Olle P Report post Posted March 1, 2016 (edited) My (initial) leathercraft history.Who am I?My name is Olle Petersson. I was born in 1969. Been living in Sweden all of my life.My fascination with leather started early on, but leathercraft didn’t become a hobby of mine until late summer of 2015.It came as a result of my wife arranging a family membership in the local SCA branch at the start of 2015. We decided to turn ourselves into “hobby Vikings”. Over the next months I figured out we needed some leather products: Belts, belt bags and shoes for a starter. I was taking up archery as well, and for that I needed a bow grip, arm protection, a quiver and a protective pouch for the bow.Most of these can be purchased “off the shelf”, but I thought I could do it cheaper and possibly better (as in more historically accurate) myself.Being oblivious to most aspects of leathercraft I intended to do shoes first. Having found a picture of what looked like some simple Viking shoes (made of suede) I ordered some vegetably tanned belly leather, waxed linen thread, a sewing awl and some 3x3mm lace.Didn’t take me long to realize that belly leather is totally unsuitable for those shoes and the sewing awl is a piece of crap that I can do better without. (The awl might become a little better if I get around to sharpen it though.)I used that leather and lace for other projects, after buying more tools and materials and watching several “how to” videos on Youtube.Starting in August I made:A simple medieval style belt for my daughter.A grip for my Viking longbow.A quiver with permanently attached belt, designing it from scratch and incorporating just about as many techniques that I could come up with. That’s my way to learn.Saddler’s stitch, whip stitch, double loop lacing, braiding and use of rapid rivets. It’s lined with some burgundy coloured linen cloth.After this I increased my repertoire with embossing and colouring as well, resulting in…A key-fob for my key to the scout cabin. (I’m a scout leader.)A decorative small plaque for my son named Örn (the Swedish word for eagle).A Viking style belt bag with contemporary Celtic decorations. This is done in goatskin.A belt for myself.By now it was more than obvious that my initial expectation to save money by making the goods myself was laughable! I’d spent a small fortune on tools and materials, so I’d need to produce huge quantities just to break even with no labor cost…On the other hand I realized that I can (and will) do items that are much better quality and more historically correct than the ones available for sale, and I love doing it! Closing in on Christmas it was time to make some gifts: My daughter, named Idun, got a barrette made from a Tandy kit. For this one I went with a personal motif, with a Linnaea since Linnea is Idun’s second name. Then I went “all in” for my mother, who got a handbag (the first I’ve ever done) based on Tandy’s “Nostalgia Handbag”. Tandy’s design is a very “Western” style which doesn’t fit my mom at all, so I made some changes to make the look more European while also increase the “handmade” and “quality” parts. Instead of desert roses all over I went with a more conservative Magnolia pattern on the lid (adapted from a pattern made for another bag design).For the initials I picked a font that’s close to my mom’s hand writing.Tandy’s design calls for double loop lacing all around. I reduced that to single loop (which I’d never done before) along the lid’s edge and the front edge under the lid. The rest of the lacing was replaced by saddler’s stitch using waxed linen thread. The stitches were recessed using a stitching groover.Saddler’s stitch also replaced the rapid rivets holding the axle strap (saddler’s stitch is just as strong) and the machine sewing for the inner pockets and zipper (it’s not really handcrafted if you use a sewing machine, is it?).I also added a buckle to the axle strap in order to allow for some adjustability of the length.All edges were properly slicked, burnished and painted. My mom got really happy receiving the bag. She was really surprised how much work and detail I put into it, and thought I must have taken many classes to get that far.But as my wife so accurately put it: We’re not the ones who take classes. We get a hobby, read and otherwise learn as much as we can in a short time frame, and then (if needed/desired) give classes. Now I’ve also made my first pair of Viking boots, using a proper pattern and proper material. More will follow… Edited March 1, 2016 by Olle P Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ConradPark Report post Posted March 1, 2016 Kul grejor som du har gjort. Ser fram emot att se vad du kommer upp med i framtiden. Lycka till! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olle P Report post Posted March 1, 2016 Tack! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dion Report post Posted March 2, 2016 Hello Olle and welcome! Something wrong with your posted images... They're invisible. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olle P Report post Posted March 2, 2016 Hello Olle and welcome! Something wrong with your posted images... They're invisible. There were (long) links to my pics, but now all but the file name has been erased. I have no idea why... Will try to find a lasting fix. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Olle P Report post Posted March 2, 2016 Seems like this forum doesn't like moderately sized (~1000 pixels wide) images. The file names are in fact links, that now doesn't work since I deleted the files before figuring that part out... Editing a post is obviously also something you can't do a couple of hours after the initial posting. Here are slightly shrunken versions of the lost pictures referred to in the first post: A simple medieval style belt for my daughter. A grip for my Viking longbow. A quiver with permanently attached belt, designing it from scratch and incorporating just about as many techniques that I could come up with. Thats my way to learn. Saddlers stitch, whip stitch, double loop lacing, braiding and use of rapid rivets. Its lined with some burgundy coloured linen cloth. A decorative small plaque for my son named Örn (the Swedish word for eagle). Here the leather was too dry to make good impressions. I think my use of the camouflage tool to create feathers was fairly successful though. A Viking style belt bag with contemporary Celtic decorations. This is done in goatskin. A belt for myself. My daughter, named Idun, got a barrette made from a Tandy kit. Then I went all in for my mother, who got a handbag (the first Ive ever done) based on Tandys Nostalgia Handbag. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Dion Report post Posted March 2, 2016 Great! Now everything works. I really like your your items. Simply and reliably. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
King's X Report post Posted March 2, 2016 Hello Olle and welcome to the forum! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
