Leather Purse Pyrography, Greenman Face, Project
Also visit, Leather Purse Pyrography Double-Needle Stitching
Play, practice, experiment, and create … that is our goal!
If I have not been working on a particular craft for a while or have not worked with a certain media, I always start with a practice board.
A practice board can be any scrap piece of the same material from which your project will be made – a small piece of birch plywood, a small gourd for a larger gourd bird house, or even little bits of vegetable-dyed leather that can be turned into earrings.
When Dover Publishing asked me to create the manuscript for the Art of Leather Burning that first thing I wanted to do was a Practice Board – something that I could use to test pen tips, temperature settings, and tonal values.
But I also needed something that I could practice the leather cutting, stitching patterns, and the different weights of leather scrap – basic leather project construction techniques.
How could I bring both pyrography and leather techniques into one project to experiment with what I needed to do, needed to teach, and how I could teach the steps in as easy and clear a manner as possible?
My answer – the Greenman Slop Bag!
Civil War re-enactors often call this type of bag a tack bag, used to carry the wad and power for their muskets. For us it will be a fun, anything goes, shoulder strap bag, created from the scrap bundles you can purchase through leather suppliers.
Our goal, first and foremost, is to have some fun! Since this is a slop bag you do not need to be careful, precise, or pristine with your work.
Experiment by mixing different weights and textures of leather into the project. Try a variety of stitching patterns as you lace the pockets and sides to the purse.
Use this project to practice with how rivets, snaps, and brads are added to your leather work.
Get out all of your pyrography pen tips and do small test burning samples on different areas of the purse. This is a perfect time to set aside “doing it right!” Instead, just have “fun doing it!”
The Art of Leather Burning by Lora Irish
This project will focus on the pyrography steps in creating your own Greenman Slop Bag.
Please refer to the Art of Leather Burning for in-depth steps to the basics to leather crafting and for more detailed instructions in leather pyrography.
Please click on any image in this project for larger photos.