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OakIris
July 1st, 2013, 09:09 AM
At the beginning of this month, Michael (my63) sent me a wonderful pen storage box that he had modified for me from an art supply box. Some details about that box can be found in this thread: Boxes repurposed for pen storage (http://fpgeeks.com/forum/showthread.php/2216-Boxes-(not-cigar-boxes)-repurposed-for-pen-ink-paraphernalia-storage) Along with the box he sent me a nice piece of brown leather; he said he had planned to make me a pen wrap as a surprise, but ran out of time, so sent me the leather anyway, thinking I might enjoy making one for myself. This seemed like a great idea, so I started gathering some materials for it, cut out the leather, and then hesitated for a bit, intimidated by the thought of sewing the leather. Sewing - as you will see from the photos - is not my forte and not something I am at all good at.

The weekend before last I finally decided it was time and got to it. I found that I did in fact enjoy the work and I actually had fun, even with the sewing. I can barely sew on a button, but found making something simple out of leather, even though it involves sewing, was not painful or frustrating at all.

Here is a walk through in photos of my project:

First the leather - nice thick brown leather from Michael and rust/burnt orange colored pigskin suede from my local Tandy Leather shop. The brown leather is for the exterior, protective cover and the suede is for the interior pen slots.

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Tools used - two stitching needles with waxed thread for the saddle stitching I used throughout the project, plus a hole punch to make the holes in the leather so that it could be stitched. I used a plastic headed mallet with the diamond hole punch to make the holes. After my first row of holes was done and sewed, I decided I had been a bit too tentative with the use of the punch, so used the punch (or should I say the mallet...) more aggressively with the next rows and found that the holes were cleaner and the sewing was much easier.

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I used an awl and a paint stir stick to make the lines in the leather so that I could have a guide line for the hole punch; somehow my lines did not end up as parallel as I had planned and the stitching is crooked, but other than that it worked pretty well. :p

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While I was designing the pen wrap, I had originally planned to make the slots about 5 inches deep, but I discovered that the clips on my pens did not slide easily over the suede - it was too thick or maybe the fibers were too "catchy" - so I shortened the slots so that the pens would slide into the slot and leave enough of their caps exposed so that the pens could be easily grasped and pulled from their slots.

Here is a photo of the interior pen slot piece, all slots sewn and top flap closed:

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Photo of my Lamy 2000 in one of the slots:

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I decided to sew the interior pen slot piece to the exterior leather instead of gluing it; it seemed to me that this would make it more secure as well as allowing "wiggle" room for the pens in the slots, if you know what I mean. I sewed it to the exterior piece of leather with two rows of saddle stitching; it looked nice, to me, and also added a nice pattern to the exterior of the pen wrap.

One row sewed, the other "hole punched" and ready for sewing:

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Sewing completed, and my sewing "ability" on display :redface: :

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Exterior of pen wrap showing the thread rows from attaching the interior suede piece; I like the contrast:
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FP Geeks will not allow me to attach any more photos in one post so I will continue this in the next post.

Holly

OakIris
July 1st, 2013, 09:51 AM
Hopefully I will be able to finish this with just one more post. :)

I used round leather cord, brass crimp beads, some nice ceramic beads I had on hand, and a pen nib charm for the strap configuration. Here is a photo of the grommet I installed for the strap and a look at the pen nib charm:

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Here is the end of the strap, showing beads and charm; the colors are a bit washed out due to the lighting:

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Here is the grommet end of the strap - sorry about the rather blurry picture (another instance where my lack of photography skills is apparent.) When I was getting the materials together for my pen wrap, I only had a vague idea of how I was going to make the strap for the wrap. Once I got to the point of actually making the strap, I discovered that I needed a bead with a hole that would fit 6 strands of 2mm leather cord so that I could secure the 3-cord strap to it and the only one I had that would work, though it is a nice glass bead, is way too long so I will replace this with something more appropriate when I get it, but this is what it looks like right now.

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Pens in place:

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All rolled up and ready to travel:

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So, that is how I spent my third weekend in June.

I want to thank Michael for the leather he gave to me and for the continued inspiration I get from reading his posts about his various projects, from making or modifying boxes for pen storage to making pen wraps and restoring writing slopes. Making the pen wrap was another fun project for me that probably wouldn't have happened without his encouragement and his surprise gift of leather.

Holly

KrazyIvan
July 1st, 2013, 09:58 AM
It turned out very nice!

cwent2
July 1st, 2013, 10:34 AM
Very nice Holly, and the sewing came out fine, I love the pen charm. Do you have a source of supply for the pen charm?

Carl

MY63
July 1st, 2013, 11:26 AM
Thanks for the kind words Holly, :redface:
Maybe it is time that I made another one although I am knee deep in boxes at the moment.
It is a fantastic wrap and I hope your pens are very happy in it.
Regards
Michael

Nomdeplume
July 1st, 2013, 01:50 PM
That's gorgeous, Holly!
Looking forward to seeing it at next Posse!

reprieve
July 1st, 2013, 03:13 PM
Very nice! It looks lovely. That pen nib charm is so wonderful!

cedargirl
July 1st, 2013, 09:48 PM
That's fabulous.

earthdawn
July 1st, 2013, 11:26 PM
Wow Holly that was really well done and came out GREAT !!!

Love that pen wrap.

Thanks for sharing the process with us... love the pics to.

