Hey everyone,
I haven't posted any work lately but I have done some card wallets, belts, passport and coat wallets and even a tote bag. Im not happy with most of them and therefore haven't tried to take some photos.
The piece today though I think came out ok. The customer requested that it be RF shielded, and while I dont have any experience with that I figured to give it a shot. I ordered copper tape for protecting electric guitars from electrical charges which from my research should isolate the NFC chip. I used 1 mm Black Dakota for the exterior and .8mm Black Buttero for the interior. I stitched it at 3mm with Kevin Lee irons and .45mm Yue Fung Orange Thread. I glued everything together and cut to size and I finished the edges by burnishing.
This is the first time I have ever touched copper tape so I really dont know how the edges will do over time. You can see the layer of copper inside the burnished edges and I think it looks pretty cool.
If I had to do this again, I would prefer to go with edge painting, but I would leave this option up to the customer both from the aspects of aesthetics and price. Also I think it feels a bit stiff and thick and would probably use .8mm on both sides.
I would be happy for any comments or advice about this.
Warm Regards to All
Sam
Congrats my friend :)
Some of the pics are not loading on my pc, but from the ones that are, bravo!
If you want to get rid of the copper on your edges, you can try and do what i do when lining wallets. Cut the liner 2mm smaller on each side (assuming your stitching line is 3.5mm in). Basically, cut your liner just a tad bit smaller than the leather so that on the edges, only leather shows. But always make sure that the liner is not too short so that the stitches do not hold it in place.
Like this one (First pic is to show you the liner, second one is the edges)
Congrats on first paid commission! First client is also something special to remember. The wallet is great! Your pictures are good too. I’m thinking I may need to up my game.
Thanks Philip!!
Thats a fantastic question, and I really dont know. Now that you mention it, I would actually be glad if the color of the copper is muted a bit in order to fade into the black edge. The amount of copper exposed to the outside is really limited to the small parts exposed in the edges. I will follow up with the client to get some feed back.
The wallet is made up of 3 pieces, 1 main piece, and 2 pocket pieces that fold over. I assembled each of the 3 pieces with 1 layer Dakota, copper shielding, 1 layer of buttero. I did this because the I figured the time/material saved by just lining the inner pockets would be minuscule. All 4 pockets are shielded now and when the wallet is closed I would think that the inner pockets would be shielded twice... if you understand my explanation.
@samuel.eugene.oneil Beautiful stitching there! Really neat with a lovely angle to them on both sides.
Do you think the copper may deteriorate or go green as it reacts with the leather? I don't know as I've never used it or any NFC material for that matter before.
I take it that it is glued direct to the interior pockets?