52]

I personally like the three piece flap. Gives it a book binding kinda effect.

Tom