Where do you find the time to make so many gorgeous things
do you have more hours in the day in your neck of the woods than me? Beautiful:You_Rock_
I do them in batches as and when I can. One day I'll cut out a load of flask blanks. Next time I have a spare half hour I'll dampen then score them. Then I'll find time to tool them.
Once they are tooled, I marry backs and fronts and edge glue them to keep them in register when I get a few minutes.
I might leave them for a week then. If I'm pushed for time, I'll set the alarm for half past four in the morning (full daylight here at this time of year) and make all the stitch holes. Then I'll stitch each one individually as and when I can. When they are all stitched, I allocate three or four hours and get them soaked, packed out with barley to give them their shape then I let them dry.
Maybe the next day I'll empty them out an scrape out the grains of barley that got stuck to the wet inner. Once they are all completely dry, I'll dye the ones I want dyed. The ones in the photo above are all natural - that is, there's no dye. That lovely brown is the colour the leather goes when they are waxed, except for the black one, that's dyed.
Once the dye has dried I'll wax them. The waxing is done in batches as it takes a few hours to melt such a large volume of beeswax so I can hot dip them. Hot dipping is best as it allows the wax to soak in thoroughly. The waxing process takes a half day from start to finish so is usually reserved for a Sunday if I have no other committments. Once waxed they are polished and basically that's it. I just fit it all in when I can.
Eric