Circular pouch: part I

Good day,

In the last week, I started work on a leather pouch similar in shape to one found in Hedeby, Denmark. Instead of the 9" diameter of the original, I made mine 14", as I need to be able to fit a cellphone within it.

Here's all the leather remaining of the original seven square feet. It's now down to about three.



Then I cut out the circle, decreasing the remaining leather to about two.



I then poked holes around the edge (squint and you can see them); also shown is the awl I used.



And a closeup:



Then came the hard part. I soaked the leather for a couple of minutes, and threaded string and wire through the holes. I pulled the pouch shut, and worked the folds into shape. I forced the edges as flat as possible. Then, I opened it up and took the back end of my awl, and flattened all the folds manually. Then I closed it back up to dry.







It took about 36 hours for the open parts to dry, and about 72 for the folds, once I opened them up to the air.

More later as I add the belt strap and drawstrings.