We have a stick-purse update!

I've been fairly inactive on the leatherworking front since the holidays, mainly because we were getting ready for a vacation to Mexico. Now that we're back I'll have to get back into the swing of things.

Oddly enough, while we were away I received the long-awaited e-mail from the Curator at the Fries Museum with the details I was looking for about their stick-purse! YAY!

Turns out they are busily prepping a bunch of new exhibits for the fall, including one that will show the stick-purse, which is why my e-mail got lost in the shuffle.

They weren't able to answer all of my questions about the construction of the purse but did send me a fact sheet that has all of the dimensions in it (stick length, pouch length, pouch diameter etc.), which was really the critical piece of info I was looking for.

I'm still struggling with the design of the pouches. I know Mistress Elizabeth chose to go with the other design that is shown in Purses in Pieces, which is a typical square/rectangular pouch similar to ones I've made in the past. The one at the Fries is a very different shape, and not one I've seen before in any of my patterns. The pictures just don't show me the detail I need to determine if there's a seam in the pouch, or whether it's a solid piece of leather.

If there's a seam at the back, there would also have to be a separate bottom piece that would be sewn on. I see no evidence of either in the pictures I have, which is why I'm leaning away from that design (although I did find a really nice reproduction of the pouch using that approach from NP Historical Shoes - see the bottom of the page at http://www.np-historicalshoes.com/vyrobky.php?lang=en&ktg=10).

If that's not the way it's made, then my thought is that it's basically a large circle pouch with a draw-string. It would be much simpler to make, and is certainly a period design documented in Purses in Pieces. (I'm thinking something along these lines, but much taller).

I may have to play with that design next and see if it would work.

New Pouch Design - With Pictures

As mentioned in my previous post, we spent a good chunk of our time-off for the holidays planning and working on SCA stuff in the basement.

I like the way Avelyn put my work into perspective. I spent a good part of the week discovering many ways not to make leather dyes. After all, it's period to bodge things together and use trial and error to figure out what works and what doesn't...right? :)

Rather than continue to beat my head against that wall, I decided a change my plan of attack and work on something else for a while.

Since I still haven't heard from the museum about my stick purse, I'm going to work off the artwork I have and some of the information in Purses in Pieces to come up with a pouch design that will work. I can adjust the measurements etc. once I know the specifics.

The pictures below show my first attempt at a mock up, using some leather bits I had lying around.

The little flap over the pouch is seen in some of the artwork and one of the two extant examples has them. For example, here's some artwork from the 1500's showing a stick-purse with coloured flaps: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marinus_van_Reymerswale_-_The_Banker_and_His_Wife_-_WGA19323.jpg

It's often round, but I gave it a bit of a different shape, just for fun. The little toggle on the top is what keeps the flap down, and is just made from a piece of leather rolled in on itself and attached to the pouch.

The pouch itself has a slightly wider mouth than the base, which is a pouch shape that was seen in period (according to the drawings in Purses in Pieces).

The idea would be that about four of these pouches would be attached to the central stick, and I would have little pouchlets on the front of each pouch for additional coins.

Once I figure out any fine-tuning, I may do another version with veg tan that's closer to the weight of the goatskin I bought for the project. I can use some modern dyes and mix up some appropriate colours so I can get a sense of what it will look like too.

Blue Leather Dye - Attempt Number Two

Since my powdered gum arabic came in before the holidays, I decided to make another attempt at the blue dye this week while I was off work.

I followed the same process as previous, boiling down the indigo and then adding the gum arabic before letting it cool and letting the pigment settle.

Unfortunately, much like my first attempt, it just won't stick to the leather. It just wipes right off the surface at even the slightest hint of moisture.

At this point I think my original suspicion may be correct, and this recipe may just not be workable. The water is clearly taking on the blue colour but I just can't get it to transfer that colour to the leather itself or bind to the leather at all.

I'm thinking it has something to do with the leather itself. Maybe the process used to tan the leather in period introduced something that would allow the dye to sink in or stick. Short of using one of the tanning recipes in the Plithco (which just isn't practical for me), I think I'll have to write it off for now. Which is a shame, because all of the other blue recipes use heavier chemicals, which I don't want to deal with until I can setup outside in the spring.

I've also started the process of getting a green and a red dye going. Not sure how well they'll work either. The instructions for the red are rather confusing so I'll probably have to try a couple of times before I figure it out. The green is also a bit of a concern because all of the recipes use fresh buckthorn berries and the ones I have are dried.

Guess there's more trial and error to come.

Another Leather Dye Update

The elves did another fabulous job for me. My order of dying materials from New York came in yesterday, just in time for Christmas. Guess what I'll be doing over the holidays. :)

I'd ordered my powdered gum arabic, along with my ripe buckthorn berries (which are for making a green dye).

Shipping from New York City was about $12, which isn't too bad. And it didn't get held up very much at all at the border. The payment went through on my credit card on the 12th and it had arrived by the 19th.

This is all good news because this is the only supplier I've found that carries the ripe buckthorn berries.

With the gum arabic in hand, I'll also be able to do another attempt at making my blue dye, and see if it works better this time. Fingers crossed.

