Black and red pen case

I do like black and red as a pair of colours so I am always pleased to receive an order for one.

The material that makes my cases strong is a thermo plastic used in aircraft interiors.

The kydex comes to me as flat sheets which I cut to the required size.

Once I have the required size I heat the kydex and form it around wood dowels using a scrap piece of leather to help get the shape.

Now I have the tube I glue the seam and sand it.

After sanding I cut a length of red suede and sewed up one end around a piece of dowel after that I applied some glue and used the dowel to insert the suede into the kydex tube.

The whole tube is wrapped in suede inside and out only 5 mm will be seen so it is not essential to cover the outer part of the tube , however if the suede is cut short when the outer leather is wet formed around the tube the end of the suede will show through.

Now the Kydex tube is wrapped in suede I can start on the outer cover.

I have wrapped the suede covered tube to protect it from the dye the next step was to cut some leather and start shaping it to the shape of the tube.

After shaping it is time to apply some dye this is the first coat I like to apply three coats.

There will be about 5 mm of the kydex tube showing when the case is complete.

The lower section is drying outside while the top section is sitting in a plastic bag waiting to be shaped around the bottom piece one it is finished.

Shrink wrap is off and the glue is applied this is contact cement and is a one hit glue if it does not go together right first time then it is time to start again. when it works this is what you get.

Then it is time to mark out the stitching holes using a pricking iron and a hammer.

Holes need thread and needles.

Once the bottom section had been sewn together I was able to trim it to size and take the top section from its plastic bag and form it around the bottom section. When I was happy I added the contact cement and placed it carefully around the bottom piece.

I am about to sew the top piece after which I will trim it to size then a few more steps and it will be finished.

Will I ever learn to keep my mouth shut. All was going well until I started dying the edges and managed to get some dye onto the stitching.

To be honest no one but me may have spotted it but I knew it was there and so I cut out the stitching and stitched it again.

My next step is to start finishing the edges this can take hours.

I trimmed, sanded and sanded some more then wet the edges and rubbed them over with a slicking tool until they were smooth. Then I dyed them and finally applied pure beeswax and rubbed with the slicking tool again and then a final polish.

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