A wrap and a planner cover

I have been asked to make a matching pen wrap and a Hobonichi planner cover.

One of the requirements was to have a bird carved on the front of the planner cover I have found in my limited carving experience that it works better on thicker leather as I want the pair to match I selected some 2 mm shoulder.

After rough cutting the outside pieces I started to think about the inside which is baby pink nappa leather.

After cutting the backing piece I made a long strip of leather to form the pockets the design requires each pocket to hold four pens and the final one told hold a pair of spectacles.

Over the next few hours I formed pockets and sewed them in place eventually ending up with this. four pockets and a flap which needs to be as thin as possible to allow the wrap to roll.

Now the inside was well on the way I needed to look at the outside the fastening method chosen was a leather thong which needed to be attached to the outer shell.

When I cut the outer piece to size I left a tab on one end into which I cut a grove to accommodate the thong. I also cut another shaped piece from an off cut of the same leather which I thinned down to a third of its original thickness tapering to the rear where it would join the main body.

The pieces glued together, before gluing I marked stitching holes down the centre of the thong when I glued the thong to the front I transferred the stitching holes to the front piece with an awl. After fitting the rear piece I pushed the awl through from the front to transfer those holes to the rear piece too. I then rounded off the corners and used a stitch grove tool to make a grove for the stitches all around the wrap and planner cover which I had also cut to size.

Both pieces are from the same hide and in order to get as good a match as possible whatever I do to one outer I must do to the other. the planner cover needs to be soaked and sealed in plastic over night to prepare it for carving this allows the water level in the leather to even out.

This is my practice carving piece The picture is printed out on plain paper and transferred to the surface of the leather with a moulding tool a special knife is then used to carve the design into the surface of the leather more of that later

Now the practice piece was done I to started preparing the two pieces by cutting them to the correct size rounding the corners and the edges.

The final stages to prepare the leather for carving is to soak the pieces in cold water for a few hours and then wrap it in plastic sheet and leave it to rest overnight. This allows the water in the leather to even out. Leather workers call this process casing it allows the swivel knife to cut the leather and seal the edges in one pass.

Here are the two pieces ready for carving the pen wrap is on the top with the Hobonichi cover below

Here is the finished carving on the planner cover

And the pen wrap

The next step is the dying process

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