This article is an illustrated tutorial on hand-made wallets by a leather expert in Taiwan. The steps are very complete and detailed. I would like to share them with friends who like leather art~
Since I came into contact with handmade leather goods by chance in the past few months, the more I researched, the more interested I became
Recently, I have been sharing some finished products, whether I learned them from leather goods teachers or read them in books myself
After I posted the No. 2 mid-clip machine yesterday, I have been curious about one thing
That is, the leather goods teacher wrote on the website that the production time was 6 hours
But it was my first time to do it, because I decided to give it to my girlfriend as a Valentines Day gift, so I did it in a hurry
But it also took me about four days
I made another one this time, but intermittently. It took about a week. I don’t know the actual production time.
So can it be completed in about 6 hours?
(The teacher once said that he writes the time based on his feelings, but I am still curious)
I was curious, so I just decided
For the short clip I am going to make next, I want to record the process and the approximate time it takes
By the way, I would like to share some production experience and knowledge about handmade leather goods, but I won’t write in too much detail
Because this is just an article recording the process, not a teaching article
And this recording process I also want to make people think "Why do handmade things cost as much as famous brands?"
Know what the value of handmade leather goods is
Okay, let’s start
Part 1 Leather pattern and cutting
I gave this to my dad as a Fathers Day gift this year, and I made it for several days
It took me a long time just to wax the edges
My leather goods teacher didn’t write down the production time for this, but the middle clip is more difficult than the short clip, and the middle clip takes 6 hours
Short clip to see if it can take less than six hours (calculated based on the total time, that is, do it without interruption)
I won’t skip the process of making the paper pattern. It takes about half an hour, depending on the pattern
After the paper pattern is cut, it’s the first step
Draw the outline (I don’t know if there is a standard name for this step, anyway, just draw the part you want)
It’s different from the first one I made. The short clip I gave to my dad is made of black Italian cowhide
This time I used raw leather, also from Italy
My leather goods teacher often says that those who really know how to play with handmade leather goods tend to play with primary color leather
Because the original color leather will change color, the longer you use it, the longer it will be exposed to the sun
It will slowly turn into caramel color, just like you will turn dark if you are exposed to the sun too much
As for the reason for the discoloration, I have to check again. It seems to be related to the oil content of the leather
ok, after spreading the leather on the table, slightly position the paper shape to determine the part you want to cut
Generally, cowhide will have better parts (such as the square leather on the back) and worse parts (such as the leather near the neck, which is wrinkled)
There may also be spots, scars, mosquito bites, etc., not every part is so beautiful
But that doesn’t mean that the scarred part cannot be used, but we will try our best to hide it out of sight to maintain the beauty of the appearance
The leather I bought is very beautiful, and about 80% of it has no scars or wrinkles
As for, is there one that has no scars at all? It is said that there is, but it is so expensive that I cry
Shops in Taiwan don’t dare to buy this kind of top-quality product because it’s super hard to sell
After deciding on the parts, place the paper shape on the leather and pin it with pins
Then use a silver pen to draw directly on the surface of the leather (called the leather surface layer)
(Silver pens are available in most bookstores, I bought them in Guangnan)
As for whether it is possible to use a ball pen? Yes, it is possible, but it is not recommended. Wrong drawings will be obvious
After drawing, I generally see other teachers who share making leather goods on the Internet, and it seems that most of them don’t have the following things
This is the positioning hole to facilitate the alignment of the bonded leather. My teacher will draw this when making the pattern
So after I finish drawing this part, I will use a cone to mark the position of the positioning hole
This is the scar on the leather, I hid it in the middle of the sandwich
ok, now that the drawing is done, just cut it out roughly from the whole piece of leather
It takes approximately 32 minutes and 41 seconds to draw the outline
Using primary color cowhide, approximately 1106 square centimeters
The price is about 234 yuan (there is also a small piece of snake skin, which I haven’t bought yet)
Part 2 Leather Treatment
Apply cows foot oil
Yes, a cow’s foot is a cow’s foot
It is made by boiling and refining cow foot bones (hoofless) and tibia
His function is to replenish the oil content of the leather and maintain its softness
But the leather is too soft and difficult to handle, so a thin layer of cows foot grease is enough
The picture above is of a large can
Usually we also put it into small bottles, this is the light yellow liquid
Just use cotton cloth to apply cows foot oil. I went to Xiaoqi and bought some underwear to cut
Fold the cotton cloth slightly into this size (easier to hold), and then dip it in a little cows foot oil
Then use the "circle" method to wipe, remember not to just find any place and apply it
Divide it into several areas and do not rub it again to avoid waste (cow foot oil is not cheap)
Just rub it all over the area you drew
Try not to wipe into the middle part of each area. You have to cut off that part. It would be a waste to wipe it off
Complete
After applying cows foot oil to the original leather, the next step
Apply mink oil
Yes, the mink is that mink (did you see the pattern on the box?)
