0005 - Chestnut Dakota Kindle and Notebook Case
This was my third design that I’ve self drafted and built, definitely the most challenging and complex as compared to a relatively simple wallet. The design brief for myself was relatively simple. Something that I struggle with when reading non-fiction on my kindle is being able to take notes of interesting sections or areas where I’d want to come back to it. I find the highlighting functionality quite clunky to say the least. This is annoying as one of my preferred times to read a kindle is on a flight or other form of public transport where I’m concerned about weight but also have some dead time.
As such, I wanted a design where I could incorporate my Kindle, a notebook as well as a pen into a single piece. The below is what I came up with. The idea is that the notebook will have one of the covers slide inside the case and be held in place and then a pen will go in the loop. This should create a nice little self contained travelling case for myself.
Of course, I only realised once I had finished than in typical leather journals the journal component goes on the right, which is where I’ve placed the kindle itself. Additionally, even if I had moved it there then by opening up the journal while it is held in the case will have the net effect of blocking the kindle or create an awkward backward and forward motion.
As I’ve placed the journal on the left I’ll most likely have to put this in backwards for it to be held in place. I could use it as is, noting it will have the same problem of covering the kindle. Either way, it just doesn’t quite work the way I wanted it to.
I still have a nice looking kindle case that can hold a pen and a notebook. It’s just not as functional as I would have liked it to be. C’est la vie. Lessons learned.
Lessons
- I sharpened my skiving chisel right before using it. I wasn’t used to the sheer sharpness of this and didn’t adjust accordingly so I ended up skiving too thinly. In some areas I even took too much off. This led to very thin edges that don’t “feel” as nice as they could have otherwise. I think with this design it would have been better to leave the edges unskived to create some more thickness and heft and have the design feel more solid.
- The kindle holding pieces were incredible annoying to glue in. I think using a contact cement here would have been a better idea
- I need a better way of setting rivets and snaps in my apartment, potentially a rivet setter in the future
- Punching out a starting point to the inside cut of the leather cut out made cutting it out a lot easier still
- I should create nice looking PDFs of my designs in order to make them more repeatable in the future.
- My overall craftsmanship is still getting better, the corners on the piece were a lot nicer, the inside cutout was my best one of these so far.
Materials
- Leather: Conceria La Perla Azzurra - Chestnut Dakota Belly - 1.2mm
- Thread: 0.5mm Ritza Tiger Thread in Beige
- Glue: Kyoshine Elle - Leather Glue 100 Water Based
- Edging: Seiwa Tokonole
- Finish: Aussie Leather Conditioner (with Beeswax)
- Rivets: Gold, cannot remember the size
Pattern
Self designed, kindle holding component was based off the work of Corter Leather. All other elements were my own.
Estimated Time
Including designing the pattern this piece took approximately 5-6 hours. There was a lot of stitching and hammering holes. Next purchases definitely relate to this.
Photos
