Club Obi Wan

A while back, I got into leatherworking and steampunk, and had an idea to make a leather/brass steampunk version of the MK VII bag. But then I remembered all the "purse" comments I got back in the day (before messenger bags became popular), and decided an all-leather bag would be pushing it.

However, before nixing that project, a friend of mine who does metal casting made a mold of an old bag strap buckle I'd sent him, and cast me two brass versions. I still had those laying around, and recently while going through some boxes I found an old MK VI bag I'd bought at some point along the line, and decided hey, why not make a strap with the brass buckle? so I did.

I usually don't distress things because I like them to age naturally, but the MK VI was surplus and pretty beaten up, so I figured I'd make a distressed strap. I made it from a leather strap I bought from Tandy a while back, dyed it a nice medium brown color (used the water-based Eco Flo dye because it's a lot easier to get a lighter, splotchier, uneven coating that helps with the 'distressed' look) and then did some wrinkling and light sanding.

The bag, with strap:


Closeup of the brass buckle:


Closeup of the strap distressing:


The bag, with my Todd's MK VII replica:


Anyway, that's my totally-not-screen-accurate-but-Indy-inspired-and-personalized piece of gear for the day.

Looks pretty good. Nice work!

LJ

Long John Tinfoil wrote:Looks pretty good. Nice work!

LJ

Thanks!

Hey PsychicsAndSwords, nice work there on the buckles. But I have a quick question, where do you purchase the leather dyes, I've been lookin, but no luck.
Thanks, Croft

I get most of my stuff, including all the dyes I've used so far, from Tandy.

http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/home ... iques.aspx

Love the look of the buckle. I think you should make the bag. It could definitely work now that these bags are more of a "normal" thing. Here's my daily carry bag. It's the RRL Leather Mailbag, all leather, copper, and brass. Jack Bauer carried it in season eight of 24. I had been looking for the perfect leather bag for years, saw it and it was perfect. I'd love to see what you could do with an all leather MkVII.

See, the thing is, I think all leather definitely works on bigger bags. I even have made myself a larger, all-leather bag in the past: http://psychicsandswords.deviantart.com ... -153109344

However, I think it's just the smaller size of the MK VII that would make it look a lot more purse-like. However, that doesn't mean I'm not going to get around to trying it eventually, it's just not going to happen soon.

Kittlemeier wrote:Love the look of the buckle. I think you should make the bag. It could definitely work now that these bags are more of a "normal" thing. Here's my daily carry bag. It's the RRL Leather Mailbag, all leather, copper, and brass. Jack Bauer carried it in season eight of 24. I had been looking for the perfect leather bag for years, saw it and it was perfect. I'd love to see what you could do with an all leather MkVII.

Where do I find one of these RRL bags? Ralph Lauren?

Thanks,

Jake

Indiana Jake wrote: Where do I find one of these RRL bags? Ralph Lauren?

Thanks,

Jake

Yep. Here's a link to the RRL thread at Style Forum. It's much better than the RRL store list at the RL site, as the RL site only lists the RRL exclusive stores, of which there are only five or so.

http://www.styleforum.net/showthread.php?t=120192

The thing to do is to start calling. These aren't sold online, only in stores that carry RRL. Be very specific in what you want as there are several versions of this bag. It's really best if you can visit a Ralph Lauren store that has a RRL section.

I saw this one at the store where I bought mine, I decided on the smooth one as I plan on using this bag for many, many years.




Last thing is it's a little pricey at $795 but the leather is all in the low/mid three millimeter thickness and all the hardware is copper and brass, so it should last forever. Some of it is the brand, RRL is a good bit more expensive than Polo, but it is a VERY well made bag that should last forever. I went back and forth on a Saddleback Leather bag for a couple of years but never could commit. Just wasn't the right one. When I saw this one, that was that.

Oh, and here's the bag it's based on. It says US MAIL where mine says RRL.



The J boys, Peterman and Crew, also have a version of the bag.

In thinking this all over, sorry for the thread derail. I look forward to seeing the leather MKVII.

Kittlemeier wrote:In thinking this all over, sorry for the thread derail.

Haha, don't worry about it. Not much interesting to say about one li'l strap, is there?

Sure there is, to me at least. I'm a big fan of making the gear your own with small alternate preferences. I just got a pair of Berkshire Chase glasses in silver/chestnut because I like it better than the gold. I also have a pair of blonde/gold so neither are screen accurate. Just don't care for the chestnut/gold together.

