Russet hide bag for 15.6" laptop

[Mallethead]

Some of you might remember me asking about how to reinforce the mouth of a large gusset bag, found here:

The bag is now finished. For all its simplicity, this project turned out to be a bit more complicated. The reinforcement problem turned out to be quite simple: I managed to get a hold of an unused carbon fibre rod from a mountain climbing backpack. The biggest issue was the leather: the half hide I had turned out to have quite a few hidden defects, which meant that it was difficult to cut sufficiently large pieces for the bag. This is why I used neck leather for the lid (usually I'd go with rump or back). There was some unnevenness in the lid piece's grain structure, and, as you can see, the lid is darker on the left side. This area would also warp, so I had to add some more reinforcement to the corners. I had some problems with edges as well; I suspect the leather was from a bit older animal so it didn't burnish properly in places. These areas received a good helping of PU adhesive plus a coating of beeswax to get a smooth edge.

The bag itsel is made of 2 mm (5 oz.) russet (the customer) and the closures, handle, D ring holders, etc. are made from an old piece of excellent quality 3.6 mm (9 oz.) russet and treated with saddle soap to bring out the patina. The client didn't want any dyes to be used in this project, so there you have it. Metal fittings are steel with two coatings of varnish.

I do like the design, but let's wait and see what the customer says.

[Fire88]

Very nice bag! 

[ByNelson]

Good job  

[DrmCa]

I would say, phenomenal!

[YinTx]

Awesome!  Will be interesting to see the patina after a few years use..

YinTx

[Mallethead]

Thank you for your comments I'll probably post some before/after shots of some other work I've done at some point and will return to this one if I have the chance.