Pouches Pouches Pouches!

Yesterday morning we went to The Leather Factory for . . . wait for it . . . leather. Whodathunkit? I'd gotten a flyer that listed, among others, vegetable tanned leather, about the right weight for hard pouch fronts, which we need.

They didn't have any, but the manager said he'd sell me some other leather, a bit heavier than what was on sale but the weight I prefer, for the same price. I took two sides (half-cows).

Then the people unpacking a new shipment dumped two boxes of new stuff into the "scrap" bin. A bunch of it followed me home. All heavy garment/upholstery weight.

I cut out pouches today. A whole bunch of pouches.

I started out with fronts for hard pouches, 14 of them. Three of them were thoroughly wet down and are now casing, prior to molding. We'll probably do that after dinner. That pretty much used up one of the two sides we got yesterday.

Then I started in on the soft leather.

Out of a nice dark burgundy with what looks like shiny water spots I got a satchel, a belt satchel, a sporran, and a small tabbed pouch. I was a bit surprised to get that much out of that leather, and still have some left. I think they'll look best trimmed in black.

I cut one belt satchel out of an off-white/pale flesh color, but I have a bunch of that left. I think I'll trim those in chestnut (red brown), which looked nice on some other light-colored leather I made small tabbed pouches out of.

A sporran, belt satchel, and small tabbed pouch out of a pretty dark teal. Not sure what color to trim that in, probably black.

And out of a bit thicker medium brown, a sporran and a small tabbed soft pouch. I think I'll trim them in havana (dark brown).

Then I moved on to some bright blue I got about a year ago. Out of that I got a satchel, a belt satchel, a sporran, and parts for two small tabbed pouches. The bigger pouches are all blue, and I'll probably trim them with black. The small tabbed pouches will be blue and black. One is blue except for the gusset, the other just has a blue front. That one is done now and goes out in the mail tomorrow, it was ordered at Boar's Head.

I still need to cut out some black belt satchels and another sporran or few, but I decided that I'd done enough already. Or maybe I'll do some more after dinner.

Ron's been honing the big blade for the splitter. I've been having some trouble splitting things (thickness-wise) lately, and assumed it was because the blade was dull. Ron says it wasn't too bad, so it may also have needed adjustment, which will essentially happen when he puts it back in.