Index card holder

Whilst trying to help a member of the Fountain pen network with a question about 3 x 5 inch index cards. I started making a mock up from grey board and got a little carried away.

At first I thought I would need tabs to hold the pieces together so I added extra to the cut out.

When it came to adding the bends I decided I did not need the extra pieces so I cut them off.

Now I knew it all went together I took it apart and wrapped it in red suede.

After wrapping in suede I cut some 5mm veg tan shoulder which I had previously dyed black into strips one set to make a front back and bottom panels. the second to make the sides.

I mitred all of the edges to be joined this took a few hours I marked a stitching grove around the sides and marked out the holes with a pricking iron not a punch as I did not want the holes to penetrate the leather. After adding contact adhesive to the edges I brought them together around the grey board liner and start stitching them together.

All stitching finished and ends smoothed and dyed

The desk stand will be a picture frame style where this case just slots in place.

This is white oak marked out ready for cutting since my accident I am not really able to use large power tools so I will be using a mitre box and a Japanese hand saw. this can cause the mitres to be less than perfect.

The mitres came out ok gluing and clamping next.

As you can see the stand works just as I expected

My original plan was to leave the stand without a base but I decided to fit a base after all. You can see that the base does not go right to the edge I wanted to get a floating effect

Like this

Rather than painting or staining I like to treat oak with steel wool dissolved in vinegar it causes a chemical reaction with the tannin in the oak turning it black. I think it looks great.

Although the oak did not go as black as I would have liked I really like the way the grain has come out.

I think it has turned out ok

Thanks for looking

Michael