Humakt
16-02-2013, 03:54 PM
I got myself a new pair of binoculars a while ago and today I finally got round to making a leather case for it, as a replacement for the mean nylon and velcro ones they come with nowadays.
In fairness, I rushed it a bit in places, but that's because I wanted it done for tomorrow. Still, it's infinitely better than the thing they came with.
Here's some pictures.
First up, make a kit of parts. I decided to make the pouch in two halves rather than a single container stitched to a back plate, since that would be easier to mould, quick frankly.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8368/8478258333_f0036fbe62.jpg
And here it all is stitched together and trimmed up. I toyed with the idea of some kind of carving or engraving on the lid - that's a nice space to use for decorating. But I'm not that good at carving leather and I didn't want to mare it up. And, to be honest, I prefer simplicity, so I just did some line work. I could have done some kind of Celtic knot but I find that a bit cliched. I may go back and do something at a later date.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8515/8478258371_865b491592.jpg
And here it is all done.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8102/8478258641_5da8652786.jpg
And here's a picture so you can see what I mean by doing it in two halves.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8231/8479348878_7050c3e380.jpg
It's not perfect. I was mainly annoyed at getting an uneven coating to the dye. That is entirely my fault for being lazy - I didn't have a big enough brush and rather than go and buy one I thought I'd just use a smaller one.
Regardless of that, it is still better than what it came in and hangs nicely from a belt. A day out looking at wildlife tomorrow!
In fairness, I rushed it a bit in places, but that's because I wanted it done for tomorrow. Still, it's infinitely better than the thing they came with.
Here's some pictures.
First up, make a kit of parts. I decided to make the pouch in two halves rather than a single container stitched to a back plate, since that would be easier to mould, quick frankly.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8368/8478258333_f0036fbe62.jpg
And here it all is stitched together and trimmed up. I toyed with the idea of some kind of carving or engraving on the lid - that's a nice space to use for decorating. But I'm not that good at carving leather and I didn't want to mare it up. And, to be honest, I prefer simplicity, so I just did some line work. I could have done some kind of Celtic knot but I find that a bit cliched. I may go back and do something at a later date.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8515/8478258371_865b491592.jpg
And here it is all done.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8102/8478258641_5da8652786.jpg
And here's a picture so you can see what I mean by doing it in two halves.
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8231/8479348878_7050c3e380.jpg
It's not perfect. I was mainly annoyed at getting an uneven coating to the dye. That is entirely my fault for being lazy - I didn't have a big enough brush and rather than go and buy one I thought I'd just use a smaller one.
Regardless of that, it is still better than what it came in and hangs nicely from a belt. A day out looking at wildlife tomorrow!