How to Make a Viking Leather Pouch
For centuries, the appearance of a fleet of Viking ships on the horizon struck fear into the hearts of Europeans. The Vikings, however, were more than brigands, establishing cities, trading far and wide and discovering new lands like Iceland, Greenland -- even colonizing North America for a brief time. This pouch is based on one found at Hedeby, an important Viking town. For the most authentic pouch, use non-chromed leather -- leather that has been tanned with vegetable matter. This type of leather is less supple than chromed leather, but will be more historically representative of the era in which the Vikings lived.
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Things You'll Need
- Piece of leather, 12 inches square
- Pencil
- Scissors
- Hole punch
- 2 rawhide drawstrings, 24-inch
Instructions
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1
Lay the leather on a flat surface and smooth it out. Draw a circle with a diameter of 9 1/2 to 10 inches on the leather with a sharp pencil. An easy way to do this is to lay a dinner plate of the correct diameter on the leather and draw around its edge.
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2
Draw two semi-circular tabs 1 inch or so in diameter on opposite ends of the circle. You can freehand these, or use a small shot glass as a template.
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3
Cut the leather along the pencil lines you've drawn, taking care to not accidentally cut off the tabs.
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4
Use the hole punch to punch equally spaced holes around the perimeter of the circle. The center of the holes should be at least 1/2-inch from the edge of the pouch, but can be farther if you wish. You can make as many holes as you like, but for the drawstring to work properly, the number of holes must be divisible by four -- so, four holes, eight holes, 12 or 16 holes. For best results, mark evenly spaced holes before you begin punching them. Do not punch holes by the middle of the tabs on either side; holes should be evenly spaced on either side of the tabs.
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Place the rawhide drawstring through the holes. The drawstring should begin on the side of the leather that you decide will be on the inside of the pouch. Place the string through the hole closest to one of the tabs to the outside surface, then draw it back through to the inside. Continue to the next hole, passing the drawstring to the outside surface, then in again at the next hole. Continue until you pass the string through to the inside of the pouch at the next tab.
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Repeat the stringing process on the opposite set of holes with the other drawstring until you have passed it through all the holes.
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Adjust each of the drawstrings until an equal amount is left on each side of the pouch. Do this for both drawstrings. Then tie the ends of the drawstrings together at each tab. Pull the drawstrings up to close the pouch; pull the closed drawstrings apart to open the pouch.
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Tips & Warnings
You can make smaller or larger pouches as you desire -- simply adjust the diameter of the circular piece of leather you cut out.
An ordinary paper punch should suffice for this project, but you may need a leather punch if you choose somewhat thicker leather for your pouch.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit vikings at sea image by Paul Moore from Fotolia.com