Generally, leather maintenance will be done by rubbing this on the outside
Mink oil also seems to be useful in beauty, but its function on leather is to moisturize the leather, polish the surface of the leather, and also have a slight waterproofing effect
Use a sponge to apply mink oil (don’t use a magic sponge, it will scratch the leather, a regular sponge will do)
I use a cotton pad to apply it (bought from Daiso, only 39 yuan for a pack of a dozen)
But don’t use a sponge to apply cow’s foot oil. It is said that it will become very smelly after being left for a while
Don’t rub it on the part to be cut off, it will be wasted
ok, this part is very fast, I am somewhat proficient, mink oil and cows foot oil can be done in about ten minutes
The money spent on mink oil and cows foot oil will not be counted in this part
The above steps have finished processing the surface of the leather, that is, the leather surface layer
Next is the back of the leather
Go to "Bed Surface Treatment Agent"
Before applying bed surface treatment agent, in order to avoid waste
I will first do a "rough cut", that is, cut off the excess parts roughly along the outline
But don’t cut too close to the line you drew
Rough cutting is completed, approximately this range is enough
If the outlines you draw are very close and the gaps between them are not large, you don’t need to cut them in this step
If there is a lot of excess, just cut it off
In principle, the removed skin should be thrown away
But you can keep it for now, sometimes it will be useful, then throw it away after you are done or use it for other purposes
The very rough part on the back of the leather is called the flesh layer
The meat layer of the skin I bought is pretty good-looking. A better skin will also have a nice-looking meat layer
The fleshy surface of some skins will be hairy and flaked, so you need to use a bed surface treatment agent
Bed surface treatment agent is used to treat the flesh surface and leather edges
At present, I know that there are colorless, black and brown ones. The wallet I gave to my dad was treated with black
It is said that you can also use CMC, but I have never used it
The tool for applying bed surface treatment agent is to use film
Don't underestimate it, this plastic board seems to cost 200 yuan, I really don't know what it is expensive for, but it is very useful
How to use, first dip a little bed surface treatment agent
Apply to the center of the fleshy surface of the leather, and then use the "scratching" method (ㄎㄠ in Taiwanese) to scrape from the inside out
Try to be careful around the edges, don’t do this
Waste aside, bed surface treatment agent is used to treat the meat surface
So please try not to get it on the leather surface
Why? Because after it gets on the leather surface, if you need to apply mink oil or cows foot oil for maintenance in the future
At this time, you will see that the part where you touched the bed surface treatment agent will leave traces, although the traces will not be visible after the mink oil or horn oil is absorbed
But it’s best to avoid this kind of thing. In the above situation, if the leather moves a little, it will stain the leather surface
But this is also the reason why a little bit of the part to be removed is left, at least the chance will be reduced
After applying the bed surface treatment agent, please use this "edge grinding stick"Let’s polish the meat surface a little
Just polish it a little and it will be fine if you see the luster
Complete
It takes about 14 minutes and 13 seconds to apply the bed surface treatment agent
Part 3 Leather cutting
Cutting (fine cutting)
Some handmade leather goods craftsmen will use this kind of knife to cut
This is a leather cutting knife, and there are many types. Some craftsmen will even make customized knives
Of course you can use this kind of knife, but there are a few problems
First of all, what my teacher often said
Can you sharpen a knife?
According to the teacher, four whetstones are needed to sharpen a knife, andSuper expensive
Of course, there are leather knives with replaceable blades. If you have money, you can use this kind of knife, but
Are you comfortable with the leather knife?
You can evaluate the way the dog holds the leather knife, which is to hold the handle of the knife upside down, with the blade facing towards you to cut the skin
One advantage of this cutting method is that you can clearly see where the blade is cutting
But, it is definitely difficult for you to adapt to this kind of grip to cut things right away
So, in conclusion, we use a knife that you are familiar with, and have used it since childhood, and maybe you are very good at using it
Utility Knife
As for which kind of utility knife to use, I am too lazy to write it down. I will talk about it when I have a chance
You can use other knives. My teacher said it well. If you have a way to cut well, you can even use a kitchen knife
I’ve also seen people use a knife that looks like they’re used for fighting to cut the skin, it’s super cool
Please be careful when cutting
Even in mathematics, a line has no area
But in the real world, of course the line you draw will have a width
So generally speaking, when you cut the skin, you should cut it on the inner edge of the line
Why? Because when you make the paper pattern, the area of ??the paper pattern on the leather is the part you want
But when you draw a line with a silver pen, you draw it on the outer edge of this range. In other words, that is the part you don’t want
Of course it’s best to cut off the unnecessary parts. Customers won’t want to see silver threads on the product, right?
