Making a Simple Folded Leather Wallet With Engraved Insignia

Made this at Techshop (techshop.ws)

Super easy to make.

Materials:

13x8in piece of leather
Hemp thread
Needle

Tools:
Laser cutter
Adobe Illustrator

Create your own

1. Use the shape tool to make rounded rectangles. Length of outside flap should be  little larger than twice the inside flap (to allow for bending room)

Inside flap - 4.25 in by 3.14 in
Outside flap - 4.25 in by 6.50 in

2. Create your insignia -  make sure to outline fonts (right click and go to "Create Outlines") 

3. Create the holes along the sides of the rectangles which you will sew through later. 


Notes:

Anything you want to engrave (insignia) -- leave as 1pt stroke.

Anything you want to cut out (holes, edges, flaps for the cards)-- leave as 0.001 stroke.


Download my file:

Or, download my .AI file and edit it: http://rapidgator.net/file/e2453f6126296bb1b2e12eda0b2d2473/wallet.ai.html

Place your 13x8 leather piece into the machine.

Settings to use for the laser (you may need to adjust depending on the leather type):

Raster: 40% power
Vector: 50 speed, 20-30 power, 500 frequency

I had to run the machine a few times to get the leather to fully cut out. Test to see if the leather cut out after every run, but do not move the leather or else the laser will be off point!

NOTE: make sure to test your cutout (if you didn't use my file) on cardboard or something beforehand so you can make sure the holes & shapes match up.

Get thick thread (I used hemp thread) and sew through the holes.

Go in through the first hole, then back out through the next one, then in through the one after that. Repeat..

If you use thicker thread you won't have to repeatedly sew through the sections. 

Then tie the ends and snip the extra material, and you're done!

Last step is to stick some cash inside and go buy yourself an ice cream for your hard work.