Migrating the blog

I'm testing out some some structural changes to indigofan.com. Hopefully this will be smooth, and I won't accidentally delete everything. :-)

Light Tote

The Bulletproof Tote is too heavy for my wife, so I got some lighter-weight raw leather and made this one. The leather is half the thickness of what I had previously been using. I also incorporated the pre-fabricated handles and pocket that I got from Tokyu Hands in Osaka.

The strap attachments looked weak, so I riveted them down. I also made some square washers to reinforce the inside of the rivets. I reversed the rivets to the inside so that the metal wont damage clothing it might scrape on. The straps have oxidized to a tan colour compared to the whiteness of the new leather.

I sewed an inside pocket. On the left strap attachment you can see I tried reinforcing it with a leather patch, but this wasn't worth the effort, so only one of the four is reinforced. Hah.
The sides are double-stitched and riveted at the top.

This last pic has some interesting veining in the leather (click on it for a large view). It'll be interesting to see how this thinner leather ages.

Blue Gold: The Movie

via Self Edge

Denim Wool Jeans

It sounds wrong.

Making Leather Tote

A couple of iPhone pics I took while I was making the tote bag.

Here's the body of the bag cutout and the first handle rivetted on.

Here's both handles on, and getting ready to start sewing on that baseplate.

The photos make it look small, but that cutting board is big. A 15 inch laptop just fits in the bag.

Bulletproof Tote

I've made the new bag. I'm calling it the Bulletproof Tote.

It was hard work to make, a lot more difficult than the satchel.

The body is a single piece of leather again, but there was a blemish/hole in the base, so I covered it with a rectangle of leather to match the base, which also gives the bag enough structure to stand on its own.

The side seams are fully double hand-stitched. They are also riveted at the top and bottom corners.
All together the tote has 24 rivets.

If I make it again I will leave out the side straps and the baseplate (which was a lot of work to stitch around)... and makes the bag a bit heavy.

Here are some pics of the satchel which has been getting a lot of indigo rub-off that highlights the grain.

You can also see the brass fittings that I used to change the strap. A couple of dees and clips. It's a definite improvement.

You can also see on the flap some stains from rainfall.

Rakuten Ichiban

Techcrunch have an article about Rakuten.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/05/japans-rakuten-can-the-biggest-e-commerce-site-you-never-heard-of-become-a-threat-for-amazon-globally/
It’s mostly e-business guff, but there is a small section which is relevant to buying goods from Japan.

... About a fourth of all items available for Japanese customers can be ordered from selected countries through a service called Rakuten International Shipping Services . Non-Japanese users can access Google-translated item pages (24 languages are currently supported), place an order, pay via credit card and then wait for direct delivery from Japan (it’s even possible for foreigners to collect Super Points ).

I’ve never ordered from Rakuten, but it looks like you can search for products from this page:
http://event.rakuten.co.jp/borderless/index_en.html
It looks easy:

http://event.rakuten.co.jp/borderless/infoservice/en/shoppingsteps/

I'll let you know if I make a purchase. Let me know if you have any success too.