Document Case - Finished!

I finished up the document case last night. Stitched on some straps and buckles and put the tongues on the buckles themselves. The buckles are cast off of a simple square shoe buckle design, and are rough casts/seconds as I would call them. The kind of thing I get before my moulds get up to temp.

Here's the buckle attached:


The stitching closeups:


And the finished project ready for all those important maps and documents a warehouse owner and lieutenant in the Trayn'd Bande's should have!



Thanks for looking!

How not to ruin my paperwork

About 10 or 12 years ago I bought a vintage document case from an antique store. It was in pretty rough shape and I was told it was from the 30's or 40's. I decided to use it for holding my 16th C repro maps and other documents, as it was leather and leather is period right?

Well, the thing was in rough shape to begin with but I really liked the shape and design. So I decided a while ago to attempt a recreation of it. Now I know it isn't historically documented or anything but I really like the shape and design. I am fully comfortable with the fact that it is plausible and not documentable. Here's the startings:

5 oz veg tan leather dyed brown with oil based dye
poplar end caps cut and rough shaped
blued carpet tacks to tack down the leather after it was epoxied to the end caps.

Open:
A close up of the inside with the end cap:

Temporarily closed with rubber bands:


Next up is the buckles and straps to keep it close. I have some small square buckles that I cast and am going to use those with straps stitched onto the body of the case. Three should be enough.

More hopefully over the weekend!