My goal for this project was to move further from the modern and closer to the medieval. On past projects, I have used overtly modern tools—such as a Dremel tool—and overtly modern finishings—acrylic paint, EnvirotexLite. This project, then, would be completed using an awl to drill the holes (much as my aching hands would come to regret that decision), no tooled and painted designs, and wax to seal the inside. It was the waxing of the interior that had me most nervous—a completely new technique applied late in the project (being the last step before completion) meant the potential for a lot of work wasted, if I got it wrong and ruined the jack.
I also knew that, because there would be no fancy tooled and painted design to draw the eye, the craftsmanship of the vessel itself would have to be its own adornment. Uneven stitching, nicks in the leather, and rough edges would all stand out all the more on this project.
I began by drawing up a measured blueprint of the body of the mug on a piece of waxed parchment paper. I have discovered this to be superior to regular paper, because the wax helps it repel water when it comes time to trace the pattern onto the wet leather, thereby preventing rips and tears in the pattern. The measurements I used were based on a mug I had previously completed, which was assembled from a pattern provided by Lord Geoffrey de Cardeville during an eight-week workshop he taught in the Barony of Lochmere in 2011.
Once the blueprint was drawn up, I wet down a side of ten-ounce, vegetable-tanned cow leather and traced the pattern into it. Then, using an Xacto knife, I cut the body of the blackjack from the side of leather. Since I did not intend to tool any designs into this project, I moved on immediately to the seams. Using a seam marker and a four-hole punch marker, I marked the seams into the leather. Then, using an awl, I bored the sewing holes. This was a long, miserable process, and made me appreciate our modern tools all the more. When the holes were complete, I stitched the jack together using brown waxed linen thread and two needles.
To sew the bottom into the mug, I bored stitching holes into the bottom piece of leather by matching them up to the already-bored holes in the body. These were done five holes at a time, then stitched before drilling the next five. As I have learned in previous projects, the bottom leather piece stretches and moves as it is sewn, so pre-drilling all the holes does not work out very well—they wind up not lining up correctly with the holes in the body.
Once the bottom was sewn in, I soaked the blackjack in cool water for around five minutes. Then I filled the mug with sand. Using a mallet and a dowel rod, I pounded the sand down in tightly. Then I added more sand, and repeated the process. This stretched the leather and created the mug's uniform, round shape. Once it was thoroughly packed, I set it aside to dry out for four days.When it was dry, I poured the sand out of the mug.
Now came the new and exciting part of the process: the waxing. On my previous projects, I have sealed the outside of my vessels with wax and the inside with a completely modern epoxy called EnvirotexLite. For this project, however, I wanted to take a more period approach, and so I intended to seal the entire jack with wax.
In consulting with other leatherworkers, I learned that the best way to go about this is to heat the leather at two hundred degrees Fahrenheit for several minutes (preheating the leather causes it to absorb the wax better) and then submerge it completely in liquid wax. Then, it should be left submerged until no more air bubbles escape the leather. After it is removed from the wax, it should again be heated to melt away any thick, excess wax on the exterior surfaces.
I ran into a problem almost immediately with this plan, however, because the crockpot I use to melt my wax is entirely too small to fully submerge a project this size. So I improvised. After warming the mug in my oven, I submerged the lower half of it in the crockpot of melted wax. Using a ladle, I then poured wax into it while it was still submerged. Then I used a pastry brush to apply wax to the outside surface of the mug. At no time did I observe any air bubbles using this method, so I had to guesstimate how long it should sit to allow the wax to thoroughly penetrate the leather. I then removed the jack from the crockpot, poured out the wax, and placed it upside-down in a pan in my oven for about fifteen minutes to melt off the excess.
When it came out of the oven, I allowed it to cool briefly—not to room temperature, but enough so that fresh wax applied to it would solidify quickly. Then, using my pastry brush, I carefully applied wax to the interior seams of the blackjack.After that, I allowed the blackjack to cool completely to room temperature. I then filled it with water and set it on a piece of newspaper, keeping an eye out for wet spots that would indicate leaks. Only one such spot appeared—water was escaping through two of the stitching holes in the bottom of the mug. I applied more wax over these holes on the exterior of the mug, and then filled it with water again. This time, no leaks appeared.
This finished mug holds twenty ounces. Because it is sealed with wax, it cannot be used for hot beverages.
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Entered In:
Kingdom Arts and Sciences Festival 2016, Atlantia: Barony of Lochmere's Baronial Display
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| KASF display. (c) Lady Cassair Warwick |
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