But if you are a beginner and are afraid of cutting, you can cut in the middle of the line, it doesn’t matter
Because there will be edge cutting or grinding later, this part can be disposed of
The fine cutting part took 36 minutes and 54 seconds
ButI have only cut most of them here. Due to the requirements of the short clip production process, some pieces have to go through certain procedures before they can be cut
Explanation later, but generally speaking, this is where you should finish cutting the materials to be used
Press mark (only one piece)
Drawing lines and punching holes should be the next step, but this long strip needs to be processed first
Why? Because before the leather is sewn, the pinholes must be punched
But you don’t really “dig” a hole in it, you “poke” a hole like a knife
The difference between these two actions is that the latter will stretch the leather
So after you drill the entire row of holes, the long strip of leather will become longer than it originally was
In order to avoid the uneven length caused by the leather joining later, we drilled holes in succession first
The step to make a hole is to draw the line first
Next, use "Erling Slash" to press the mark
"Lingzhan" is a tool used to punch holes in leather
The holes he made were diamond-shaped (in order to make the sutures become neat parallel diagonal lines)
The most common ones are single diamond chop, two diamond chop, and four diamond chop.
Of course there are other specifications, so I won’t mention them here
MeI use the diamond chopper made by ELLE in Japan. The distance between the chopsticks (between the blade tip and the blade tip) is 4mm
The pattern given by my teacher is also calculated as a multiple of 4mm, so I have to use this specification
I have three types of diamond chops, single diamond chop, double diamond chop, and four diamond chop
Usually I use Shuangling Slash to press the mark (because it is the most accurate)
Si Ling Zhan makes straight holes (the spacing of Si Ling Zhan may have errors, but the holes drilled in a row are relatively straight)
Shan Ling cut to make the hole in the corner
I won’t talk too much about the techniques of pressing holes. This is not a teaching text. I could go on and on endlessly
After pressing down a row of marks, adjust the spacing, and you are ready to drill holes
But I don’t want to make noise at night so that my neighbors come around and beat me up
So that’s it for today’s progress. The adjustment of the pressure hole takes about three minutes
The total time spent so far is about 1 hour, 36 minutes and 48 seconds
Today is not going well~~
I went out to the skin shop in the fucking heavy rain to buy snake skins, but they didn’t sell them
I have no plans to enter! Xuette
I ran for nothing with most of my body wet
So when I got home, I quickly called to ask about Kung Fu
I didn’t expect to get another bad news. It seems that something went wrong yesterday
Of course, mistakes are common in military affairs (right?)
We must still record whatever mistakes we make
Continuing from yesterday’s part, after marking the long strip, holes can be made
Punch holes
Because it is a straight line, I use Siling Slash
Remember to hold Ling Zhan straight, otherwise the hole will be crooked
As forWhy do the overlapping parts of the leather not stick together after being punched
I’ll talk about this later when I have a chance (I need an illustration)
After the holes are drilled, the last few pieces can be cut out (the beginning of the tragedy)
This part of the skin cutting takes about 5 minutes
After cutting, I picked it up and tried to assemble all the leather to see if the shape and position were correct
I thought it was a little weird, but I called in the evening to ask about kung fu
Sure enough, I found that I made fewer holes in the turning part
What a tragedy ~ there are two missing holes on the left and right
Fortunately, there are not many holes. After filling them, the leather will stretch very little, which is a blessing among misfortunes
As for another adversity: snakeskin
I had to go to another leather store to have a look. Can the heavy rain stop for a while?
Okay, after fixing the mistakes, before drawing the lines and drilling the holes
You need to trim some "non-overlapping" parts first
Trimming
For example, in the following pieces, the openings must be trimmed and polished first
I use leather with a thickness of 1.2 mm for the inside of the short clip. For this thickness, I just need a small No. 1 editor
The way to trim edges is to tilt the editor at a 45 degree angle and push it forward
This requires a little practice. In the first few weeks of learning, I often used scrap leather at home to practice trimming
Generally speaking, the harder the skin, the easier it is to peel, so if you apply too much horn oil, this part may be tricky
The skin and meat layers need to be peeled once each
Although I am proficient in trimming, it also takes a lot of time
It took me about 17 minutes and 05 seconds to edit these pieces
After cutting, the edge will become a semicircle arc
It can create an edge-tightening effect, visually making the leather look thinner
Some teachers who teach leather goods will not repair it, but directly apply treatment agent
Is it intentional?There are other reasons, I don’t know.
