Flacket Gone Wrong

When I agreed to run the Arts and Sciences competition and display at Lochmere's Nacht in der Stadt event, I intended to make the first- and second-place prizes for the Newcomers' Showcase competition. First place would be a leather flacket.

The project started well enough. I had just received a side of lighter-weight 5-6 oz. leather, and I was excited to use it for the flacket. I found a pattern for the shape of the bottle on instructibles.com. It was a bit too squat for my tastes, but that was easily correctable by stretching the image slightly in Paint before printing it.

After tracing the outline of the flacket onto the side of leather, I quickly discovered that thinner leather doesn't necessarily equate to easier-to-cut leather. Oooof! It was no easier at all.

Once I had wrestled it free from the side of leather, I marked the seams and spaced the stitching holes. Then I drilled the stitching holes all the way around. I had also marked the holes for the carrying strap, but I didn't have a drill bit that large. I decided to go ahead and stitch and sand-pack the bottle, and I'd have Dad drill the bigger holes when I saw him next.

For the first time ever, I didn't break a single needle as I stitched the project together! I count that as a major victory. I also hit a point about half-way through the stitching when I got *super* excited about the finished project--it went from this hypothetical concept in my mind to something I could actually visualize as a complete, usable object! I love that point in projects. It's such a neat feeling.

Once it was stitched, I soaked the leather with water and then packed it with sand, stuffing it as full as I could. Then I wedged an old, dried-out highlighter into the neck to hold it in a perfectly round shape as it dried. I let it sit for three days to dry completely.

After it had dried, I took it over to my parents' house to have Dad drill the big holes. It turns out that waiting was a mistake--even though it wasn't yet wax-hardened, the leather was so stiff from having been soaked and dried that it was very difficult to drill through. The drill actually skidded across the leather a bit on the first hole, an imperfection I hoped would be disguised by the waxing and then further hidden when the carrying strap was attached. Next time I know: do ALL the drilling first.

With the holes finally in place, I took the bottle back home and popped it in a warm oven for about twenty minutes. Then I applied hot beeswax to the exterior surfaces. I immediately noticed that the leather didn't turn a deep, rich brown like the thicker leather has in the past. Still, it did darken somewhat, so I attributed it to the different leather weight and kept working.

When I applied the wax to the back, something very strange happened. Most of it matched the front, but there was a spot roughly the diameter of a quarter where the base of the neck began to widen out into the body that turned MUCH darker. I still haven't figured out why that happened, and it looked really strange. Crossing my fingers, I hoped that it would even out when I melted off the excess wax--maybe the additional absorbing of wax would darken the rest of the flacket a bit?

I poured four coats of EnviroTex Lite inside the bottle, taking great care to spread it evenly over all the surfaces and allowing each coat to dry for twenty four hours. I couldn't see the inside very well, though I did my best by shining a flashlight down the neck. The only way to know for sure would be to melt off the excess wax and then fill the bottle with water and check for leaks.

When I filled it with water, I didn't see any leaks or seepage around the seams. This was good. I poured the contents into a measuring cup--the flacket holds about a cup and a half of liquid.  That was a little surprising--I thought it would be at least two cups.

I looked back at the bottle, and was surprised to see light speckles in the finish that hadn't been there before. I immediately jumped to the conclusion that the sealant hadn't completely coated the inside and the water was seeping through the leather in places. Worrisome, but not a disaster--I just had to let the leather dry out, and do another coat of sealant.

I left the bottle standing inverted in a cup for three days before reapplying a thick coat of beeswax along the seams and pouring in another coat of the sealant. I painstakingly tilted the bottle this way and that, doing my very best to ensure that the entire interior was covered. When I was at last convinced that I could do no more, I set it aside to dry.

When I put it back in the oven to again melt off the excess wax the next day, I was pleased to note that the light speckles darkened back down to match the rest of the surface. When it came out of the oven, it looked exactly the way I hoped it would--except for that strange dark spot on the back, which had not blended any better.

I decided I had better let it cool completely before testing it for leaks again, so I set it on a shelf in the living room and left it overnight. The next day, I carefully filled it with water, holding my breath the whole time. No spots appeared! I held it full for several minutes, watching carefully for any sign of seepage. It maintained its perfect finish, and I breathed easier.

When I poured the water out, some of it dribbled down the sides. Immediately, speckles of discoloration began to appear. I stared at it in disbelief and horror. It was thoroughly sealed with wax! What was going on?!

I flipped the faucet on and ran water over the entire exterior surface. And ... well ... it did this:

I don't understand why this happened--I've never seen anything like it. I can only surmise it has something to do with the leather itself, because the wax is the same and all of my techniques are the same as my previous projects.

It has become apparent, though, that I cannot give this flacket as a prize. It's useless for its intended purpose. It's only good as a display item, really. And it's only good for that IF I can bring it back to its pre-water appearance with another coat of wax.