Middle Earth Ranger Forum

After finishing my belt, I decided my next project would be a small leather pouch, to store coins and such. In terms of the design, it is a very simple piece, but I still put some thought into it, and opted to draw some inspiration from gondorian buckles to design the curves. I first drew and cut the two patterns, which consist of a circumference for the basic pouch and a rectangle (in my case stylized with the gondorian influence) to add some structure. I have ended up using two kinds of leather, a dark brown lambskin for the circumference and a piece of undyed cowhide for the "rectangle".




After cutting the leather to the appropriate shape, I punched the holes in and used a saddle stitch with some linen thread to sew the two pieces together.



Once the sewing was done, I applied my homemade leather finish to the piece and punched forty holes following the circumference. I then threaded the leather cord and tied a knot at each end.



For both practical and aesthetic reasons, I decided to make a couple of boxwood beads to go on each end of the cord. I made those by first drilling and cutting two pieces off a small boxwood branch, then slowly carving the shape rounder and rounder with a knife, and then sanding it with finer and finer sandpaper. To finish them, I applied a coat of the same mixture of beeswax and olive oil I used on the leather.





I then put the beads on, secured them with a couple of knots, and the pouch was done.





I am really happy with how this little project turned out, can't wait to fill it with Shire Post Mint coins! I hope you found this entertaining or interesting, and thanks for reading!

Very nice. I was wondering what the non round piece was for, nicely done !

Neatly done! Do you plan on tying it off to your belt, or carrying it in another pouch or bag? Also, I understand the aesthetic value of the boxwood beads, but what was the practical reason you mentioned for including them?

Good work, really like the design and simple paturn, I might make one

Peter Remling wrote:Very nice. I was wondering what the non round piece was for, nicely done !

Actually, I forgot to mention it in my first post, but it does not just provide structure, it also makes it much easier to open the pouch, by just grabbing and pulling on the “flaps”.

Taurinor wrote:Neatly done! Do you plan on tying it off to your belt, or carrying it in another pouch or bag? Also, I understand the aesthetic value of the boxwood beads, but what was the practical reason you mentioned for including them?

At first I wanted to make it slightly different, with a leather loop to hang it from a belt, but after thinking about it, I decided to make it as it is now. The plan is to store it in a bigger pouch that would hang from my belt. My reasoning was that being a ranger, money would not be needed that often, so it should not be necessary to have it in a very accessible place.

The boxwood beads, similarly to the “flaps” mentioned before, make it faster to close the pouch. It is easier to grab them than a small knot. These are little details, but they do make a difference.

Iodo wrote:Good work, really like the design and simple paturn, I might make one

Thank you! It is a rather simple but really nice style of pouch.

Oh that's lovely! I quite like the design!

Also, very much agree with your "coin purse goes inside the belt pouch" line of thinking.

Interesting design! Also worth mentioning that boxwood Is mentioned in a Gondorian context, so good choice of materials!

Udwin wrote:Interesting design! Also worth mentioning that boxwood Is mentioned in a Gondorian context, so good choice of materials!

I did not remember that! I just chose boxwood because I had some left from a bigger piece I found in the mountains, and because it’s my favourite kind of wood :)
But now that you mention it, you mean the rangers of Ithilien, right? When they are laying the table, they have boxwood cups and plates, if I remember correctly.

It's also an excellent tonewood with results similar to Ebony. Given that Dol Amroth is somewhat of a center for music...

Nice work!