After trimming the edges
Take out the bed surface treatment agent and apply a thin layer on the edges
Try not to touch the leather surface (actually it doesn’t matter if you touch it a little)
Don’t paint a large section at a time, just apply it in small sections
After painting, polish with a grinding bar
The upper end of the grinding rod has several grooves. It is best to choose which groove to use for grinding according to the thickness of the leather
But unlike the meat surface, this part needs to be polished very carefully
I will go back and forth about each paragraph more than a hundred times
It should be polished until the edges are reflective and shiny
My teacher often said, you have to grind until you get to "ㄍㄧㄣ"
This part is very time-consuming if you take it seriously
As for some places that are more difficult to grind with a large edge grinding rod
What should I do if it looks like the arrow is pointing to?
Deng Deng~~
Homemade small edge grinding rods. I have been playing with leather goods for a long time. It is best to make a few of these yourself
Some are in the middle of the mezzanine or in the corners like the one above. These small branches are very useful
The polishing time is 24 minutes and 20 seconds
The next step is to prepare the holes. Before drilling, you need to draw lines to make the row of holes neat.
Drawing lines
There are many tools for drawing lines
What is generally used is something like a compass, which is called a spacing gauge
To use, first adjust the spacing gauge to the distance between the position where you plan to draw the line and the edge
Pull back while pushing against the edge to leave a shallow indentation on the leather
You also need to practice this, because in this case, the leather surface has been coated with mink oil, and it is easy for the spacing gauge to slip off
If it slips off, it will easily leave scars on other parts of the leather surface, making the leather unusable, just ugly
But my habit is to use a cone and a ruler to draw lines on straight lines
I only use spacing gauges at corners
Why?
Because sometimes the edges of the leather are not cut neatly, and if you draw with the spacing gauge against the edge, it will easily become distorted
So it will be more accurate to directly use a ruler and a cone to pull the positioning hole to the positioning hole
Drawing the line takes approximately 10 minutes and 9 seconds
After drawing the line, you are ready to punch the hole. You must mark it before punching
Press hole (marking)
Part 4 Credit card pocket assembly
I plan to assemble the credit card holder on the right side of the wallet first
Same as before, IMake marks with Erling cutting holes and adjust the spacing
This part takes about 6 minutes and 40 seconds
Next is drilling
Punch holes
I use four diamonds to cut straight lines, and I use single diamonds to cut corners
This part takes about 9 minutes and 20 seconds
By the way, when it comes to drilling holes, of course you have to put something underneath
Generally, plastic boards are used outside, which is a square hard plastic board that is quite thick
It is recommended not to use it because it is too hard
Ling Zhan will break after being beaten for a long time
I use this
Buy two cutting mats and stick them together as a hitting board. They are not too hard, cheap and easy to use
I have heard that some teachers who teach leather goods insist on using plastic boards. I don’t know why, if it is not that they are too ignorant
Probably he is selling Lingzhan
Next I will sew the inside edge of the card holder
Sutures
The tools are twine (I use white, basically the color of the material depends on what you like), two thread needles (yes, two), and thread wax (the top one)
How to measure the length of the required line
First measure the distance you want to sew, then add about 3 to 4 centimeters
Next, multiply the sum of the two distances above by about 3 to 3.5 times
This is a general situation. The thicker it is, the longer it will be. I made a mobile phone case using the stacking technique
Once caught eight times as long
After the line length is determined, the line must be waxed first
Just rub it back and forth until the line feels a little sticky
Both ends of the head and tail must be connected with needles
The stitching method is front and back cross stitching, which I won’t explain in detail
But generally speaking, if the distance to be sewn is relatively long, the leather will be glued first before sewing (to avoid the leather becoming crooked)
But the distance is very short, just cover it and sew directly
If the sewing method is correctIndeed, you can see that the row of stitches are parallel diagonal lines
If it is sewn by machine, it will be a straight line
It takes about 14 minutes and 36 seconds to sew the top two layers
Next, glue the bottom piece
gluing
The bottom piece is not sewn yet, it is just glued on first
Cover it and measure the adhesive area first
Use the back of a knife to slightly scrape the leather surface of the bonded part
Make it rough so that it sticks more firmly
In fact, if the glued part has a leather surface, it is best to scrape it off first
After scraping, use white glue (resin, which brand is good)
Apply a thin layer on the edge (I still glued it badly)
Same as when dealing with edges, don’t apply a large section at one go, glue small sections in small sections
After the leather is joined, squeeze it slightly towards the edge and squeeze out a little white glue
In this way, you can make sure that the edges are fully joined, and wipe off the extruded white glue with your hands