Update on Blue Leather Dye

I've searched the city for powdered gum arabic with no success, so I ended up ordering it from a US pigment distributor along with my ripe buckthorn berries. Hopefully they won't take too long to get here. I could have probably gotten it from another more local company (I did find an online store near Toronto that carried it), but since I needed my buckthorn berries anyway I figured I may as well tack on the gum arabic at the same time.

In the meantime, I got impatient and did a bit of an experiment using the liquid stuff from Michael's.

The challenge with using the liquid is there's no indication of the concentration. Is it mixed at a 2:1 ratio? 3:1 ratio? More? So, when my recipe calls for an ounce of gum arabic, I really have no way of knowing how much of the liquid to use. I ended up just eye-balling it, which is always a good way to go with chemistry. :)

I boiled down the indigo dye as instructed, then added my gum arabic. I then let it settle overnight so the indigo sediment settled. To get a decent coating without too much natural colour showing through I needed to do at least three layers, but I suspect that would vary by batch.

The colour is very much a blue, but when I apply it to the leather it gets very dark. You can see the blue tinge but it really depends on the light. In some light it looks like a dark grey or even black.

It also didn't bind at all to the leather. I was able to use a damp paper towel and almost completely wipe the colour off the leather, after it had dried. I was worried this might be a problem with this recipe, since every other recipe using indigo I've seen requires a strong chemical like lye to break down the indigo. It could also be because I used the liquid gum arabic, maybe it wasn't strong enough. From what I've read, the gum arabic is supposed to act like a glue and help bind the colour to the surface, so its certainly possible. I'll have to try again when I get the gum arabic powder.

Even if the next batch binds better to the leather, I'm not entirely sure I like the colour. It's just not "blue" enough in my books. There are a number of other recipes in the book for blue, including one that calls it "light blue", so I may need to keep experimenting.

Me waiting for the watched pot of indigo to boil

This is the finished dye. You can see the blue on the glass is pretty nice.

In the light of the flash the dye looks black-ish but in normal light it is a dark blue.

Special Delivery - Dyeing Supplies

I got home from work yesterday (Monday) and discovered that the elves had been by early and delivered my shipment of leather dye materials. This was exciting as it wasn't scheduled to be delivered until Wednesday.

I had ordered a small sampling of some of the materials I need from a company in Vancouver, in the hopes that they would be good. That way I don't have to deal with currency exchanges and getting the stuff across the border.

As a start, I ordered some indigo (blues), some brazilwood (red) and some green buckthorn berry extract (yellow). The only key ingredient they were missing was ripe buckthorn berries, which make a green colour. I'll have to order that from the US.

Here's a pic of what came in:

I'm super impressed actually. Not only did it arrive early, but it came with printed copies of their instructions on how to use the materials (at least, how to use them for fabric dyeing). I think I'll be using them again!

So last night, while Avelyn was doing some sewing, I went down and started translating my recipes into usable instructions. I've got the indigo recipe ready to go, since that is my next project.

But, I couldn't resist doing a quick experiment with the brazilwood, just to see how the colour would turn out. I mixed a small amount of the brazilwood dust with some water, which is the first step in my recipes anyway. If the leather gets a colour anything like the colour in the water, I'll be really happy. Here's a pic:

Brewing a bit of a brazilwood extract.

Before I can do my indigo dye, I need to track down some gum arabic powder. All I can find at the art stores locally is pre-dissolved liquids used for mixing with paints. I've tried the local bulk stores and most of the natural foods places, so my next try will be at the Middle Eastern grocery store. If not, I'll have to order some and get it shipped, which will delay things a bit.

I'm also having problems translating some of the terminology in the book. I know what "lime" is, but I can't find a definition of "live lime". Same thing with lye, what's "sweet lye" and how is it different from just plain old "lye"? And of course, I still need to figure out the eternal question of how long is a Paternoster as a measurement of time.

Oh well, guess there's still more to learn! :)

**** On an unrelated note, we also ordered a silk painting starter set from the same store as my dye materials, so we can start working on banners etc. over the holidays.

Next Agenda Item - Blue Dye

Now that I have a lovely period yellow leather dye that I can use, my next project (maybe over the holidays) is to experiment in figuring out a blue dye. Since our Canton colours are yellow and blue, they'll be important colours for me to figure out.

I have what looks to be a fairly easy recipe for a blue dye, but its a bit odd. Most of the other recipes that use indigo call for lye to be used. That's even the case with fabric dyes and more modern web resources I've found.

I'd prefer to avoid using lye, at least during the winter when I can't go outside or in the garage to have better ventilation.

This recipe doesn't use anything like that, it basically just has indigo, water and gum arabic. That makes me sceptical, but I figure its worth a try.

I know I can get gum arabic at Michaels, and I've ordered some powdered indigo, which should be arriving this week (I've also ordered some green buckthorn berry powder that I can use to try another yellow recipe - why not since I was placing an order anyway).

If the blue works out OK, I'll probably use the blue and yellow for my stick purse. That way we can test it out at a Canton event and it will be colour coordinated.