Making A Pen Case

[Anne-Sophie]

8 hours ago, my63 said:

Thanks Anne-Sophie I am not too sure how up to date the blog is, but here is the latest on the Emerald green case.

 

Fresh out of the mold I applied chocolate brown dye.

 

2021-08-19_05-59-29 by my0771, on Flickr

 

When the dye was almost dry I glued the components together and punched the stitching holes. My process is to start stitching once i reach the top. I make the template for the stitching holes on the flap. I dont really measure anything it is all done with a pair of dividers.

 

2021-08-19_06-01-26 by my0771, on Flickr

 

After a little bit of trimming we have a flap.

 

2021-08-19_06-01-58 by my0771, on Flickr

 

Also on my work bench is a little box. A friend allowed me to purchase some of his stock of Bog Oak. It takes 100's if not 1,000's of years to form and turn dark brown almost black. 

Bog Oak is rare and very expensive so I am thrilled to have it. It is also very hard.

 

 IMG_0938 by my0771, on Flickr

 

After cutting the mitres and a dry fit we added some glue and some tape and clamped everything up. there was a little bit more to it than that but you get the idea.

 

 IMG_1066 by my0771, on Flickr

 

When I make boxes I glue the bottom and top in place then cut the top off with the edge pieces.

 

IMG_1082 by my0771, on Flickr

 

Time to think about the iside there is going to be a matching tray, I needed to make the side panels to get the dimension so I made the top panel at the same time.

 

 IMG_1097 by my0771, on Flickr

 

Please dont ask me to make you a Bog Oak box the wood is rare and very expensive a box this size would be over £500.

 

 

 

 

 

The wood is as beautiful as it is rare!

 

That is exactly the kind of first class material an artisan like you, can make miracles with.

 

Is your hand feeling better?

 

 

[my63]

One of the maindrawbacks of Bog oak is just how hard it is. The hinges are stainless steel made by Fine box hardware here in the UK. Stainless steel is a wonderful material it is also very hard the drawback of a hard metal is it is often brittle. Stainless steel screws in particular can be brittle even after pilot holes have been made. Some of you may be a couple of steps ahead of me, after snapping two screws and spending hours getting them out, I increased the size of the pilot holes and used pieces of dowel to fill the holes making driving screws much easier.  more picturs soon.

 

Things dont always go to plan I have shared my errors before and try not to make too many of them. This time the mistake is not mine. I made a set of cases for a customer and packed them and shipped with one of the largest courier companies in the world. Unfortunately the package has gone astray. this is not deja vu you have seen this before.

 

2021-08-26_06-14-10 by my0771, on Flickr

 

2021-08-26_06-13-14 by my0771, on Flickr

 

Time to apply some dye

[Anne-Sophie]

There seems to be no end to your ingenuity Michael!

 

So sorry about the package snafu, each shipping entity, in the world, is, now, because of covid, dealing with million of packages monthly.

 

I see between 60 to 100 trains daily with 3 locomotives powering a line of 20 wagons fitted with intermodal containers or containers on wheels, ready to be hitched to trucks, going up and down the U.S, just dealing with goods shipped via ground or surface water. 

 

My thinking is that constant queries on your and the client's part to the shipping company is needed.

[my63]

Thanks Anne-Sophie I appreciate your support.

I am pleased to say the chocolate and green case has arrived safely in its new home in Australia. I am afraid there is no sign of the 3 cases lost by UPS. They have refunded my shipping costs which is all they have to do.

I am well on the way with the replacement cases.

 

2021-08-30_09-15-34 by my0771, on Flickr

 

This blue dye is quite difficult to get even but to be honest I think I actually prefer to have some shading in the colour.

 

It is going to take a few days to assemble and stitch the cases together.

 

If anyone reading this is waitng for cases to be made please understand that I have to replace the cases that have been lost by the courier.

[my63]

The three case set is moving forward now that my hand is fully healed. which is great as I am booked for more surgery on the 1st October.

 

2021-08-31_09-35-04 by my0771, on Flickr

 

2021-08-31_09-35-16 by my0771, on Flickr

 

2021-08-31_09-35-29 by my0771, on Flickr

 

I have widened the point of the strap where it connects to the body of the case as you can see in the first 2 pictures.

[Anne-Sophie]

Widening the strap at the connect point is a very very good idea!

 

In the various bags and containers I have used, I was always afraid this area wouldn't keep together, this weekend, a cheap grocery store bag strap gave away, I was very displeased.

 

My purses and travel bags are made in the U.S.A with reinforcement stitches at all the stress points. 

 

Sorry about having to go through so much surgeries. 

 

 

[my63]

As you know things dont always go as planned, As if the courier losing three cases in a box was not bad enough. I had three replacement cases made and was getting them ready for the final steps which included a polish.

Unfortunately the dye I had applied came off on the polishing cloth which was dry. I have had this happen before and it appears to be parculiar to black dye only. 

Fiebing's the company who make the dye I use describe dying leather as an art form rather than a science, I think more of a dark art as I dont know what I am going to get until the leather is fully dry.

This picture shows the replacement on the left and its replacement is on the right.

Once the cases are stitched which this one was it is not worth the time to unpick all of the stitches. Each stitch forms a knot and has to be removed individually. 

 

2021-09-09_12-08-35 by my0771, on Flickr

 

As everything is glued as well as stitched I cannot even rescue the kydex tubes to reuse. They have all been remade.

 

2021-09-09_12-08-53 by my0771, on Flickr

 

Everything is on track now and my customer has been fantastic.

[Anne-Sophie]

 

Michael, you are a trouper, which is what we say, in the U.S, to people who fight back against everything that come their way.