(After the leather goods teacher wiped off the white glue, he smeared it on the bottom of his work table. I thought the legs of his work table must be super soft)
After the bottom piece is glued, adjust the positions of the two top pieces on the left and right sides
The "ears" on both sides try to seal him with the leather below
Then stick it with white glue
The bonding time is about 7 minutes and 45 seconds
After pasting it, because the hole is at the bottom
The hole needs to be drilled from the top again
Punch holes (on the left and right sides of the two upper pieces of leather)
Use Siling Slash to seize the position
Punch the hole after marking the mark
Generally, when holes are made in leather after lamination, the holes will be larger
Press hole drilling takes about 34 seconds
Next, sew the inner edge of the clip. This part takes about 7 minutes and 3 seconds. I won’t go into detail about the process
After sewing, there will be a gap in the part where you fit the leather (unless you cut it very accurately)
So you need to smooth the edges first
Edging
The red branch is an edger, use it to smooth the edges
Observe while grinding. If the cut surface has different shades of color, it means there is still a step there
Edging took about 5 minutes and 31 seconds
After grinding, because the leather is relatively thick, use a No. 2 trimmer to trim the edges
This part is about 1 minute and 35 seconds
Finally, use bed surface treatment agent to polish until shiny
It is best if the seams are not visible. You can also apply a little edge wax to make them more shiny
I put some wax on it
This part takes about 7 minutes and 05 seconds
That’s it for today, I’ll probably find time to finish the left one tomorrow too
The total time spent is about 1 hour, 56 minutes and 43 seconds
I hope the progress will not be stuck on the snakeskin
Another little tragedy happened today~
But not in the work
But in my hands
Fuck
I reached for tools without wearing glasses
As a result, I was cut by the blade of the peeler
The wound was quite deep. I applied pressure for a long time to stop the bleeding. I even wondered if I needed to sew it up?
This incident tells us that tools should not be messed up
Especially sharp tools
Look! This work is really made of blood and tears!
OK, continue with yesterday’s progress
Part 5: Assembling the left card holder
Card holder on the left
I finished the card holder on the left
The process is exactly the same as yesterday, suturing, gluing, pressing holes, drilling holes, suturing, edge grinding, trimming, and polishing with treatment agent
So I will skip it and not write it
The whole process took about 1 hour, 06 minutes and 15 seconds, this part went smoothly (yes, that’s how it took time)
Part 6: Assembling the lining
Install the two card clips outside the banknote sandwich on the inner bottom
But deal with this first
Polish
There is a small dent in the lower center of the inside. I repaired this part two days ago
Sand it now, otherwise it will be difficult to polish after assembly and polishing
This is very fast, it can be done in about 2 minutes and 52 seconds, but it is best to use a twig grinding rod. It is difficult to grind the corners with a normal-sized grinding rod
After polishing, prepare to drill holes
Before that, you need to press the mark
Press hole
The large film has a large number of holes, so it took some time to adjust this part
About 9 minutes and 43 seconds
Continue
Drilling holes
Similarly, use four diamonds to cut straight lines and single diamonds to cut corners
In fact, you can also use Erling to chop around corners, and it is best to use it this way when you are a beginner
Because Shan Ling Zhan needs to adjust the angle
My leather goods teacher said that there is a Japanese master in Taitung who uses Dan Ling Zhan to punch all his holes
This way of drilling can also maintain the arrangement of the holes in a straight line, and the stitching is very beautiful, which is really unimaginable
After drilling the holes, it’s time to glue them
gluing
My teacher drew the positioning holes, so you need to check the position of the positioning holes when gluing
Especially when I first started learning, the skin was not cut neatly. If I glued it against the edge, the position of the holes would be wrong
It will be difficult to sew at that time
Of course, after this kind of mistake has happened for a long time, I will be more careful when cutting
Now in this situation, I directly align the edges and glue them (I deliberately shortened the step difference, grinding the edges is very tiring)
The gluing of small sections is time-consuming, this part took about 14 minutes and 32 seconds
By the way, don’t forget to roughen the surface of the leather first
There is not much progress today, so take the time to talk about why the two pieces of skin need to be punched separately and then glued together, instead of being glued and then drilled
(Just make do, I drew it with a small painter)
The above picture is a cross-section of the leather after it is stacked. If you stack them together and make holes, A is your ideal state
This will only happen if you hold the diamond sword straight and hit the mallet in the right position
But if you don’t hold it straight, it will lead to a situation like C
If the thickness of the overlap is not very thick, it is acceptable, but if the leather is very thick, you can imagine it being angled a little
How different will the position of the front and rear holes be?
