Middle Earth Ranger Forum

Look what came in the mail yesterday!

http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e173/ ... aa0a3f.jpg

These are soft-sided water bottles, or bladders, that I got from a seller on eBay. They are made of food-grade polyethylene, and the seller claims they are 100% BPA free. I intend to sew leather sleeves for these and fashion them into bota-like water-skins. In theory, they should be good for just about anything a person could want to fill them with, and they seem to be pretty sturdy. The small ones apparently have a 1 liter capacity, and the large ones hold 2 liters (according to the auction, that is - I have not tested it yet myself). I'll probably try swapping out the obnoxious squirt-tops for corks or wooden plugs, if possible, to try and maintain a totally period outward appearance.

I received 3 small ones and 2 big ones, so I intend to keep one of each size for myself, and then probably sell the others on Etsy. I'll keep you guys updated on my progress!

Very similar to platypus bags in both size and shape.

I have a couple platypus bottles for the same reason. Gonna make leather covers for them.

Actually, they are indeed Platypus bottles, apparently of an older design.

Incidentally, if anyone here has tips for doing a project like this one, I'l open to suggestions. I've got an idea of how I want to do it, but I'm always glad to hear from those who have tried this stuff before.

Some advice on the flexible poly bottles-

First off, use a softer leather- as in feel not drape. These will wear through surprisingly fast if you use a crunchy, scratchy leather. I have found elk to be one of the very best for this, followed by deer and then (much lower) bison or suede splits. This is one of the very few places suede splits will ever get used by me!

Fill the bottle- and see what the shape becomes. These will have a sort of flat bottom- and if you want the full volume of water/wine/MEAD/small beer or MEAD in it, you'll want to make that a feature for the leather cover, too. I would sew it like clothes- do it basically inside-out, so the seams are inside the leather. Gives it a cleaner look, overall.

For carry straps- and this is a (the?) real big deal!! Add your straps to the seam along the sides by passing it through some small loops. The strap I've used before was pretty thin, only about 1/2" wide, and each loop was about a 1" tube, sewn into the side seam. Do this several places along the seam- no more than about 2" apart. Don't worry about the flat bottom, it'll be fine with no loops. Now your suspension strap, however long it is- I make mine for shoulder slinging, and tie them shorter if needs be, is simply threaded through the loops. Go from one side, under the bottle, and then back up. Done! Don't try to sew the strap in, trust me, it always finds a way to fail and this way the bottle is supported all around. Finally- I tend to make the top-most loop right about 1" from the top of the bottle, and I also double it in thickness. Probably over-built, but it does seem to last a long time!

For the tops... I agree about the plugs. One thing I did was to cut a cow horn ( I had tons, once~) and use the ring I was able to cut to make a sort of "mouth" over the plastic. I actually cut some of the plastic threads away with a file, and used a dab of Barge's Cement to secure it. Where it met the leather- I cut a groove in the horn, and then tightly wrapped the leather with a cord, securing the 2 together. For a plug- I cheated and used an old wine cork I ground to a better shape. Eventually, I put a brass wire loop all the way through the cork, and that held up for years. To secure it- just bend it back into the cork on the "inside" point.

Later ones were done with a small horn plug, too- but that was a lot of work. I also did a few with the spigot covered by a small horn or leather cup, so I had a cup and bottle both, together.

Last of all- once it works, and you get it wet and allow it to dry while carrying it about a couple of times (very important), hit it with a very generous amount of Doc Johnson's Leather Restorer from Tandy. I used to used Hubbard's Boot Grease- but it is STINKY, while Doc J's is much nicer. Hubbards for footwear and the like, Doc J's for anything near food! Do this when the bag is kinda warm, and don't overdo it- you want the leather to be water resistant and supple, not gooey. This makes it last a LOT longer, as each time you get water on leather, it can pull some of the tanning materials out, and you get crunchy leather that may fail.

Hope that helps! (Yeah, I've made a LOT of bottles over the years for RenFaires!)

Robert

This is awesome info, thank you! I will definitely take it into consideration when I start the project.

I was already planning on using some nice soft leather for the shell, and to sew it inside-out as you suggested. The strap ideas you put forth are brilliant. I'll have to play around with them until I find something I think works best for me, but overall I think what you've put down here is a very good set of guidelines for it.

Glad to help!

I've made possibly as many as a hundred soft bottles- and about twice that of the hard leather bottles... Figure I could save you a wee bit' o' head pain!

Bestens!

Robert