New materials

I have been wanting to use waxed canvas for my bags, so a few months ago I tried to wax a piece of canvas. I melted equal parts bees wax and paraffin wax, painted it on the fabric and then blow dried the wax forever to help it absorb into the fabric.... well lets say it worked, but no way did I want to use it. It smelled like bees wax and was just way to sticky. Finding waxed canvas has been hard and to get it in a small quantity, even harder.

Today I was excited to get a couple packages in the mail! I opened them immediately.

Finally! Waxed canvas, two yards. It feels good and doesn't smell, ya!  

My other package was a few beefier tools to work with new copper rivets. The rivets are used to attach leather straps to the hand bags. I am looking forward to using these copper rivets... they may not be as pretty, but I think I am really going to like how strong they are over the current rivets I use.  

I put the copper rivets to use today. I like the strength, but they do produce a more rustic look. I like the rustic, practical use of these rivets and hope I am not the only one! My first go was a bit difficult so, today I also had a chance to pick up a few new tools in hopes that they will make working with this type of rivet easier.