[my63]

Thanks Anne-Sophie, I dont give up easily

Having made the decision to use an alternative dye I had to remake both cases.

 

Here they are.

 

2021-09-11_07-53-36 by my0771, on Flickr

 

The next stage is to mark out the stitching holes followed by stitching and finally edge finishing.

[Anne-Sophie]

Maybe you could re-dye the other case then sell it individually.

 

For example using a brown dye on the one, on the left, which shows through a little bit of the tan could make for a nice and unique brindle case.

 

Just an idea, that might not be feasible, but I don't like to see so much work and such nice material go to waste.

 

I so admire your artistry and tenacity.

[my63]

Thanks for thinking of me Anne-Sophie, I am not exactly sure how this happened it has happened to me before only with black dye, As I was rubbing the dye off it contaminated the red suede. I dont make these cases to come apart ever! Swapping the suede out is not easy and more trouble than I need. The Emperor case seems to be OK so I may be able to do something with that.

I have remade the Emperor case, as I used a different black dye and it was part of a set.

 

2021-09-12_09-21-32 by my0771, on Flickr

 

Edge finishing is next which I hope to complete today. 

[my63]

I read the text in the last post and it really did not make much sense, even to me  I was trying to say it would be easier to make a new one than to try and fix the original.

 

Here are the finished cases ready for packing.

 

2021-09-12_12-41-58 by my0771, on Flickr

 

If anyone reading this is waiting for a case please accept my appologies for the delay these cases being lost by the courier has caused so many issues. I hope to catch up quickly.

 

[Anne-Sophie]

 

Sooooo beautiful and so much worth the wait!

 

The case that is ruined, maybe, you can use it to experiment with dye mixes. 

For example, if someone wants a light custom color (here I am again giving an idea, that will make more work for you, if prospective customers pick up on it).

 

 I have never seen an ice blue, ice mauve, ice turquoise,ice pink or ice yellow, even ice gray, adequately represented in leather.

 

It is not the pastel of each of those colors but white with a hint of color, very very pale and light reflecting. 

 

They are such difficult colors to get right, that even color pencil or, art markers manufacturers don't include them in their palettes. 

 

 

 

 

[ParramattaPaul]

3 hours ago, Anne-Sophie said:

 

Sooooo beautiful and so much worth the wait!

 

The case that is ruined you can use it to experiment with dye mixes, for example if someone wants a light custom color (here I am again giving an idea, that will make more work for you, if prospective customers pick up on it).

 

For example, I have never seen an ice blue, mauve, turquoise, pink or yellow, even gray.

 

It is not the pastel of each of those colors but white with a hint of color.

 

They are such difficult colors to get right that even color pencil or art markers manufacturers don't include them in their palettes. 

 

 

 

 

Another option might be to purposely add blotches of the colours Anne-Sophie mentioned to create a 'marble effect'.

[Anne-Sophie]

7 hours ago, ParramattaPaul said:

Another option might be to purposely add blotches of the colours Anne-Sophie mentioned to create a 'marble effect'.

 

That's a great idea, too, I think I have to re-write my post because the hint of color was not for the purpose of creating blotches but a way to describe the Ice colors as white with barely a hint of color.

 

For example, I have an ice gray pencil, it is so light that I sometimes mix it up with my white pencil.

 

A true ice pink is even lighter than pastel pink, a true ice blue even lighter than pastel blue.

 

I need color pencils from 2 manufacturers to find such light colors. 

 

Many times, I have to place a layer of white color pencil, under the lightest pastel shade of the color, I want to make as ice (all the primary colors except red as well as secondary pale orange, light pink and light mauve)

 

 

[my63]

The drawback is the base colour is unstable and therefore anything that goes on top will likely be unstable too.

Light colours scare me, Veg tanned leather has colour best described as straw like. I dont want to start bleaching leather before dying it. There are acrylic dyes, well really they are paints for leather. 

My process involves molding leather under pressure, This compresses the fibres of the leather and leaves a dark line.

 

2021-05-12_06-44-13 by my0771, on Flickr

 

I usually dip dye lighter colours but it is very messy and wastes lots of dye. 

[Anne-Sophie]

Michael you make miracles with such fuzzy primary ingredient, the vegetable tanned leather.

 

I guess the lighter color might be better suited for the suede liner.

 

Again, thank you for sharing your craft with us!

[my63]

Veg tanned leather is quite tricky to work with. 

The next pen cases six of them will be the last before surgery, I plan to take a little time after this op.

I posted this on Instagram this morning and thought it might be of interest here. I use wooden dowels of various sizes to form the Kydex to into the pen tubes.

 

2021-09-16_08-36-05 by my0771, on Flickr

 

15mm is the smallest and 30mm is the largest (so far) I have made over the years. Using the dowel this is what I get.

 

2021-09-16_08-35-31 by my0771, on Flickr

 

After welding sanding and finishing I wrap the tube in suede.

 

2021-09-16_08-35-52 by my0771, on Flickr

 

That is the first stage complete, once the glue is dry I can cover it and form the outer cover around it.

[Anne-Sophie]

The suede tubes are attractive by themselves, I wonder if they could be used as a pen cup alternatives, as pen tubes with a leather or wood base a for a test tube effect.

[my63]

Way back in December 2014 I made a triple pen case from 3 tubes like this.

 

Tripple pen case by my0771, on Flickr

 

Tripple pen case by my0771, on Flickr

 

I also made a small case for Kaweco fountain pens.

 

DSC_1728[1] by my0771, on Flickr

 

And finally a pen cup  for some reason I took the picture on Christmas day.

 

DSC_1728[1] by my0771, on Flickr