OakIris
July 2nd, 2013, 06:55 AM
Thank you everyone for your nice comments. :redface: I posted the mini-tutorial to show everyone how easy it is to make a pen wrap with just a few basic tools and some leather. If I can do it, I think anyone can. Now if only I can find that one last bead that I need.....


That's gorgeous, Holly!
Looking forward to seeing it at next Posse!

I do plan to bring it for "show and tell;" I will probably have it with me for the mini-meet we are having this weekend in Arvada, also - hope you can make it, that would be cool!


Very nice Holly, and the sewing came out fine, I love the pen charm. Do you have a source of supply for the pen charm?

Carl
No, the source is a secret! :p I bought the pen nib charms on Etsy - Montage Supply (http://www.etsy.com/listing/113194435/10-antique-bronze-old-fashioned-fountain?ref=shop_home_active) Quite inexpensive, quick delivery and a packet of 10 - a lifetime supply I imagine, unless you have lots of projects! I am sure there are other sources as well.

I hope everyone enjoyed the tour and I hope some of you are inspired to make your own wraps.

This small project has taught me that the next time I want a nice leather cover for a notebook or journal, I will be making my own. It won't look as finished and pretty as that made by the professionals, but, it won't cost near as much and it will look just fine and it will last a lifetime, too!

Holly

cwent2
July 2nd, 2013, 11:44 AM
:crazy_pilot: Thank you for the pen nib source - I ordered a pkg and will use one on my Traveler's Style notebook.

Carl

OakIris
July 3rd, 2013, 08:59 AM
:crazy_pilot: Thank you for the pen nib source - I ordered a pkg and will use one on my Traveler's Style notebook.

Carl
Very cool! I looked and looked for a fountain pen charm but though I found a few labeled that way, they looked more like ball point pens to me, so this nib charm was the best I could do. :) How do you plan to attach it to the notebook?

Holly

cwent2
July 3rd, 2013, 09:19 AM
:crazy_pilot: Thank you for the pen nib source - I ordered a pkg and will use one on my Traveler's Style notebook.

Carl
Very cool! I looked and looked for a fountain pen charm but though I found a few labeled that way, they looked more like ball point pens to me, so this nib charm was the best I could do. :) How do you plan to attach it to the notebook?

Holly

Depending on it's size and weight either use is as a bookmark dangle or use a keychain type ring and chain and rivet it to the bottom so it will hang like a book mark dangle.

Carl w

enchiridion
July 4th, 2013, 09:21 AM
really gorgeouis!

Nomdeplume
July 4th, 2013, 10:43 AM
This week end? Hadn't heard!
Probably can't be there...family visiting will probably be at Cherry Creek Arts Festival....sure wish some pen makers would enter!

Pens&Lit
July 6th, 2013, 03:00 PM
Thanks for sharing! It turned out wonderfully.

earthdawn
July 6th, 2013, 04:03 PM
:crazy_pilot: Thank you for the pen nib source - I ordered a pkg and will use one on my Traveler's Style notebook.

Carl

Ditto... I just ordered as well..

WOW that was a great little find there !

Thanks again for sharing with us !!!!!! :bump2:

cwent2
July 8th, 2013, 04:15 PM
Just a photo to show where dangle went - pen charm.

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earthdawn
July 12th, 2013, 07:39 PM
Got my bag-O-charms today ... wow they are great.

Not sure what I will do with 10 !!! lol but its good to have them.

Really and awesome find OakIris. Thanks again for sharing with us.

@ cwent2 that looks great !

I am expecting my leather any day now.

sdmason
July 13th, 2013, 11:41 PM
Doh!

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OakIris
August 6th, 2013, 11:24 AM
The charm looks good, cwent, and I'm glad that you were able to get some pen nib charms, too, earthdawn. I don't know what to do with the nine I have left, either, but I am sure I will be able to use them somewhere!

I did replace that big glass bead on the pen strap with one that is a much better fit:

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Size comparison:

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I didn't take a picture of the pen wrap in use with the new spacer bead; hopefully you can use your imagination. :p

Holly

earthdawn
August 6th, 2013, 10:04 PM
Hey Holly that looks GREAT !!

I meant to post a pic of my Journal cover in this thread to show you how I used my charm. I already made another cover for my girlfriend....

http://i880.photobucket.com/albums/ac10/thevaporcafe/3A0C4C1E-508A-4DBB-BC53-1F015DDCA8AC-9661-000002E2F22BD27D_zps8f7f7e30.jpg (http://s880.photobucket.com/user/thevaporcafe/media/3A0C4C1E-508A-4DBB-BC53-1F015DDCA8AC-9661-000002E2F22BD27D_zps8f7f7e30.jpg.html)

Bogon07
August 6th, 2013, 11:34 PM
Earthdawn, neat journal cover and pen nib charm. Nice colour leather. Is it Field Notes size or the longer Traveler's Notebook style ?

earthdawn
August 6th, 2013, 11:42 PM
Earthdawn, neat journal cover and pen nib charm. Nice colour leather. Is it Field Notes size or the longer Traveler's Notebook style ?

B6 size

It was really the size that works best for me.

I made it big enough to hold 3 notebooks without them sticking out...

I have a thread on it here http://fpgeeks.com/forum/showthread.php/3328-Midori-style-notebook-cover-DONE-!

I dont want to highjack Hollys thread lol ... besides I think her pen wrap trumps my cover ;)