Friday at lunch I ran up to the Tandy/Leather Factory store to get studs, which are on sale. My plan was to get 25 nickel-plated and 25 brass, but that plan didn't survive reality. I did end up with somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 studs, but not in the ratio originally planned (these are the studs that we use on the belt loops of hanging pockets, and for some of the steampunk-ish pouches).
I also planned to look for garment/upholstery leather to use for drawstring or other small soft bags, and/or for gussets on pouches/pockets. I found some pale aqua pigskin for pouches, and completely forgot about the "for gussets" part. Oops. When I got home I checked the rings I got for chainmail - I have some darker aqua rubber rings that should look good with the leather. My plan is to make a softish pouch with the leather (glued to something thicker/stiffer and cheap/hideous), fastened shut with a peg or antler attached with a chain using the aqua rings.
Winch Testing
Saturday afternoon we tested the winch and winch stand. I say "we", but all I did was run the winch. Robin had grossly over-estimated the amount of tow strap we'd need to anchor the stand around the porch, but Ron didn't realize that until he'd opened the second strap. Oops. The testing went fairly well - we ran the yellow bin up and down a couple times via the winch, with a couple different attachment/sling methods. The ramps are probably going to still need reinforcement, they're still flexing under the weight of the bin alone. Still going to be best as a three-person operation: one running the winch and two steering. However, using the winch means the two people will be mostly steering, not two to three people pushing and pulling, so it will make things easier.
Beer Gut
Saturday I dyed the beer gut, and Ron waxed it, and some other hard pouch fronts we'd previously molded and dyed, and the back for the beer gut, which I'd cut out and dyed. Yesterday I continued work on the beer gut, getting the body and the flap ready to lace, lacing around the flap, and sewing the dee holders and a binding on the edge of the opening. Left to do are putting the lacing holes in for attaching the flap to the back of the pouch, doing that lacing, putting on the loop for the antler peg, lacing around the body, and putting on the shoulder straps.
I've got until Friday to do all those things, based on the time estimate I gave the customer. I should be able to manage it if I can put a reasonable amount of time in evenings this week.
Other Pouches
In some ways I didn't feel like I got a lot done over the weekend, because I did little bits on lots of things. Besides working on the beer gut (which I did give priority, but for various reasons it had to just sit some times), I worked on:
- Rectangular purse: Laced together, just needs its shoulder strap now.
- Two hard pouches that use the hanging belt loops, ala the rocket pockets, they're to the point they only need the bodies laced on and then will be finished (started last week).
- Salvaging a messed-up back intended for one of the hanging hard pouches, above. It's now the back piece for on odd-sized gusseted pocket.
- Not strangling Ron when we're both working in the dining/work room. Probably mutual.
- Cutting up a piece of leather into pieces to mold hard pouch fronts from.
- Using the big press to cut some pieces out with cutting dies.
- Sorting scrap from that piece of leather and cutting three little "1/2 soft" pouch fronts from it.
- Cutting out the basic pieces for three more pockets (one vertical stacked, two single), in various shades of brown. They're still just various sizes of rectangles that require more cutting, but at least I know what they're supposed to be.
Templates
After cutting out the base rectangular pieces for the pockets yesterday, I declared that I really did need templates made, my paper patterns were getting ratty (ok, I could print out new copies, but that would be just another temporary solution). Ron obliged.
The first problem was sticking patterns to the small sheet of Lexan. Just not happening. Then we turned to the larger sheet of plexiglass. Still couldn't glue things to the plexi, but we could stick them to the protective sheet. From that we got the templates for gluing small and large pocket gussets (which can also be used for tracing, my medium soft pouch, and rounded gusset ends in two sizes, with a good bit left over.
The lexan is tougher, so we made the end template for a Sam Browne/Kilt belt template from that, as its going to live in the big rolling tool case with the belts and go to events. It's got the rounded end and the holes for the double-tongued buckle and studs that hold the end of the belt from flopping around. I ended up tracing that one onto the lexan in sharpie. That template and the one for the soft pouch still need some holes drilled, I think Ron's planning on doing that tonight.
Dining Room Chaos
Remember how I cleaned up the dining room last Sunday? It was nice while it lasted, but the floor is almost mythological again. Robin started unloading the old trailer so it can be donated to a Scout troop, and the gridwall and tables are now living in the dining room until we get the new trailer. Sigh.
I don't foresee getting the track lighting straightened out in the very near future, so I'm stopping tonight at Chez Tar-jay to get a swing-arm adjustable lamp with a clamp-on base. I tried over the weekend, but the hardware stores failed me - Ace had none, True Value had them on-line but not in the local store, and the only one I found on the Menard's website was, get this, $150! So not!
I think that about wraps it up for the weekend report.
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