Tutorial & Video - Leather coasters

THE NECESSARY EQUIPMENT

To complete this tutorial, you will need:

• 1 piece of vegetable-tanned rump leather measuring 30 x 40 cm (to make 4 lined coasters) and 1.5 mm thick
• 1 piece of Salpa synderme reinforcement - 30x40cm - 1 mm thick

• 1 circular cutter from 1.8 to 17 cm NT Cutter - IC-1500P
• 1 pot of neoprene glue
• 1 pot of tokonole or other slice finishes
• 1 abrasive sponge
• 1 protective finish such as varnish, waterproofing, grease, etc.

For saddle stitch sewing:

• 1 precision striking claw - 3.38 mm - No. 8 - 2 teeth
• 1 box of 8m of MeiSi super fine waxed linen thread M40 - Ø 0.45 mm
• 1 mini direct reading compass - dry point

For simplified sewing:

• 1 round cookie cutter - Ø 1 mm
• 1 box of 8m of MeiSi super fine waxed linen thread M60 - Ø 0.65 mm

Full tutorial video

1. Cut out the different pieces

Cut two circles of 10 cm in diameter from the leather with the cutting tool of your choice. Here we decided to use a circular cutter.

It is possible to make 4 coasters or 8 circles in a 30x40 cm piece.

*If you use the circular cutter, do a test in paper beforehand to check that your diameter is the right one.

Then, make a 9.2 cm round in the salpa with the circular cutter. Salpa is reconstituted leather (crushed scraps of leather then bound with natural latex) and allows you to add relief or reinforce your creations.

For the simplified sewing version : salpa is not obligatory because the "curved" effect is much less pronounced than with the saddle stitch sewing version. You can directly drill the Ø 1 mm sewing holes and glue the 2 pieces of leather together.

2. Glue the salpa and leather

Apply contact glue to the back of one of the leather circles and to one side of the salpa.

Glue the salpa to the center of the leather circle.

Then, apply glue to the back of the second leather piece and to the second side of the salpa. Apply a thin layer of glue and spread well everywhere (going all the way to the edge but not going over).

Glue the second round of leather onto the salpa, edge to edge with the other round of leather.

3. Mark the rounded effect of the salpa

Using a smoothener, flatten the glue at the edge of the salpa to create the “rounded” effect.

4. Sew the coaster

There are therefore 2 techniques for sewing:

• Saddle stitch sewing
• Simplified hole stitching

SEWING POINT SELLIER

A. Trace the seam line

With a dry-point compass, trace the seam line closest to the salpa (approximately 3 mm from the edge) .

B. Scratching the leather

With a 2-tooth claw with a center distance of 3.38 mm: mark the sewing points on the traced line.

C. Sew with saddle stitch

Sew all around the leather circle with a saddle stitch.

SEE THE COMPLETE GUIDE

SEWING SIMPLIFIED

A. Drill the holes

Punch the holes Ø 1 mm in diameter if they were not drilled in step n°1.

B. Sew with simplified sewing

Sew all around the leather circle with simplified sewing - with holes.

SEE THE GUIDE

5. Hammer the Seams

Flatten the seams with a smoothener or a jointer/river hammer. If the coaster is curved, it will be easier to use a smoother.

6. Work the slices

Work the edges of the coaster. Sand with an abrasive sponge, apply tokonole and smooth with a smoothener.

SLICES WORK GUIDE >

7. Make the alphabet marking

Lightly moisten the leather and mark it with alphabet letters.

SEE THE GUIDE

8. Put on protection

Apply the protection of your choice to protect your coasters from drops. We advise you to first apply a grease, then a waterproofing or varnish (e.g. Resolene from Fiebing's) 24 hours later, allow the grease to soak in.

Here we applied 1 coat of seal grease and 2 coats of Resolene.

Make a clip for the coasters

To attach and store the coasters together, make a simple attachment with scraps of leather.

Cut 2 strips 1.5 cm wide and approximately 30 cm long.

Go around the coasters with one of the straps and take measurements. The strap must overlap by approximately 1.5 cm.
Cut off the excess and do the same for the second strip.

For example, for 4 coasters, you need two strips of 27 cm.

Make a decorative net on the two strips with a tree frog or a shaper.

With double-sided tape, stick the two strips on top of each other forming a cross.

Place the coasters in the center of the cross and bring together 3 ends of the straps. Mark the center of these three ends.

Make a Ø 3 mm hole on the 3 ends at the level of the marking made beforehand.

Then, screw a collar button to hold the 3 layers together.

On the remaining end, make a hole with a Ø 3mm round cookie cutter as well as a 3mm slot with a cutter to allow the head of the collar button to pass through.

You have finished !