What is full-grain leather? A cow's skin is about 2cm thick. The tannery can split a hide as many as four times, but all splits are not equal. The "grain" is the top/skin side of the hide and is the best and strongest part of the hide. Full-grain leather is the very top split that has not been sanded or resurfaced to hide or remove color variation, scars or blemishes. These marks are signs of the cow’s life and, as far as I’m concerned, not real imperfections, because they add character to a bag. But in my opinion the character of your bag must mostly come from the way it is living by your side, getting this nice patina that only time and life can create.

We then sourced the metallic parts, which come from France, Italy, or Germany. They are conceived to resist the daily use for years:

The lining is a high quality fabric (called suede), which matches the color of the bag. Moreover, an inside pocket will allow you to quickly find your flat documents (ID, credit card, parking ticket...).

1. THE CONCEPTION

Above all, you must know what type of item you want to create, and draw a model to represent it clearly. From this model, you will need to define your “master layer"; that is to say, the dimensions of each part of your design: height, width, length, depth, degree curves, etc. This will allow you to create a pattern of the product, for each part of it, inside and outside, to then realize your ‘templates". A template is a piece of cardboard cut to the shape of the part of your product pattern that you will use in order to perfectly cut your leather, or another textile.

2. THE CUTTING

After scoring the back of your leather, grab a thick ruler and a very sharp knife (be careful!). Cut along the lines you drew on the leather for the different parts of your design, ready to be assembled.

4. THE FINISHING

For "slices" (edges of the article when mounted together) the best possible, we opted for a tinted-threaded finish followed by a fixing layer to the natural beeswax and a "polishing dropoff window.

When your two sides are mounted, the edges are not necessarily "clean", that is to say that there may be a "stuffed", small leather surpluses that does not necessarily make it smooth. To have a clean edge, it must be burned with a hot iron (professional tool) or a lighter for the less equipped. Once burned (not black! Just to remove lint), the slice will be tinged with a "teintranche" dyeing with natural colored fixing agents. After a first layer, it will grind the wafer rounded to smooth and prepare the second layer. This process can be repeated several times, there will be more of the layers, the less will be seen the separation line between the two parts of leather which were previously stitched.

For "slices" (edges of the article when mounted together) the best possible, we opted for a tinted-threaded finish followed by a fixing layer to the natural beeswax and a "polishing dropoff window.

When your two sides are mounted, the edges are not necessarily "clean", that is to say that there may be a "stuffed", small leather surpluses that does not necessarily make it smooth. To have a clean edge, it must be burned with a hot iron (professional tool) or a lighter for the less equipped. Once burned (not black! Just to remove lint), the slice will be tinged with a "teintranche" dyeing with natural colored fixing agents. After a first layer, it will grind the wafer rounded to smooth and prepare the second layer. This process can be repeated several times, there will be more of the layers, the less will be seen the separation line between the two parts of leather which were previously stitched.

Next comes the phase of "threading" a costly in terms of time that brings extra elegance to your creation by creating a "net" (marker line) along the edges. This operation is performed from an "iron threading" (photos below), screwed to a "handle leather goods" cork, and electrically heated. At the time, this tool was made of a wooden handle and warming on a gas flame, making complex obtaining the right temperature of the iron to have a beautiful fillet without burning leather.

This is costly for long and careful, it is usually reserved for large luxury brands. You will be careful next time you see a luxury accessory! We have opted to confine this operation closures tabs that you see on the clasps "tucks" because this is particularly seen but on all edges and provides a real plus aesthetics.

Once your tinted and threaded sections, you still need smooth, with a "flat iron" (metal point at the center of the photo). Once heated, iron will allow you, for small rounded from the outside to the inside, to reduce the excess dye, and then smooth the edge to remove the line that previously appeared between the two leather quilted franc edges .dropoff window Finally, and with that same iron, you can leave the wax solid bee you melt it by pushing the hot iron, an operation that will set the stain and make the brilliant slice.

The last step is the "polishing", taking a soft lint-free, you will rub the slices to aid penetration beeswax and make them shine!