Technical craftsmanship of LEATHER and HIDE

Medieval Almoner in Hide

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Category: Technical craftsmanship of leather and hide

Published on Friday, 18 December 2015 12:02

The almoner in the Medieval was a bag which was used by the poor to collect charity, but at the same time it was also used in church to collect from the faithful their contribution to the church, during the mass. Seen the particularity of making this object in hide, we wanted to involve some craftsmen members of our lavorazione Artigianale pelle e cuoio facebook, specialized in working with hide and hobbyists.

The almoner in the Medieval was a bag which was used by the poor to collect charity, but at the same time it was also used in church to collect from the faithful their contribution to the church, during the mass. Seen the particularity of making this object in hide, we wanted to involve some craftsmen members of our lavorazione Artigianale pelle e cuoio facebook, specialized in working with hide and hobbyists.

A lot were the proposals, suggested recommendations and considerations made from various colleagues of the group, on the working techniques and on the various measures to be taken for the realization of an ALMONER. In this occasion though Sandro Burti and Giuseppe Salaris made this object.

The object must have:

- sphere shaped;
- bloated on both sides;
- closing upwards.

Our friends, Sandro and Giuseppe started working on it, documenting themselves step-by-step their work, with detailed  descriptions including photos, we’re going to explain below.

It’s interesting how our two craftsmen point out that they, used two different techniques, one completely different from the other, but both arrived at a final result: “A CRAFTSMAN MASTERPIECE”

Let’s analyze the two Almoner made.

“Almoner by Sandro Burti”

Sandro’s approach to the realisation of this masterpiece it was immediate, and all the work, it can be divided in three main steps:

Preparation

In this phase it was used a wooden onion foot, bought in a do-it-yourself store, to create the bloated shape of the almoner. The wooden foot, it was divided into two pieces, creating , two half sphere: one half sphere, was attached to a wooden bar, to give more stability, it was covered by the hide. But before this operation, with the help of a file, it was created a 2,5cm height and 7,5cm diameter sphere.
To adapt the leather to the half wooden sphere, Sandro wet the hide with hot water to soften it, to make it more elastic and flexible. Scrunching with lots patience and helping himself with a tea cup with the same diameter. Sandro covered the wooden base up until the hide took a sphere shape.
The techniques of the hide used is of 3mm, even if in the past it has been used a 2mm and then substituted, because it was too soft for what it was used for. This same procedure was used for the other part of the almoner.
The wallet has been lined inside with the same leather used on the outside of the object.

Cutting and assembly of parts:

After having obtained the two bloated pieces, on the above one Sandro cut a little opening to insert the coins, respecting the requests made earlier.
Afterwards he drilled the holes for rivets and buttons, and then glued the two parts .

The Finishing:

To finish up the almoner, Sandro made a ribbon made out of hide to cover the two parts that were glued together, covering it up it gave a better aspect.
The almoner, was coloured black and all the edges have been sand down with sand paper grit80. At last, it was inserted a hank,  all put together, sewing it by hand with thread, specifically with artificial tendon.

“The Almoner by Giuseppe Salaris"

Three macro-phases describe the procedures used by Giuseppe.

Organization of the work

Giuseppe chose to use, a hard plastic core, considering it appropriate to give the right shape. To cover the core, he used black hide with 1,2 of thickness, for the inside and the outside of the object. He covered the plastic base with hide put to soak in cold water for ten minutes.
In this occasion Giuseppe revealed to us a little secret, when he puts the hide in water, he has the habit to -squeeze the leather real good, so the fibres will enlarge. After he divided the leather in four pieces, every single piece has been put in water, after 4/5 hours the leather  has dried in a bloated way, the same as the object.

 Bonding and Assembly

Once the 4 leather pieces are ready, Giuseppe  glued the outside and left about 1cm of board, to be able to fold on the inside, to give more hardness when closing. After he glued the inside he cut the extra leather long the board.
To define everything, after putting together all the parts, he sewed a little seam along the board of the two parts, before that he had prepared two celtic crosses traced on vellum paper, that helped him to trace the holes on the plastic base, so he could make a hole with a thin awl and to permit stitching it directly on the leather. This was done so the leather wouldn’t  unglue, to give a major resistance.
The stitches used are double medieval stitches, the type of stitches that Giuseppe uses for all his work, because it was considered stronger and more resistant. To define the product, Giuseppe used a leather band with stitches along the boards. The leather has not been coloured because the hide he used it was already black. The leather band was sewn directly to the almoner without the aid of buttons nor rivets.
To close Giuseppe used a buckle and attached a hank to allow easy handling and be able to hang it where you want.

A summary of the two different techniques used for the realization of the almoner:

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