B is the situation where you have a disabled hand but are punched separately. The position of the front and rear holes will not be too different, even if there are more layers, there will not be a big difference
If B’s situation is correct, it will be similar to A
Then you may think, just stack them together and hit them carefully
But state A also has a small disadvantage, that is, the hole diameter on the side where you drill will be larger
Generally speaking, unless necessary (for example, when I make card holders, I stack them up and punch holes for more accuracy)
It would be better to fight separately
(You can take a look at the photos of the card holders made two days ago. The holes in the two pieces with ears will be larger)
Okay, after the leather is bonded, some parts that will no longer be bonded to other leather can be stitched
Sutures
First sew the upper edges of the clips on both sides
The area near the middle is leatherThe leather is a part that often opens and closes, so you need to backstitch it to make it stronger
It took 24 minutes and 23 seconds
After sewing, you can polish the edges
Edging
If you cut it neatly and stick it neatly
Edging actually doesn’t take long
However, I still spent about 15 minutes and 43 seconds because I had to deal with it in other ways
By the way, the small section above the middle of the two ticket card holders should also be polished together
The next step is to trim the edges with the No. 2 trimmer (because it is thicker). This part takes about 3 minutes and 50 seconds, which is very fast (straight lines are easier to trim)
After repairing, it’s time to polish with bed surface treatment agent
Polish
This place has been grinding for a long time
It took 13 minutes and 22 seconds, is there any light?!
After finishing this, the inner part is completed
But it was still raining heavily today, so I didn’t go out to look for snake skins (I had to go to Sanzhong, which was a bit far)
The outer part of the wallet can only be processed a little
Part 7: Wallet outer layer processing
Cutting
This should be placed on the outer layer of leather, and the middle part should be placed on snakeskin
So cut it off first
There were a lot of turns, so it took a while, about 2 minutes and 38 seconds
After digging out, start trimming
Trimming
In order not to make the leather thicker, this piece of leather is made of 1.2mm leather, and a small No. 1 trimmer must be used to trim the inner edge
This kind of thin strip of skin is actually very difficult to repair. It is soft and easy to run away. Remember to repair it slowly in small sections
It took me about 5 minutes and 04 seconds
Next...yes, it needs to be polished. Did you find that the steps are similar?
Grind the inner edge
Because there are some corners, the grinding rod of the big branch cannot be ground
So we have to use twig treatment
You will grind this until you want to cry, it is very soft and difficult to grind, so you have to deal with it in small sections
I'm already paralyzed, thats okay
The polishing took about 11 minutes and 12 seconds
The top piece can probably only go up to this side before the snake skin arrives (at most, the outer layer must be pressed together first)
I will deal with this again
Trimmed the lower edge
Trimming
Same, long and thin ones are difficult to repair, it’s faster to take your time
This part takes about 3 minutes and 24 seconds
Sand after repair
Polish
Patience! This is a good time to cultivate your moral character!
If it’s not easy to deal with, take your time, don’t rush
It took about 8 minutes and 42 seconds
That’s it for today, the total time spent is about 3 hours, 08 minutes and 43 seconds
It seems like more than six hours when combined with the previous two days
And it doesn’t include the time and money I spent looking for materials
The next goal is this
It seems very simple and quick, but it should still take a lot of time to process
This is probably the only way to go until the snake skin is found
If that doesn’t work, buy ostrich foot skin as a substitute. It should look less disgusting than snake skin
Part 8 Snake Skin and Treatment
I picked a darker piece of python skin, but I don’t know where it came from
I just don’t care whether it’s pleasing or not
Snake skin is actually very thin, so usually the snake skin we buy is attached to cloth
Of course, even if they are all scales, there will inevitably be some damage
Outlining and cutting
The only pattern I didn’t use on the first day, now take it out and draw it
SameUse a silver pen to trace the lines on the front and poke the positioning holes, but snakeskin is not easy to cut with a knife
Unless the knife is sharp enough, scissors seem to be easier to use
Done, I fixed it with scissors
This part took 8 minutes and 26 seconds
This small piece of snake skin is estimated to cost about 32 yuan, which should be more expensive than this
Because although the snakeskin is about 2.5 meters long, excluding the edges and damaged parts, it should be more expensive than I roughly estimated
Press hole
Then press the outer part to prepare for drilling
The number of holes is large, and with fine-tuning, it takes about 16 minutes and 2 seconds
Adhesive snakeskin
The next step is to glue the snakeskin to the outer leather
The back of the layer of cloth under the snake skin is a layer of plastic film
After the adhesive film is removed, the back will be sticky, similar to the effect of double-sided tape
But this layer of glue is not sticky enough, so it still needs to be reinforced with real double-sided tape
