From Russia with love

[AlexMayer]

Hi dear friends, 

Recently I've finished my backpack. So I just want to share it with you. It took me almost one month to do this project. I used to do this after my day work.

 

Best regards,

Alex

[bikermutt07]

That is awesome. Congratulations on the success.

[battlemunky]

Agreed with the Mutt, that is a great looking backpack. I really like the roll down buckle strap top.

[AlexMayer]

4 hours ago, bikermutt07 said:

That is awesome. Congratulations on the success.

 

4 hours ago, battlemunky said:

Agreed with the Mutt, that is a great looking backpack. I really like the roll down buckle strap top.

Thanks for your kind words. This inspires optimism and motivation for further development!

 

[Danne]

Awesome work, really good finish on everything.  Do you have Instagram so i can follow?

[AlexMayer]

13 hours ago, Danne said:

Awesome work, really good finish on everything.  Do you have Instagram so i can follow?

Hi Danne, thanks. 

Here is my instagramm account. Please follow 

https://www.instagram.com/alexanderandreev7963/

 

[AlexMayer]

Here is my another project. 

Wallet from horse leather (Full grain) - avancorpo. Very pleasant leather to work with.

 

 

[battlemunky]

Another great execution! Very clean!

[Talaman]

Looks great!

[plinkercases]

Love your design and execution. Well done on both.

Hand or machine stitching?

[AlexMayer]

thanks to all for appreciation of my work.

2 hours ago, plinkercases said:

Love your design and execution. Well done on both.

I've stollen peeped this design from one of true masters. 

this is all 100% hand stiching.

[AlexMayer]

Keep on sharing my works with you. 

This one is also from horse leather - avancorpo. this time black, with pocket for coins.

 

Edited December 5, 2017 by AlexMayer

[plinkercases]

Classy.

[AlexMayer]

1 hour ago, plinkercases said:

Classy.

Thank you very much.

 

Let's keep going: passport/driving licence / card holder. 

leather - 4oz (1.5-1.6mm)

Thread - 0.5mm

Edge - Kenda Farben Orly

 

[AlexMayer]

Wallet from saffiano leather. Built as tester.

So far see the following pros: no need to finish this leather, surface is not exposed to scraches - very rugged, does not absorb water.  

Cons: a bit more difficult in work (cutting, splitting...), looks kinda as artificial leather...

Regarding dificulty of work: I use skiving machine to split leather pieces. This machine uses ordinary razor blades for safety rasors. So I needed to replaced blades 4 times more frequently in comparisson with splitting veg tanned leather.

[plinkercases]

Nice touch on the card slot design and colours. another classy piece of work.

[AlexMayer]

On 07.12.2017 at 3:32 PM, plinkercases said:

another classy piece of work.

Hi, plinkercases, thank you.

Yesterday I finished another tester of cardholder/front pocket wallet. 

in next revisions will make some changes  in sizing so money could fit in pockets - now it's only for cards.

 

 

[Northmount]

Very neat and precise work.

Tom

[plinkercases]

How are the card pockets attached to each other? stich line at tops? and bottom? hard to tell but curious.

[AlexMayer]

On 12.12.2017 at 1:50 AM, Northmount said:

Very neat and precise work.

Hi Tom, thank you. 

 

On 14.12.2017 at 1:17 AM, plinkercases said:

How are the card pockets attached to each other?

like this: 2 rows from top but not till the bottom

 

 

 

[AlexMayer]

Here is another project: vintage-looking long zipper wallet.

The most unpleasant and depressing part of the work is gluing in the round zipper. I use handmade mould from plywood to attach a zipper.

To those who can attach zipper without any additional fittings - my  respect! and envy...

 

 

[navyrob74]

Really nice work, really clean.  Did you make the template for you long zipper wallet or bifold walker or was it someone else's. I am new to leather work and want to be able to make wallets like that. Again great work

[AlexMayer]

5 hours ago, navyrob74 said:

Really nice work, really clean.

Hi, thank you very much.

IMHO This is definitely not the best project to strike up an acquaintance with leatherworking.

There are couple of videos in youtube from japan leatherworker describing procedure step-by step. Let me know if you fail to find them, I'll search them for you.

The keyitem all this - a mould for gluing the round zipper. Like this:

http://www.lzpattern.com/Leather-tools/leathercraft-tools-zipper-installing-mold-mould 

It is a bit costly here, that is why I made such mould myself.

 

[GirlFromScandinavia]

Hi Alex! Your back pack is beautifull, I especially like the colours that you chose! Since you live in Moscow, I have a question. I live near Viborg, just across the border from Svetogorsk, on the Finnish side. I have always thought about looking for vegetable tanned leather from the Russian side. Where do you get your leather from? Are there leather suppliers in Moscow? I have some Russian friends from Saint Petersburg that can help me out with the language.

[AlexMayer]

5 minutes ago, GirlFromScandinavia said:

Hi Alex!

Hi GirlFromScandinavia. Thanks you for comment! I personaly like the combination of colors as well.

Good to hear that we are almost neighbors 
There is a dosen of suppliers in Moscow, and in Saint Petersburg as well, they are all targeted at foreign-made leather (Italian is most popular particular). Someone sells leather from Baltics.

For example in backpack i used: 1) black leather - Italian leather - I bought it online shop in Orenburg - citi 1250 km away from Moscow.

the "red" one - in offline shop in Mocsow - this leather is apparently from Latvia.

May I know what is the background of your willingness to buy russian leather?
price? quality?