First time working with veg tanned leather, second ever leather project. Made a hunting pouch years ago out of some moose leather, and have had leather tools sitting around doing nothing. I like to keep lead from contaminating things, so a tiny flask to throw in said hunting pouch will be a bit better than the plastic sandwich baggies I've used in the past.
Because I'm not good at freehand drawing, and was going to use a computer to make my design anyway, I decided to 3D print a cutting and sewing guide. I remember that counting stiches, and trying to make everything line up on my hunting pouch was a big pain. This was just as fast to draw as a paper design, and I'm hoping a good test run for bigger projects. Gonna need more hunting bags for my various guns.
The primary circle is 2.5 inches in diameter. Scotch tape works good for holding the template in place. I'm using some pretty lightweight leather - 3-4oz. Seems ok for something this tiny, but I do wonder how well it'l hold it's shape after forming.
![](https://i.ibb.co/V3g8k63/2-5-Flask-Build-1.png)
Just using a #11 hobby blade. The strap circles are just an impression made with running a needle around the template.
![](https://i.ibb.co/9YD5XmN/2-5-Flask-Build-2.png)
Came out pretty good, but I need some more blades. This is one of my last ones, and it's getting a bit dull. Makes curves hard to do.
![](https://i.ibb.co/1f6HVKV/2-5-Flask-Build-3.png)
It might not look it it, but the thread holes are narrowly chamfered which guides the needle right to the center. Been giving the needle a light rap with a hammer for each hole. In the future, I may make shaped holes to fit the intended awl. That'l let me skip a step.
![](https://i.ibb.co/DKrBQLh/2-5-Flask-Build-4.png)
![](https://i.ibb.co/NZwDvn1/2-5-Flask-Build-5.png)
Here's the holes after being punched out with the awl.
![](https://i.ibb.co/zrf5nM4/2-5-Flask-Build-6.png)
And here's the dying step. I've never done this before. Using Fiebings regular leather dye mixed by eye, and reduced by 50% with pure ethanol. It's a blend of mostly moccasin brown, with a little bit of red. I saw a bunch of stuff online about how this really dries out leather, but thought that might not be bad for a forming project. If the leather was really soft, I wasn't sure if it'd hold it's shape after wet forming.
Tried to get the center lighter, though I ended up with some artifacts. Apparently the edges of where you apply dye gets the darkest. Was easy to apply with a little swab at least.
![](https://i.ibb.co/b7sV0Zk/2-5-Flask-Build-7.png)
Here's the leather pieces after being stiched together. Just using some waxed thread a bought a long time ago, and some 1mm diameter rounded nose needles from Tandy. I cut out the holes with a gouge, which was a little tricky, as I didn't have one the perfect size. I also should have done that step before dying, as the inside of the holes was very discolored. Fixed it with a sharpie, figure black ink is better than shades of light red.
![](https://i.ibb.co/qpMwPvg/2-5-Flask-Build-8.png)
Soaked the stiched leather in a jar of warm water for 45 minutes. Soaking in the water really evened out the dye, which is awesome. Got the effect I was looking for by accident.
I missed taking a picture of the first forming step. I filled the bag with airsoft bb's. However, it left a rather lumpy and pebbled texture, so I went out to the shop and blew compressed air into it. Read somewhere that it's a good trick, and it worked very well. It smoothed things out instantly, and a ton of the water foamed out from every surface of the leather. Probably made drying a lot faster. I was then able to smooth out any wrinkles and creases on the edges by hand so that everything stayed straight. Left a 9/16" drill bit in the mouth and left it to dry overnight.
![](https://i.ibb.co/2c3Lypf/2-5-Flask-Build-9.png)
And here's the mostly finished flask. Made a little maple plug on the drill press, which I'll probably stain with iron nitrate then finish with tung oil. Need to make some sort of collet system for the press so I can hold small pieces of wood or antler. Will be a lot easier to make useful parts that way. The bag holds 25-26 .440 size round balls. Perfect for the Kibler SMR I'm building.
![](https://i.ibb.co/K9Rwdh6/2-5-Flask-Build-10.png)
Undecided on what to do about treating the leather. I'm worried that oiling it will make it lose it's shape, but don't know if it'l start falling apart after being really dried out by the dye treatment. I see that some people immerse in melted beeswax. I probably have enough wax on hand to do that, just need to find a pot to keep as a permanent reservoir.