Use scissors to trim slightly along the outline of the snakeskin after it is fully applied
Tear off the paper on the surface, find the positioning point and paste it carefully
Then attach double-sided tape to the leather used as the outer frame
I recently saw this kind of replaceable double-sided tape that is very similar to correction tape, and I would like to say that this frame has more turning parts
Just buy it and give it a try
It turns out that it is really convenient to stick the tape on the leather, but the two sides of the right angles of the outer frame need to be connected to the outer layer of leather
In the end, the trimmed edges and corners were all together, so I opened them slightly and used white glue to reinforce them
The turning part of the outer frame is not bad, the double-sided tape is convenient
The bonding time is approximately 19 minutes and 52 seconds
Punch holes
After the gluing is completed, you can punch the holes. The overlapping part of the outer frame is the situation where I stack a few pieces of leather to punch holes
Look carefully, the diameter of the holes is relatively large, usually this is chosen when it has to be done
And you have to be more careful when hitting Ling Zhan, so as not to become crooked
There are many holes and it took about 11 minutes and 47 seconds to drill them
Trimming and polishing
After the outer layer is processed, there is only this small piece of skin left that has not been touched
This piece of leather is placed in the center of the inner layer of the wallet to block the meat surface and make the surface of the inner layer look neater
Generally speaking, the curved side will block it, so it should not be repaired
But I forgot whether I wanted to repair it or not. I just started to repair it as soon as I wanted to say it
It took 4 minutes and 13 seconds
Thinning
Because the two sides of this piece of leather will be a little bit sandwiched between the card holder and the outer layer
In order not to cause the thickness to be too thick, it must be thinned first
There are many tools for thinning. There is one that looks like a paring knife, but the blade is semicircular, which is a thinning knife
There are also thinners made like woodworking planes, and there are also thinners made like razors
But this range is very small, just sharpen it carefully with a utility knife
Be careful not to cut into the skin
Thinning takes about 4 minutes and 40 seconds
Drawing lines & punching holes
This part is very simple and takes about 2 minutes and 43 seconds
After drilling the holes, you can glue them
But my leather goods teacher forgot to mark the positioning holes, so I had to do the math myself
This needs to be adhered to the meat layer under the outer layer. The number of holes under the outer layer is 58. This small piece of skin has 14 holes on it
So ( 58 - 14 ) /2 = 22
I have to start gluing from the 23rd hole on the left and right
Unexpectedly, you can use mathematics to make leather goods
It took 7 minutes and 54 seconds to calculate the holes and glue them
Part 9 Integral sutures
Next, you need to sew the curve on the upper edge of the snakeskin first
This part cannot be sewn together with the outer seams, so it must be processed first
Took 15 minutes and 15 seconds
gluing
Then only the last part is left
Fortunately, the repair was done well before, there were almost no errors, and the bonding went smoothly
It took 4 minutes and 28 seconds
At this time, I looked at the small piece of leather below
I always felt weird
Logically speaking, that small piece of leather should be used to cover up the ugliness
But if the stitches are like this, they won’t look good
I don’t seem to remember doing this before either
The more I think about it, the more I getWeird, so...
Redo
Yes, tear it down and start again, just tear it down as a man says
In addition to the threads, the small piece of leather also had thread indentations on it, so I had to make a new one
At this time, it’s time for the waste skin left behind to come into play
Luckily you stayed, right
Redrawing lines, cutting, trimming, grinding (I did not omit), thinning, punching, punching, sewing, gluing
The redo took 33 minutes and 13 seconds
Part 10 Final Assembly
Then it’s finally time to combine the command boats, feel moved
The entire wallet combination is now finally complete
But the design of the outer layer and the inner layer are different in length
Because the short clip needs to be folded in half, the length of the outer layer should be longer
The entire wallet will be curved and cannot be flattened
This also means that bonding is extremely difficult
So after gluing one side, the scrap leather can be used again
After one side is glued, I am afraid that if you move it when the other side is glued, the glue will crack again
So you can use a clip to clamp it first, but if the clip is used directly, it will leave marks on the leather, so put a small piece of leather on it
What kind of leather is it? Waste leather
It took me a lot of time to glue them together, and I had to tear them apart and start over again if they were not aligned
This part takes about 34 minutes and 48 seconds
Then the highlight comes
Sewing
After this step, the entire wallet structure is assembled
But this is also the most painful part
Why? Because the leather is stacked several times and is quite thick
The thickest one is on the snakeskin side. I measured it and found that the thickest one is nearly 7mm
You will know how to do it if the skin is not aligned and the holes are not punched
How painful will your stitches be?
