Finally getting back to it! (Finished portfolio)

[blink1688]

@MendellLeatherOK, thank you! Admittedly, my heart sank a little when my wife said she wanted the edges stitched. I hadn't done a lot of edge finishing without lace work and part of the long was trepidation since I wasn't confident saddle stitching such a large project yet -- lots of intermediate practice and experimenting before I felt up to the task.

@YinTx, those are Texas Instrument scientific calculators. My wife uses them daily. Thank you, for your words about the tooling. You'll get there too; just keep practicing and make sure to case your leather (Hidepounder's post on casing combined with some experimenting was HUGE for bringing this project to a new level). I'm still not to the point where I can design something like that on my own -- my memory is a bit foggy but I think the front panel design itself is from a Tandy Craftaid and I partially designed the back panel with the aid of a scanner, my computer, a book with some small designs I could combine, and hours of trying to draw stems to connect everything in a way I liked. One word about something I wish I had done much better -- be very careful with your swivel knife cuts... they generally shouldn't cross  and they should always taper off because thin points like the flower bud at the top of the front panel get flimsy and will peel up when rubbing in dyes and finishes.

@tearghost, thank you!

@Rolandranch, thank you! Most definitely a lot of time. No, not trying to hide them, I just want to reduce the bulkiness when I transition from one thread to the next. There are a lot of very noticeable transitions that I don't find aesthetically pleasing on this project.

[JLSleather]

Looks good!

I like a velcro or elastic "holder" to retain callculators / phones / such, just since the leather will likely outlive the electronics. 

Still, I like what you did here!

 

[savagesupplyco]

These portfolio folder really look awesome. We also deals with portfolio. So you can also visit us here 

Edited July 28, 2017 by savagesupplyco

[Rolandranch]

@blink1688 One way you could eliminate some of that bulkiness is to cut a small groove with your swivel knife where the bulk will be. You could also cut that groove with a stitching groover. A cut with the knife will hide or close-up the stitching a little more. A cut with the groover will counter-sink the stitching but won't close it up as much.

Here's a sample of what I mean: (Note that I went over both the cut and groove areas 3 times with my sewing machine to show you how they hide bulk.)

I hope this helps!

Ryan

[Dun]

can I ask about your wetforming? Did you not use a negative mold to press the edges down?
 

[blink1688]

@Rolandranch Ahh, don't know why I didn't think of using the swivel knife. I'll give that a try next time. I almost always use the stitching groover.

@Dun Nope, I haven't ever used a negative mold. I just get the leather wet enough that it feels like clay and use a bone folder and the rounder end of a wooden hand-held burnisher to smooth the curves.

@JLSleather Thank you. That makes sense. I can think of a few projects where that approach would be helpful. Luckily, the calculators will most likely stay the same for years. Do you use micro velcro? For the elastic, what do you use and how do you attach it?

@savagesupplyco Thank you. What address were you intending to link to? The link in you post just lead back to this page.

[Dun]

Just hand tools for wet firming? It's really clean looking.

I'm really impressed!

[blink1688]

On 7/29/2017 at 11:45 PM, Dun said:

Just hand tools for wet firming? It's really clean looking.

I'm really impressed!

Thanks. I babysat it on-and-off for about 30min to an hour while the drying process started and went over the edges a few times. The wooden blocks (pine, hand-shaped with files from a planed board) used for the forming seemed to help draw moisture from the leather more quickly.

I did have a bit of a surprise that I had to fix after drying... when removing the c-clamp holding down the bone folder, I discovered one of the most vivid "MADE IN TAIWAN" stamps I've ever seen and it was imprinted on my work. I forgot about that mark on the bone folder when I put the clamps down >.< Luckily, super-saturating the leather on that spot and rubbing it with a modeling spoon did a really good job of making it disappear.