Middle Earth Ranger Forum

I've been working on a project for a few weeks, and I wanted to finally post the end result here! It's been difficult keeping it under wraps, but I didn't want to post anything until it was 100% finished.

In any case, here it is! I just completed it today by adding the strap and buckle. It's made from a beautiful veg-tanned milled leather from Tandy which I hand dyed with Eco-Flo antique gel. I used a mixture of the antique black and the mahogany, which yielded a slightly uneven color and tone (and if you look closely, you'll see in a couple pictures where I accidentally left a glob of it sit on the front flap a little too long, creating a couple small, dark spots, but I figure it just adds character). I then hand-stitched the entire thing with waxed linen thread. It has two outer pockets set into the side gussets, which were originally designed to hold my camera and cell phone. While they are large enough for my camera, my phone alas is slightly too large. Still, I'm sure I'll find a use for them. I'm proud of those too, because I made the leather toggles myself, which is something I've always wanted to try, but never knew how until a few members here showed me some basic tutorials, so thanks for that, guys! Just underneath the main flap it also has two secondary compartments, created by sewing a single rectangle of leather onto the face of the pouch, and then sewing that down the center (I figure this is probably where I'll keep my phone and other modern sundries). The main closure is based on the Birka Viking pouch, and I even created a sort of face-plate with a heavier piece of leather, onto which I used a wood-burner to create some simple designs. This face-plate also serves to stiffen the front flap so it's more secure when closed (if it bends too much, the vertical strap that holds everything in place cal slip out a little too easily).

Anyway, I think that's pretty much it! I can't wait to try this sucker out - maybe even in the next few days, if all goes well. The idea is to help me disperse my gear a little better, so I don't have to pack it all in my bedroll and/or a million belt pouches.

Oh very nice!

I especially like your choice of ornamentation, son of Numenor!

WOW, that looks great! I especially like the closure "plate" - little details like that take objects from "costume" to "gear", in my mind.

If you decide you do want to put your phone in a side pocket, you could probably stretch the leather a little bit to accommodate it. Just wet the leather and stick a phone-sized piece of wood or something into the pocket. It may take off a little bit of the dye, though, and it seems like you've got a backup plan for phone storage anyway.

Those little side pockets are genius...keep a few important things a little closer to hand than burying everything inside.

Very nicely done...and thanks for jump-starting the forum!

Thanks guys!

Elleth - it's funny you mention it, because the design motif on the front plate was actually inspired by one of these:



However, as I was making it, I realized that it also has a distinctly four-pointed-star shape to it, and the embellishments I burned into it are absolutely reminiscent of the Numenorean designs you were posting about recently, so in the end I feel it works on a whole bunch of levels. And Taurinor, thanks for that! I agree - the bag probably would have worked fine without that piece, but I feel like that brought it up to a different level, and I'm proud of it.

And Greg, as for the side pouches, yep that was definitely the idea. I was looking at Ursus' haversack and thinking about how it was nice that he had an exterior pouch that wasn't covered by the main flap, but I wanted something with a more uniform, symmetrical look. Actually, the way I ended up doing the side pouches was based heavily on Bilbo's backpack from the Hobbit films. I took inspiration from the Hobbit art book I have, as well as a couple peoples' reproductions I found online. His side-pouches are more of a sort of late-medieval drawstring style, but the general use is the same.

Oh cool! I could have sworn that engraving on each corner came from this piece of the Professor's:
What a happy accident! Your work definitely feels at home in the setting - I wonder what Professor T would say to see it?

Very, very nice, love that clasp! Well done, Ranger!

Ken

Very nice looking piece

Thanks again, guys!

Ken - the strap-clasp setup I've used here has definitely become my favorite closure system for bags of all sizes. It's extremely secure, incredibly quick and easy to open and close, and it doesn't involve any flashy buttons, buckles, etc. I use it on practically everything these days, heh.

Elleth wrote:Oh cool! I could have sworn that engraving on each corner came from this piece of the Professor's:

jrr-numenor-ornament.jpg

What a happy accident! Your work definitely feels at home in the setting - I wonder what Professor T would say to see it?

This is crazy - I honestly had NO IDEA I was replicating that design so closely when I did it. I knew it was reminiscent of those motifs at the time, of course, but I was completely unaware of how exact a likeness it was. Funny ol' world, innit? Quite the serendipitous occurrence. I must have had it somewhere in my subconscious.

Lovely work! Has it been on the trail yet? So much awesome stuff has been posted lately and a crazy work/life schedule has kept me away from the forum. Looks like I've got a lot of catching up to do.

Thanks for the kind words! Life is demanding, of course, but it's always good to see you back!

I was indeed able to take this out on my trek with Greg a couple weeks ago, and I'll be carrying it this Saturday when I go out as well. Here's a shot of me wearing it on that last hike:

And a BONUS PICTURE! This one was taken mainly to show Elleth's lovely Lasdhir pouch, but also shows a bit of the satchel.

Very well done.