Crafts - Rune's iPad Sleeve

Last summer one of my best friend's, Rune, came by to give leatherworking a go. He spent hours burnishing the edges on the belt, that he made and it was a joy seeing someone so consumed of this one thing. It was just him and the leather - everything else seized to exist for some time. Just before leaving he told me about an idea of making a sleeve for his iPad and so we did, when he came to visit from Copenhagen this weekend.

Rune made the sleeve himself - almost at least. I tried to help, but it was mostly in terms of design. The details he picked himself and of course he decided to use the most extravagant solutions. He picked the football leather from Horween and the fattest, thickest and most greasy thread, that I have in my arsenal; a thread called Nyltex. Nyltex is not a braided or twisted thread  - it just consists of of multiple strains, which makes it hard to get an even stitch, as the thread becomes either twisted or totally flat. Normally a thread, that I would use on very thick leathers and honestly I usually avoid it because it's so hard to get nice, even stitches, which is what I always strive towards.

The design is a fairly simple envelope design, but it's very functional and we added a couple of nice details.

I'm amazed by the surface of this leather. Especially this irregular pattern, that runs across the sleeve. It looks a bit like small flowers. Very beautiful.

The stitches turned out quite well considering the fact, that Rune has very limited experience with stitches, but he took it slow and was very thorough. 

Edges were finished in black using Edge kote by Fiebings. A product that I very rarely use, but it turned out quite good. It's impossible burnishing the edges of this leather.

A button stud makes for the closing mechanism. Very simple. Plus I got to use my antique leather buttonholer, which is always a joy.

The stud button doesn't come in contact with the iPad itself, so there is no danger of scratching the darn thing. And again, that texture is just something else.

I'm very interested in seeing, how this sleeve ages. The key wallet, that I made for my brother in law some time ago, has aged quite nicely, so my feelings towards this leather is becoming more and more positive, although it isn't the easiest to handstitch. 

Dahlman Architect Belt - Before and After

While attending a party with some people from my class, I noticed a very interesting belt, that one of the girls were wearing. I immediately identified it as the architect belt, that Dahlman (the avid reader will recognise it from the factory visit at Dahlman) has been making for quite some time. I of course also took into consideration, that someone could have borrowed the design, so I asked, where she got the belt. It appeared, that she hadn't bought the belt herself, instead she had borrowed it from her - stylish - dad and he had bought it many years ago.

Though the belt looked amazing, it also looked like it could do with a little TLC, so I offered to treat it and refurbish the belt.

Here are the before pictures. As you can see, the craftsmanship of these belts is sublime. The stitches are pretty much flawless. But it was in dire need of some oil, which you can tell from the fact, that the grain was cracked and damaged. It almost felt as if it had been sueded.

Here are the after pictures. I felt so bad after this, as the belt became two tones darker, than I had anticipated. And when I gave the belt back, the owner didn't look too satisfied, however I'm still gladly I did it because it felt much better and I'm sure it added even more years to the lifespan of this amazing belt. Lastly I fully enjoyed working very closely with this belt. Just by looking at the details I learned a lot of things.

The procedure is quite straight forward. I was the leather with a good, English saddle soap. After allowing it to dry it treated the belt with Neatsfoot oil and a leather conditioner. Lastly I sealed the edges as much as possible with beeswax, although I found it difficult to treat the edges of a belt, that had already been worn for a long time.

Words by Simon Tuntelder - Photos by Niels Hjorth

The Last Swordsmith

I have long been wanting to update my kitchen knives with some proper Japanese knives, but now I feel more like acquiring a Japanese sword because of the craft and absolute beauty of the product. Etsy put this video out, and I think it is 4 of the best minutes I spent today.

This man, Korehira Watanabe, represents true craft, I mean, just look at that sword. Stunning. And he is one of the last swordsmiths in Japan.

This Is Happening - A Lasting Impression

When it comes to putting stuff out there in the world, I always feel very self-conscious. This happens, when I write here and when I try to create something out of leather - or fabrics But somehow I'm getting more and more acquainted with the feeling, so I took what to me felt like a massive step and I had a maker's stamp made or actually two. This I something I never really thought about doing, but now that I have had it made, I can't believe everyone doesn't have one. It just feels good putting your name on stuff. I don't know why. I decided to have one made for my leather work, as I feel, that I'm quite proud of what I make - most of the time - and I want people to know, that I don't mind putting my name on it, as some sort of guarantee.

With a little help from the very helpful, patient and kind Brenda at Laser Gift Creations I had two stamps made to my specifications. I wanted something very minimal and small, so it doesn't draw too much attention away from the actual product. I'm not really fond of logos myself, so why should I make one myself. And I also wanted the Futura font, as it is my favourite. I had two made because I wanted one for really small objects and one for medium-large sized objects. But please keep in mind, that both stamps are very small, which you of course can't tell from the picture.

I hope you like it.

Crafts - iPhone 3+4 Case

Lately I haven't quite been up to much in the basement. I have lacked time, energy and inspiration. But yesterday I decided to get down there and get to work! It was a struggle at first, but then I decided to make an iPhone case - another one - for myself and my girlfriend, as we both just bought one.

So yesterday I cut the leather and prepared the leather. Today I spent some time finishing it - although I must say that the edges haven't been burnished yet and the cases haven't been oiled. So consider them somewhat finished, but not quite.

The construction is pretty much the same as the previous one, except these cases were made in a darker vegetable tanned leather (from Italy) and instead of the polyester thread, I used a thinner (5ply) waxed linen thread from Barbour. I would have like to have used a thicker linen thread of 7 or 8 ply, but that's probably just me and I don't have that thickness in this colour at the moment. But besides that change and a couple of other twitches everything was the same, including the wet shaping.

Enjoy - and remember they are also on Flickr.

One Month of Denim - Day 21

Roy Slaper of Roy Denim is an artist. No doubt about that. Just like Blue Highway, he is making his own jeans one by one, but he has got a bigger and better selection of machinery. The cool thing is that he makes everything himself and he does all of it on old machines from Singer and Union Special for instance. Before reading anymore you should just watch this video done by Self Edge.

When he started out he offered made to order jeans for customers through Superfuture and they were definitely in demand, so much that he decided to focus on making jeans and selling them online exclusively through Self Edge.

I think I could write a lot more about Roy and his one man operation, but I think many people have done so and done so with a great angle in the past, that I would much rather turn your attention to them. But may I just add, that I love the scalloped stitch, he uses.

Grain & Gram

Denim News

Revolver

Superfuture

Did I mention, that he makes a pair of fantastic jeans in duck cotton? Well, he does.

And did I mention, that there is another movie of his jeans-making-goodness floating around? Well, there is.