The (New and Improved) Loving Dominant (33 page)

The flip side of this is that somebody did make the whips, cuffs and collars we admire. There is no magic in leather work. A whip need not be made by the dark of the night while obscure odors rise from a bubbling, nearby pot and ancient hags chant in a forgotten language. (It might be fun, but you don’t have to do it that way.)

For basic leather work, only a few basic tools and supplies are needed.

• A metal straightedge will allow you to draw straight lines and make straight cuts
  
• Shears with serrated blades are invaluable when cutting light-and medium-weight leather
  
• A Stript-Ease draw gauge cuts straps of even widths with a replaceable razor blade
  
• A mat knife with replaceable blade is useful for general cutting
  
• A moderately light hammer can be used for setting rivets and other fasteners
  
• A pounce wheel or space marker is used for indicating evenly spaced marks for hand sewing
  
• An edge beveler takes a sliver off a thick piece of leather to give a beveled trim along the side
  
• A rotary punch has tubes of various sizes for punching holes in leather
  
• A cutting board should be made out of soft wood
  
• An anvil serves as a backstop for hammering or pounding
  
• A few heavy needles for sewing the pieces of leather together
  
• Expendable supplies consist of: leather glue, waxed thread, sharpening stone
  

First, let’s look at some basic techniques.

Perhaps what’s most important to recognize is that you are going to make mistakes at first. True, leather is expensive, but it is better to “waste” some leather practicing than to make the mistakes during a major project. Begin by practicing techniques on scrap leather.

There are three basic ways to cut leather: with free-hand knives, with shears and with a draw gauge.

When cutting with a knife, always place the leather flat against a soft wood surface. Press a ruler against the leather and draw the knife along the ruler’s edge. There is no need to cut completely through the leather with one stroke. Many strokes will cut even the thickest piece.

Don’t hesitate to resharpen the knife frequently. There is no such thing as too sharp a knife. Even replaceable blades can be touched up with the sharpening stone.

Shears can be used to cut both light- and mediumthickness leather and are preferred when there a lot of curves to be cut. However, knives work best on long straight runs.

A draw gauge cuts even strips, and it is invaluable for collars, cuffs and whip lashes. After you make a single, guide cut, it will make another cut a constant distance from the first. It requires a firm grip and a steady pull, but it produces a fine, even cut. One version of the draw gauge, called the Stript-Ease, is inexpensive and uses replaceable razor blades.

Use an edging tool to put a bevel in the edge of the heavy leather you are going to use for a collar or cuff. They come in sizes 1 (smallest) to 5 (largest) and have a U-shaped blade that you push along the edge.

To make the bevel smoother, you can sand it with fine sandpaper or emery paper.

There are several ways to attach two pieces of leather together. The two most common are sewing and gluing. Often they are used in conjunction with each other.

Hand sewing is quite simple because you aren’t expected to shove the needle through leather. Use the pounce wheel and a ruler to make a series of evenly spaced marks on the leather and then poke a hole through with a hammer and punch or with what is called a saddler’s awl. With the holes already in place, sewing is a cinch.

Two basic stitches are the running stitch and the backstitch. With the running stitch, you simply go down through one hole and up through the next. The backstitch is made after the running stitch is completed. While the running stitch went down through the first hole, with the backstitch, you come up through that hole. This way, thread is on both sides of the leather.

Often, you will want to glue two pieces together before sewing. In fact for some applications, you can just glue and avoid sewing. There are adhesives sold specifically for leather. One of my favorites is Tandy Leathercraft Cement. However, there are many others, and most do a very good job.

The basic process is to coat both pieces of leather with the cement, let them dry and then press the pieces together. They will form a permanent bond almost instantly, but you should tap them with a mallet to assure that the bond is solid.

Because the bond is instantaneous, if you are connecting two pieces that have to be in perfect alignment, use the slip-sheet method. You should prepare the pieces with cement and let them dry. Then you can put a sheet of paper or clear plastic over one piece. The other piece should be placed on top of the paper or plastic. You should make sure that the pieces are in perfect alignment and then slowly pull the paper or plastic from between them, pressing down on each section as the pieces come in contact.

Rivets can be used for decoration or as another method of fastening two or more pieces of leather together. First, you can use your rotary punch to make a hole through the leather, lay the rivet post over the pounding board, and place the punched leather over the post. You should make sure that the pretty side is up. If you are connecting two pieces of leather, make sure that the bottom one has the pretty side down.

You can choose a rivet that is the correct size. This may take a bit of practice. A rivet that is too short will not make a permanent connection, and one that is too long will not make a firm connection. About an eighth of an inch of the male part of the rivet should be showing above the leather after you have inserted in the hole in the leather. Then you can just put the female end of the rivet onto the prong and strike it sharply with the setting tool. The two will be permanently connected.

