Next I channel my inner expressionist and dribble, smack, dab and drool several shades of brown and red on the distressed leather.
The leather piece is then coated with a Hi Lite stain which settles into all the divets and depressions I have beat into the leather.
When dry I take a wet cloth and rub off the stain from the tops of the bumps and ridges of the distressed cowhide piece. I will take a piece of sandpaper and rub lightly on the piece to make the highlights pop as well.
When I have distressed and dyed enough cowhide in various colors and textures, I am ready to start cutting out the pieces assembling the project. I sometimes make a pattern before I start, sometimes not. For this bag I just dove in with the measurements I wanted in mind and start cutting pieces.
Here I have cut a piece of 1 to 2 oz pigskin the shape and size of the bag to serve as a lining and the base to hang everything on. In this shot I am sponge painting the leather with 3 different shades of brown and some black.
I start cutting puzzle pieces from the prepared distressed and colored leather...
...fitting them together and gluing them...
...down the length of the lining.
Then I have to mark the stitching spacing along the edge of each piece ...
...and punch the stitching holes.
I "X" stitch along the seams and when done I rivet on leather "bandages" for decoration. Check the rusted rivets. All the rivets in this bag are hand distressed (which means sanding off the plating) and rusted. On my workbench I have a glass of water with rivets corroding in it pretty much all the time.
The rusted and distressed "D" rings are attached to both bag gussets (the side pieces).
Next the belt loops are riveted to the bag using a belt blank for spacing.
And there you have the completion of the major piece of the bag body, ready to stitch together.
The gussets are hand sewn in around the bottoms.
The clasp is mounted and
...the gussets, which were sewn on at the bag bottom are glued along the edges to the bag body. Rivet holes are made with a rotary punch and then the gussets are riveted together with the front of the bag.
Decorative whip stitching and rivets are mounted on the flap edge.
The strap pieces are cut and riveted together, a buckle addede and the snap swivel ends mounted.
Touch up some spots with the dye and then the whole thing given several coats of acrylic finish and we are done.
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