leather bottel

[Peter Ellis]

This is my first attempt at a leather bottel. Sealed inside and out with beeswax and then buffed by hand, with a little help from the blowdryer. I haven't measured it's capacity yet.

[Luke Hatley]

Peter , I like the look of you Leather Bottell

what type of stopper are you going to use .

[Beaverslayer]

Very nicely done Peter. What did you use to shape the Bottel?

Ken

[Peter Ellis]

Very nicely done Peter. What did you use to shape the Bottel?

Ken

I stuffed it full of plastic bags from the grocery store No worries about trying to get every last grain of sand out.

[Peter Ellis]

Peter , I like the look of you Leather Bottell

what type of stopper are you going to use .

I haven't decided between rolling one in leather and waxing it or carving a wooden one.

[Luke Hatley]

Peter did the Wet leather expand just as easy with the plastic

bags as it would with sand? I have been useing sand, but it is another day for it to

dry after washing the sand out

[SteveJ]

Kudos Peter. Still haven't got around to trying one of these yet. May I ask

what weight leather you used?

I also would not of thought of stuffing with plastic, pretty creative. Well done, and maybe this will inspire me to give it a whirl.

[Peter Ellis]

Steve, the leather was in the 8-10 oz range. I don't think I would want to go lighter, I would be concerned about it holding shape and not crushing.

Luke, it stretched out pretty easily. I can't say how it compares to sand since I've not tried it with sand.

[Brandon]

Here are some I did using sand. I used 1.2mm ( 3 oz.)

They were fun projects not for holding any liquid.

Now that you mentioned plastic, maybe the next time round

I'll put in a few plastic bags then fill in the sand?

[Angster]

For the leather bottles that I've made, instead of using sand, I use good ol' fashioned popcorn kernels. After the bottle is dry and will hold shape, you can lightly tap the sides and convince all the kernels to flee. I also have a friend that used tiny ball bearings... He says that the extra weight of the bearings helps shape the bottle, so you're not spending a lot of time trying to stuff more in. Just a couple of ideas for ya!

[MdB Leatherworks]

For the leather bottles that I've made, instead of using sand, I use good ol' fashioned popcorn kernels.

That's exactly what I use, too.

[Misty]

You say you used beeswax to seal? How will that hold up with use? Will you have to reseal it every now and then? And what it the best sealant to use? I have hear people use pitch, and at my local Ren Fest some say they use a food safe resin.

Thanks, I'm dying to try making one of these.

[Mikkel]

I have made several of these bottles using sand. And I always use beeswax to seal them.

The beeswax hold up very nicely, and it doesn't need to be resealed later.

I have tried making a leather stopper, but had a lot of difficulties getting it to work and look propper. So I turn the stoppers from wood (usually oak). If the stopper is slightly tapered it will work just fine.

This is my latest one.

[AndyL1]

Mikkel,

That bottle is amazing. I love the shape, the color, and the wood stopper really sets it off! Thanks for sharing! I've been wanting to make one of these for some time too. I have a friend who does a little wood turning, I might see about doing something like that on mine.

-Andy

[kevinhopkins]

I stuffed it full of plastic bags from the grocery store No worries about trying to get every last grain of sand out.

Hi Peter,

The plastic bag idea is great!!!! I learned something today!

Kevin

[rtp41]

Here is one i did for my wife

[resqman]

Since you are sewing two pieces of leather together anyway... Could you wet mold the two pieces seperately and then sew them together? Why would you need to sew them first and then shape them with sand/ball bearings/corn kernals?

It seems you could wet mold your leather around any 3 diminsional object and then sew together to make "bottle". What am I not understanding about his how process?

[maddhatter]

would love to learn how to make these, i have a few friends that have asked me about them, and i don't have the foggiest idea of where to start, how do you seal the bottle, what do you seal it with, i'm seeing bee's wax but wouldnt that come off, how would this work with holding booze or wine ?? any danger of it leaking after sealed, i got the idea of how to shape it, do you sew the pieces together first then soak the leather for until saturated and fill with said item for streching ?? after drying pour in the bees wax ??? roll around and then expell excess ?? any and all info would be great on this subject.

thanks much,

stan

[MHolzer]

Since you are sewing two pieces of leather together anyway... Could you wet mold the two pieces seperately and then sew them together? Why would you need to sew them first and then shape them with sand/ball bearings/corn kernals?

It seems you could wet mold your leather around any 3 diminsional object and then sew together to make "bottle". What am I not understanding about his how process?

Yes you could do that, but there is a really good chance you wouldn't be able to achieve a suitable seam/seal in your bottle. If you're going for something really off the wall (like a face on one side and a yeti on the other) then yeah, that's the way to do it.

If you're just doing a normal one, it's much easier to sew it first.

would love to learn how to make these, i have a few friends that have asked me about them, and i don't have the foggiest idea of where to start, how do you seal the bottle, what do you seal it with, i'm seeing bee's wax but wouldnt that come off, how would this work with holding booze or wine ?? any danger of it leaking after sealed, i got the idea of how to shape it, do you sew the pieces together first then soak the leather for until saturated and fill with said item for streching ?? after drying pour in the bees wax ??? roll around and then expell excess ?? any and all info would be great on this subject.

thanks much,

stan

Stan,

the images seem to have been lost, but here's the pinned article: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=3084

[Mikkel]

I Prefer sewing the bottle from wet leather. This way you can pull the seams much tighter togeather.

If you don't make tight enough seams, it will be harder to get the bottle to be watertight.

Therefore I wouldn't sew the bottle from two pre-shaped pieces.

[maddhatter]

thanks for the info on the bottle mholzer this will really help out

stan

[tashabear]

Since you are sewing two pieces of leather together anyway... Could you wet mold the two pieces seperately and then sew them together? Why would you need to sew them first and then shape them with sand/ball bearings/corn kernals?

It seems you could wet mold your leather around any 3 diminsional object and then sew together to make "bottle". What am I not understanding about his how process?

It's easier to sew before it's molded. Also, you don't have any problems with fitting together two pieces that have been stretched separately, nor do you need to find a 3D object to mold around. You sew the bottel, *then* wet and stretch it by filling it with whatever (sand, unpopped popcorn, plastic bags, what have you). And in the end, it's quicker to stretch two pieces at once, after they're sewn, than to stretch one, then the other, then pull one off the mold, then the other, then sew them together, hoping that they match.

[Peter Ellis]

Since you are sewing two pieces of leather together anyway... Could you wet mold the two pieces seperately and then sew them together? Why would you need to sew them first and then shape them with sand/ball bearings/corn kernals?

It seems you could wet mold your leather around any 3 diminsional object and then sew together to make "bottle". What am I not understanding about his how process?

Honestly, because it's easier to match two pieces and stitch them together then stretch them out than it is to match two pieces that have been formed separately and stitch them together. For example, I don't know how the heck I would sew the seam on my Boss if the pieces are pre-formed, but when I'm just stitching flat seams on flat leather, it's no problem.