Snaps are easy to close and easy to take off. For this reason, they aren’t really useful for anything that will be used for restraint. However, they are great for decorative collars and cuffs.

There are four parts to a snap. Two go together in one piece and two go together in the other. Each brand is slightly different so you should follow the instructions carefully. As with rivets, practice is essential before you attempt to set a snap in a for-real project.

For items you will use for restraint, buckles are effective fasteners. Generally, the simplest, a single-bar buckle, is best. The oblong slot for the prong can be cut away with your mat knife, but special oblong punches are also available. You can expect your buckles to be taking a lot of pressure so it is wise to glue, sew and rivet them in place.

Black leather is traditional for scene activities, and while any color is acceptable, many people like the look of black. This means your leather will have to be dyed. Fortunately, dyeing is quite easy.

The basic rule is that the leather must be clean and dry before you begin. If the leather has grease or oil on it, you should get some leather cleaning solution. Do not use saddle soap for cleaning at this point because that is for cleaning finished projects.

Dyes are available in both oil- and water-based formulas. Since scene gear is often worn close to the skin, and during a scene sweating is not uncommon, so I recommend an oil-based dye.

Dye can be applied in several ways. For large areas, you can use a soft cloth or piece of woolskin you can buy at leather craft stores. If you use woolskin, soak it in mineral oil to keep it from absorbing too much of the dye. The dye should be in a shallow pan. Pouring it out from the bottle onto the applicator takes too much time, and it is likely to result in an uneven application. You should apply the dye with broad, smooth strokes. Once you start, do not stop. Going back once the dye has dried never gives a good result.

For smaller areas, the use of a dauber is best. You can make one with a bit of cotton waste or woolskin on a piece of wire. It looks like the dauber in a shoe polish bottle.

Once the dye is dry, you should rub the are with a soft cloth to remove the excess dye. Finally, for a glossy, water resistant finish, you can use Omega Finish Coat or Fieding Tan-Kote.

Omega Carnauba Creme gives a soft, lustrous finish. However, saddle soap, or even Vaseline petroleum jelly, will do the job quite well.

Some leatherwork projects

Now, let’s look at three simple projects you can do, a whip, a blindfold and a pair of wrist cuffs.

For the whip, you need an eight-inch by 22-inch rectangular piece of leather and a six-inch-long dowel. You must draw a line six inches from one end of the piece of leather and then cut a series of strips, ½ inch wide, from the other end to this line. This should give you a fringelike affair of about 16 strips, ½ inch wide and 16 inches long.

Next you can put the wooden dowel against one side of the uncut part of the leather and roll the leather around it. You now have a workable cat. All you need to do is nail the leather against the dowel, and you are ready to whip.

Of course, you may want to fancy up the whip by dyeing it or putting rivets or studs in the handle. However, for all practical purposes, you are finished.

Making a blindfold is a bit more complex. You will need two circular pieces of leather and two circular pieces of rabbit fur or lamb’s wool three inches across, one piece of leather 33 inches long by half an inch across, and a metal buckle.

You can cut two three-inch-long pieces off the 33-inch strip. One of these should be riveted to the good side of each circular piece of leather. Each strip should have two rivets one inch in from the side. This will leave one inch between each pair.

Next you can glue the fur circles to the opposite side of each piece of leather and attach the buckle with a rivet to the end of the long strip of leather, which should be 27 inches long now. Finally, you must slide the strap under the leather strips on the circular pieces.

The most complex project I’m going to get into is a leather cuff. This kind of cuff can be used either on wrists or ankles but cannot be used for suspension. One cuff requires:

• A ten-inch by two-inch rectangle of heavy leather
  
• A ten-inch by two-inch rectangle of heavy rabbit fur or lamb’s wool
  
• A 16-inch by ¾ inch strap of leather
  
• A belt-type buckle
  

To start, you should cut an oblong hole in one end of the 16-inch strap to let the tongue of the buckle go through and move. Then, you must glue and rivet the buckle in place by cutting the other end into a “V” and putting holes for the buckle’s tongue not more than 1/4 inch apart for at least eight inches.

The next step is to put the assembled “belt” on the leather rectangle. The end of the buckle should be about a ½ inch from one end. You can rivet the belt to the rectangle four inches from that end of the rectangle and put a D-ring over the far end of the belt before sliding it up against the rivet.

This next is important. You must bend the incomplete cuff around an object until you can fasten the belt as tightly as could you ever expect to do it. Now, you need to mark the position for the next rivet on both the strap and on the leather rectangle. It should go seven inches further along the strap than the first rivet. You can now unbuckle the belt and set the rivet. The belt should be buckling out from the leather rectangle if the rivet is set in the right place. If it is tight against the leather, you will not be able to curve the cuff to put it on.