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KINGSMERE CRAFTS
HAND-CRAFTED LEATHER GOODS
Moulding leather
One of the outstanding attributes of vegetable-tanned leather is its possession of the qualities which enable it to maintain a moulded shape.
Methods for exploiting this ability have been developed around the world over hundreds of years. Objects as dissimilar as helmets, shields, boxes, gun cases, masks, drinking cups, cigar cases, bowls and sculptures have all been created using one of the procedures I will be describing, or certainly very similar to it.
To mould anything, leather which is vegetable-tanned, or has similar characteristics, should be used. The belly section of a hide is ideal for easy moulding, though the flesh side of a belly (a belly being 7-10 square feet) will, of course, have a looser fibre-structure. That doesn't preclude other parts of the hide, it's simply that the belly is the easiest section to use for anyone without experience of moulding leather.
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The definitions of the various parts of a hide are shown below |
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Side....A+C+E or B+D+F, Back....A+C or B+D, Shoulder....A or B, Double shoulder....A+B, Belly....E or F |
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As I may have mentioned briefly in an earlier page, the leather trade in the UK, and in almost every other country in the world, operates in square feet. A figure 16 stamped in the corner of a skin or hide means it measures 16 square feet. Fractions of a square foot, ¼, ½ and ¾, are indicated by a small figure 1, 2, or 3 written just after, and just above, the whole number. And as a vegetable-tanned hide comes in eight weights (or thicknesses) there is a wide selection. That's even before you get to the densest of all, sole leather, which is measured in irons and bought by the pound weight. One iron =¹/48"; therefore 12 iron leather is a quarter of an inch thick. Leather in these thicknesses weighs somewhere between 14oz and 18oz per square foot. It is also expensive!
However, before any vegetable-tanned leather can be moulded, or for that matter, readily accept any decorative impressions, it has to be "cased". That is dampened with clean warm water applied with a suitable cloth or foam-rubber sponge to the flesh side, or wholly immersed in warm water, in a container large enough to hold the leather without scrunching it.
The length of time the leather is dampened for or soaked will depend on its thickness, and only experience gained by trial and error can indicate how long that will be, plus how much moulding is going to be attempted. It is only by going through this wetting process that the fibres of vegetable-tanned leather can be made soft and pliable.
It is whilst the leather is replete with the water (though it should be left to mellow for a short time) that it can be formed into three-dimensional shapes by using moulds or formers or even to a degree, freehand. It can, in this state, be easily manipulated by hand, being pulled and stretched as necessary.
Leather drinking cups and water
carriers have been in use since Neolithic times, but it was during the medieval
and later Tudor periods that they became particularly popular.
For leather to be shaped it has to be worked when it is wet. When air dried it
becomes what is known as jack leather, therefore, medieval leather vessels
became known as jacks. In Tudor times, a wider base was added, presumably to
promote better stability. The jack continued to be used until Nelson's time but
by then they were known as Boots, thus the naval phrase "Fill up your Boots"
meant to "have a drink".
Jacks, or tankards as they later became known, were used during the Crimea War
as they didn't make a noise on the battlefield and could be easily repaired in
situ.
Leather jacks and tankards were used during the 20th Century, particularly in
the mining and steel industries, as lots of water was drunk because of the dusty
and hot atmospheres. In Yorkshire, particularly in the Barnsley mining area they
became known as Jingle Boys because the bells attached to the bottom of the
handle were rung to attract the water boy.
In the West Midlands steel mills Jacks became known as Piggins. They had a
whistle attached at the bottom of the handle and it was blown to get the
attention of the water boy. From the "Piggin Whistle" came the popular pub name
which was nothing to do with farmyard creatures! Water jugs were also made from
leather during early medieval times. Between 1485 and the end of the Tudors in
1603 they became known as Bombards because the body shape resembled the barrel
of the bombard gun (they were called bombards from the Greek bombos meaning a
loud buzzing noise). Leather bombards were very popular in large sizes because
the leather was very light in comparison to its strength and durability. Such
vessels were used throughout society from the man in the street to royalty. The
only difference was that the higher up society you were, the more decorated the
jack or tankard would be. There is ample evidence of English royalty giving
leather jacks to continental royalty because they were only ever made with an
integral inner waterproof lining in England.
Leather drinking vessels were in use at the same time as glass, pewter and
pottery. However, glass was very expensive, pewter ran it a very close second
and pottery was easily broken. Leather was relatively cheap, available and
strong, and was therefore widely used.
Glass was so expensive that even well-to-do middle class families invariably
owned only one glass goblet which stood in the middle of the table as a communal
wine goblet. The servant holding the leather bottle would stand in the corner of
the room ready to replenish the glass when needed. He was known as the Bottler,
which, eventually, became corrupted into Butler.
Waterproofing of the finished tankards was accomplished in several ways. During
earlier times the grain side of the hide was turned to the inside of the vessel
because that part of the leather is the most naturally waterproof. The outside
would be the flesh side which was rubbed with animal fat in earlier periods and
later with either beeswax or boiled birch tree sap. The tree sap turns black
when boiled and consequently its application to the outside of a jack resulted
in the the description "Black-jack".
