makitmama Report post Posted November 7, 2016 I am working on a large luggage piece. My leather is soft enough that I can tell it will need some internal support. Interior base is 9"x19", and I need to support up about 8" on each end. I had planned on wet forming some 7oz veg tan, but now I worry that will buckle. I could use a 90-degree suitcase end brace to support the ends of the veg tan, but are there any other solutions? I have never used any of the heat-molded plastics on the market- for heat, I have a heat gun and an oven. If I wanted to use plastic, which kind could I mold at home? where could I buy it? how do you cut this stuff? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TinkerTailor Report post Posted November 7, 2016 I have not used plastic as a bag stiffener, but i do know that getting good results with heat forming is not as easy as it seems, and you may need to have a better setup than a heat gun. Specially if you are wanting to do curves or bigger pieces. Also, be careful with glues. Some plastics are notoriously hard to glue. For my bags i use the same material tandy sells for bag stiffener. It is not formable but plenty stiff and gluable. It cuts with scissors and comes in big sheets for not to much money. It also is pretty much waterproof specially once it has been coated in glue. If you need stiffer, double it up. Sometimes you may have to adjust your design to accommodate the materials,.....Play with scrap. One of the first messenger bags i made i thought needed some stiffener so i used standard interfacing on the inside behind the liner. That bag is way too stiff. Now i just stiffen the face and back, sometimes the bottom, but never the sides. I also stop the stiffener 1/8-1/4 from the corner seam to keep down built and allow a little flexibility. The molded bottom style you are trying to achieve may not have been done here much and you may be the pioneer. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
