Nobelese Largesse Swap #9: Heraldry!

I recently learned about the Nobelese Largesse group on Facebook and joined right away--I love A&S swaps! I was sad to see that I had *just* missed my opportunity to get in on Swap #9, which had a heraldry theme. So I emailed the coordinator and volunteered as a "Swap Angel" in case any of the participants dropped out. Lo and behold, one did and I got a spot!

My recipient is the Honorable Lady Fina MacGrioghair from An Tir. Browsing through her responses to the questionnaire for the swap, I took note of her arms, An Tir's arms, and her awards. I intended to make her a black jack, and was confident I could do a visually-pleasing design with those elements.

Design: Fina's arms on the An Tir background.

I needed a good pattern for the shape of the mug--the one I contrived for Two Bears' project left a lot to be desired. I began by measuring various aspects of my own completed mug (diameter at the top and bottom, height, dimensions of the handle). The dimensions were larger than my graph paper, so I sketched a scaled-down version (1cm of actual measurement = 1 square on the graph paper). This scaled-down version was tiny. I didn't have any larger paper handy, but then I remembered that I had a roll of parchment paper for baking! This actually worked very well, as it is semi-transparent and therefore easy to trace patterns. It also repels water, so it was less inclined to tear when I traced it onto the wet leather.

My own mug is *huge* (it holds two full bottles of beer with room to spare), so I calculated the measurements for Fina's mug at 3/4 the measurements of mine. I traced the outline of the mug onto a side of vegetable-tanned leather with a ball-point stylus tool, then cut it from the side with an Xacto knife.

It was going to be smaller than I anticipated. I could tell that as soon as I had it cut out. Still, smaller was what I was going for, and it looked like it would still hold a can of soda with room to spare, so I wasn't overly concerned.

Tooling in progress.

Next I began the tooling. I don't know *why* I thought that the checky background of the An Tir device was a good idea. Talk about tedious tooling! And hard to get it straight and even, too. For Fina's device, I tooled only around the edges of the shield to give it a raised effect. I knew the detail work of the dragon in particular would be too fine for my abilities and tools, and so I reluctantly decided to render it in paint only.

Maker's mark.

On the bottom piece, I tooled in my maker's mark--a stylized shamrock.

With the tooling done, I sanded down the edges a bit with coarse sandpaper to even out some of the glaring imperfections of my unsteady Xacto knife. Then I prepared to drill the lacing holes, only to discover that my drill bits had all gone missing! A trip to the nearby Home Depot remedied that problem, and I set to it with my Dremel tool while King Arthur played on my television in the background.

I began with the double row of holes at the bottom of the mug. Then I had a decision to make: would I do a single seam through the handle, or a double? My own mug is a double, but the handle is considerably wider than on this smaller mug. In the end, I opted for the single seam, and I cut and sanded the handle to a thinner width so that the single seam would sufficiently hold it.

Handle sewn.

Then came the sewing. On my bottell project, I had used a 3/32-gauge bit, and while it was easy to sew it allowed some of the Envirotex to seep out through the stitching holes. For this project, I opted for 1/16-gauge. This proved very tedious for sewing, and I wound up using one of my hand tools to widen the holes anyway. In the future, I will stick with 3/32!

Sand-packed.

Once the jack was stitched together, I soaked it thoroughly in water and sand-packed it to obtain an even, round shape that's just slightly wider in the "hips" than at the neck. I set it aside to dry for three full days.

On the fourth day, I poured out the sand and painted the device. I used acrylic paints in red, white, blue and black. That dragon was an exercise in patience! I'm pleased with how it came out, though.

After the paint had completely dried, I set my oven to 200 degrees and placed the mug inside for a few minutes to warm the leather. Then I covered the exterior of the mug with wax--melted in a crock pot--using a pastry brush. I applied an extra-thick coat of wax along all the seams in an effort to keep the Envirotex sealant from seeping out.

Sealed inside.

Once the wax cooled, I took a paper towel tube and knocked out as much of the sand clinging to the inside as I could. Then I carefully measured and mixed the Envirotex and poured it into the mug. I coated the inside completely by tilting and turning the jack and allowing the sealant to flow over the leather. My precautions with the extra wax paid off in all instances except at the very bottom where the handle meets the base--the sealant dripped freely from there. Trying to stem the flow, I found a tiny piece of scrap leather on my worktable and jammed it into the opening. That seemed to work. In the future, I want to try letting the mug cool off and then applying extra wax in this trouble spot. With the mug cooler, the wax will harden faster and that should make it easier to cover the opening.

Twenty-four hours later, I sanded down the extremely rough inside of the mug and completed the second coat of Envirotex. Twenty-four hours later, I did the same for the third coat.

Finished, side view.

After the third coat had hardened, I noticed that the section where the cup joins the handle wasn't smooth and glossy inside. It was rough and sharp. I decided to try one more smaller pour, keeping the mug horizontal instead of vertical as it dried, in an effort to seal over the roughness. I had never done something like this before, so it was a bit nerve-wracking. In particular, I was worried that the sealant would run down the top of the handle (darn you, gravity!!!) while it was sitting to dry. In an effort to prevent this, I added an extra, thick coat of wax to act as a sort of dam.

Finished, front view.

When that had dried, the handle seam was much smoother inside. I decided the time had come to melt off the excess wax and perform the final touch-ups. I put the mug in a disposable tin tray in my oven, heated once again to 200 degrees. Once the wax began to liquefy and drip off, I took the mug out and wiped the excess wax from its surface with an old work shirt. Getting it out of all those nooks and crannies in the checkered background was tedious!

This mug holds fourteen ounces (for comparison, my mug holds thirty four). Just enough room for a can of soda! It's crazy to me that a 25% reduction in dimensions resulted in a 60% drop in capacity! I wonder if I miscalculated something somewhere along the way...

I mailed this mug out to Lady Fina on May first, and anxiously awaited news of its arrival. As it drew near the end of May with no word, I contacted the swap coordinator to inquire. She informed me that she had not received notice that it was received, and that she would ask (we aren't supposed to have direct contact with our recipients ourselves; all communication is supposed to go through the coordinator). In the meantime, I tracked down the receipt from the post office and checked the tracking number, which indicated that the package was delivered on May 4th. I began to fear that someone had stolen it out of her mailbox or off her porch.

A few short days later, though, my fears were assuaged: I heard back from the swap coordinator, who said that Fina had returned from traveling and received her package this past weekend! Hoooooooray!!!