It's been said a thousand times, people like us are the only people who notice this stuff anyway. A student lab partner much younger than me(I went to college fifteen years after high school) actually asked me where I got my Indiana Jones bag. The funny thing is I've worn my MKVII a few times when I didn't have much to carry and he never said a word, I was wearing the RRL bag when he asked.

The bag you made looks really good. I love the contrast piping. The whole thing looks very sturdy. You know there are several people who want the RRL bag who can't or don't want to spend that much who'd probably gladly buy a custom one if the price was right.

Yeah, some folks know what you have, and others have no clue.

I carry a PortaBrace video production bag that I've carried since the late 1980's. I even sent it back to the company for a rebuild in the late 90's, and it's a constant work companion when I'm working. It's fair size, and not to be confused with anything like a messenger bag or the Mk VI.

Anyway, recently I had an old guy who passed by me in town when I was carrying the bag to my car, and asked me why I was carrying a parachute around.

Regards! Michaelson

Michaelson wrote:Yeah, some folks know what you have, and others have no clue.

I carry a PortaBrace video production bag that I've carried since the late 1980's. I even sent it back to the company for a rebuild in the late 90's, and it's a constant work companion when I'm working. It's fair size, and not to be confused with anything like a messenger bag or the Mk VI.

Anyway, recently I had an old guy who passed by me in town when I was carrying the bag to my car, and asked me why I was carrying a parachute around.

Regards! Michaelson

I probably would have replied, "Hey, in my line of work it's better to be safe than sorry." then left him to think that one over.

-SH-

Michaelson wrote:
Anyway, recently I had an old guy who passed by me in town when I was carrying the bag to my car, and asked me why I was carrying a parachute around.

Regards! Michaelson

Tell him the Plymouth's brakes are unpredictable.

He climbed into a '51 Chevy that I was admiring at the time, so I'm sure there wasn't anything about drum brakes I could tell him that he didn't already know.

Regards! Michaelson

Hi all,

Normally I only lurk here, but, for a total noob, I'm interested in making a Indy inspired bag. Does anyone have rough dimensions for any of the bags used in the movies? Are they all roughly the same? How wide is the strap too? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

IndyShane

I remember back in the days of VHS tapes, some of you younglings may not remember what those are , the resolution being what it was did not always transfer colors to their most accurate form. I thought Indy's bag was brown up until the DVD's were released. The photos of your bag remind me of the color I thought the bag actually was. I like the color of the bag. The color is alot different next to the green Mark VII. Since photos can sometimes be deceiving what is the actual color? It looks like a very light brown.

Beaverlid

IndyShane wrote:Hi all,

Normally I only lurk here, but, for a total noob, I'm interested in making a Indy inspired bag. Does anyone have rough dimensions for any of the bags used in the movies? Are they all roughly the same? How wide is the strap too? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

IndyShane

The strap is 1".

VERY quick, rough outside dimensions of the bag:
Front: 10.5" wide x 9" tall
Back: 10.5" wide x 15" tall (includes flap)
Side is about 3.5" wide.

beaverlid wrote:I remember back in the days of VHS tapes, some of you younglings may not remember what those are , the resolution being what it was did not always transfer colors to their most accurate form. I thought Indy's bag was brown up until the DVD's were released. The photos of your bag remind me of the color I thought the bag actually was. I like the color of the bag. The color is alot different next to the green Mark VII. Since photos can sometimes be deceiving what is the actual color? It looks like a very light brown.

Beaverlid

The MKVI is pretty much a much lighter, paler green than the MKVIII, and has a kind of brown/yellow undertone. If that makes any sense. It's kind of hard to describe.

It makes perfect sense. Thanks for the reply.

PsychicsAndSwords,

Thank you so much for the quick reply! I'm handy with needle and thread, and I've been thinking of making something that resembles his bag. I've also got a pattern for trousers I want to try. I've been putting together an 30's era adventurer type kit, without trying to look exactly like Indy. I'm trying to use stuff that would have been available in the 30's and early 40's.

Thanks again,

Shane

Sounds pretty cool.

Don't know if this link will work, if not, search Leather MK VII. Just another variation.

http://indygear.com/cow/viewtopic.php?f ... 57&start=0

There's a guy on that auction site selling "New Shoulder Waist Winter Hunting Ski Waterproof Bags" at 4 for $9.99. Apparently they're a Finnish gas mask bag. Great price for a close-enough.

LJ