The Black-jack was an especially large, strong version and it was from this that
the tall riding boots of the Cavaliers got their name of jack-boots. So, in
between fighting roundheads, they would also have merry sessions of drinking
their boots-full, which later became the term "drinking bout". Then there was
the whistle-drinking cup. This had a pipe in the handle and when you needed a
refill you would just give a shrill blast so you could "wet your whistle" once
more.
Eventually the waterproof membrane was placed only on the inside of the vessel.
Beeswax was also used, but was an expensive method that needed replacing at
regular intervals. More commonly used was birch tree sap
(the birch tree emits sap only for a short period
of time (about four weeks) during spring) which, currently has been
replaced with Brewers Pitch, a material used to caulk old wooden beer barrels
(brewers pitch, being the traditional method of re-caulking wooden beer barrels,
or lining water tanks and pipes prior to the advent of modern epoxy resins).
Brewers pitch is acceptable in contact with consumable liquids.
In archaic English, "jacked" meant boiled, and leather jacks were leather cups
boiled in pitch. British sailors were known as Jolly Tars or Jack Tars. Their
cups, on shipboard and in public houses, were these tarred leather cups. They
were practical, for leather was constantly available in those days before
refrigeration and plastics, and tar was used for everything from the roof to
oakum and from the the cow to medicines. Such mugs were durable, cheap to
manufacture and too light to be fatal in brawls (an important consideration).
Presumably, one grew accustomed to the tarry taste, and no one lived long enough
to die from any cancer associated with the tar.
Making a basic tankard
Step 1
Cut out a quadrilateral shape using 8 to 10-oz tooling leather. The size is up
to you. The short sides should be as long as you want your tankard to be tall
(e.g. 8"); and the long sides should be long enough (approx 11" at top and 13½"
for the bottom) to wrap the quadrilateral into a trumpet shape, with roughly an
inch of overlap, thus creating a shape the size you want the tankard to be. If
you aren't sure about the dimensions you want, make a dummy first using paper.
Step 2
The quadrilateral is rolled with the smooth side out showing about an 1" of
overlap, but, before you apply the adhesive, (if possible use Barge Cement)
skive some of the thickness from both the smooth and flesh sides to give a
slight feathering to the edges. Scribe a faint line approximately ¹/8"
in from both edges (the second edge being the one on the inside though you are
scribing the line on the outside) then use a 6-stitch-to-the-inch overstitch
wheel to mark out the stitch positions by running it along the inner side of the
scribed lines. When the adhesive has set, join the two layers together tightly
with saddle-stitching. Because it can be hard to push the needle through the
leather, use an awl to make the holes for the needle/needles.
Step 3
Cut out a circle of leather slightly larger than the outer diameter of the base
of the shape you've made. This will become the bottom of your tankard. You can
use the same weight of leather you have been using or, if you prefer, a somewhat
thinner, 6 to 8-oz leather.
Step 4
Place the leather circle in a shallow container and cover with lukewarm water
leaving it until air bubbles stop appearing. Remove it, and when it's dried out
a bit, but still remains damp and pliable, glue the flesh-side of it to the
inside bottom of the cylinder. Use your fingers to manipulate the leather so
that the edges of both base and tankard body are evenly pointing down, and is
seen as domed shaped, in the bottom of the tankard like the bottom of a soft
drink can. Once the adhesive is set, stitch the bottom piece in place using the
same method employed to join the sides, but with only one line of
saddle-stitching all the way around.
Step 5
Cut out a 1-inch-wide, long strip of leather. This strip will form the handle of
your tankard and should be of the length you will find comfortable (for example
to allow four fingers to pass through it with the thumb on top of it). Glue an
inch or so of each end of the strip onto the overlapping section (where the
sides were joined together) on the side of your tankard, and once the glue has
dried, sew the handle on at these points. Make sure to use several rows of
stitching on both ends of the handle, as it needs to be robust.
Step 6
Place your tankard on a baking tray and heat it in the oven at the lowest
temperature setting until the leather is warm. While you do this, melt beeswax
in a pot. Once the leather is warm, take it out of the oven and paint the entire
outside of the tankard with a coating of the beeswax. After one coating, place
the tankard back in the oven repeating the process until wax starts seeping
through the leather on the inside. Be particularly sure you brush the wax over
all of your stitching holes.
Step 7
One of the most common linings used at present are the non-toxic, food grade
safe resins that are most notably used on wooden toys for small children. One
brand of this type of resin is Envirotex Lite. This resin is a two-part mixture
that hardens after a period of time. Mix a batch of resin, pour it into the jack
and "swirl" it around until it completely coats the inside. Then set the tankard
down in a normal upright position, allowing any excess resin to collect in the
bottom and harden there, thus affording extra waterproofing as that is the area
most likely to leak. You could of course use this same resin brushed on as an
outer coating in place of the beeswax!
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How to case leather |
Three-lace flat braiding
Step 1. Begin with a length of leather that has been cut into three strands. Step 2. Now pulling leather strand 1 over leather strand 2. Step 3. Next pulling leather strand 3 over leather strand 1. Step 4. Then pulling leather strand 2 over leather strand 3.
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Continue working the braid by repeating these steps until you reach your required length ending it in whatever fashion you choose.
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Click for Moulding leather -
continued
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