I don’t know if my drilling and bonding skills have improved, or if my hands are calloused so they don’t hurt
This part makes me feel quite painful
If the needle goes through and is caught in the leather clip, it cannot be pulled out
Needle nose pliers are your best friend, please use them more
But this time it was still a bit painful for me to sew because my thread length was just too long
The further I sewed to the tail, the more frightened I became. I was so afraid that the thread would not be long enough and I would not be able to finish it
The thread is too short and the skin can’t pass through, it’s like hell
This part took me a total of 1 hour, 42 minutes and 36 seconds
Yes, you read that right, just the small circle in the outer frame takes so long to process
At this point you will feel like you can just sew it with a machine
But in order to look good, you still have to endure it
After doing this, my energy is severely damaged and I need to take a rest
The prototype of the entire short clip is completed
In the end there are about four or five steps left, all of which are to beautify the appearance
It may take a while to complete because this short clip is too thick
The largest edge trimmer I have is No. 2 Small. With this angle trimmer, I can only trim the edge into a rounded rectangle, not a semicircle
Last time I ordered a large size 2 from my leather goods teacher and I had to wait for it to arrive
Otherwise, if the thickness is not trimmed, it will look very thick
It is said that I don’t know whether it is due to a shortage in Japan or the increase in the price of the yen. I don’t know how long it will take
Stop to see if anyone wants anything, I’ll take the order and it’s done
Total time spent today, excluding redo, 3 hours 52 minutes 44 seconds
Including redo 4 hours, 25 minutes and 57 seconds
It seems to have been more than 10 hours combined with the previous one
After almost a month, the series has finally started again
Actually, there is only a little work left, mainly we have to wait for the above one
The legendary No. 2 edge trimmer was reportedly out of stock a while ago
After placing the order, I called my master and asked several times, but the answer I received was that it had not arrived yet
The head of the leather craft shop seemed to say that the ship was still at sea (lost, right?)
So, after waiting for more than a month, I finally got it yesterday
Compare the large No. 2 edge trimmer with the small No. 2 edge trimmer
It can be seen that the large No. 2 edge trimmer can trim more edges, so it can make the leather edge closer to a semi-circular arc shape
It can probably be used with leathers ranging from 4mm to 6mm thick
Edging
Actually, while I was waiting for the edge trimmer, I had already spent time smoothing out the gaps in the overlapping parts of the leather edges
It takes a lot of time. I polished the edges twice, totaling about 1 hour, 11 minutes and 35 seconds.
It will take so much time, mainly because the leather is very thick, and the middle part of the wallet cannot be flattened for grinding
So we put in extra effort
Trimming and chamfering
After waiting for almost a month, the work can finally be carried out
The edges that have not been trimmed are very thick when stacked, and they look very thick
If you use a small No. 2 edge trimmer, you can probably only trim the edges into a rounded rectangle
In fact, it looks not much different from the original one, because only a little bit was shaved off
This is what it looks like after trimming with a No. 2 large edger
The edges will look smaller than before, and the edges will look thinner
Although I did a crazy trial and practice after getting it yesterday
But this part still took a lot of time
About 30 minutes and 4 seconds
Polish
After cutting the edges, use bed surface treatment agent to polish until shiny as usual
The central corner is also very difficult to deal with
It actually took me 36 minutes and 26 seconds to get it right
In fact, if you do this, you are done
Just use bed surface treatment agent to polish to a bright edge, it won’t last too long
If you want to make it look better, you have to
Part 11 Polishing and Waxing
This is edging wax, transparent
Also available in black
Why is there a crack in the middle?
Yes, because I broke it, Snow
Fortunately it’s just wax
I'm too lazy to join it together again, so I'll just leave it as it is
The way to apply wax is to apply the wax strip back and forth on the edge until it feels a bit astringent and the surface looks foggy
Then polish with cloth or paper
The difference between waxed and unwaxed roots
On the left is the edge that has only been polished with bed surface treatment agent, and on the right is the edge that has been waxed
You can see that there is a difference in gloss between the two sides
Done it, call it a day
Waxing took me 45 minutes and 56 seconds
I applied five layers of wax back and forth
It’s done, YA~
The total time spent, if it does not include the parts I had to redo before
It took about 13 hours, 38 minutes and 59 seconds
If I include my handicap and redo it, it will take about 14 hours, 12 minutes and 12 seconds
Okay, let’s say he’s healed in 14 hours
Can I count my hourly wage as 100 yuan? Even if we know each other, I won’t count your material expenses
The salary is at least 1,400
ThisThe time does not include eating, going to the toilet, and resting....
It also doesn’t include the time I spent looking for materials
The most basic material fee is about 266, which does not include the thread, thread wax, cows foot oil, mink oil I used...
It also doesn’t include the gas money I spent looking for materials
If the depreciation rate of the tools is also included, I don’t know how to calculate the price
So, how much do you think is a reasonable price for this small wallet?
Of course, the desire to do a good job is priceless
Done, it’s really done
