Classes For The Masses or Crash Course in Handbag

The shortest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach and the shortest way to a woman’s heart is through her handbag. A great many thought has gone into that little piece of stitched leather and it’ll help you a long way if you can tell a tote from a clutch. In some circles it is almost considered a fashion faux pas when you can’t tell fashion accessories apart, irrespective of the fact whether you’re a member of such a circle the AntidoteStore welcomes you to a crash course in handbags. Let’s begin,

1.       Baguette: A favorite of the modern women, this particular bag is named after the French bread whom it resembles. It’s shape is relatively long from side to side and smaller from top to bottom.

2.       Bowling bag purse : Named and styled after the 90s bag that were used by men to carry, as the name suggests, bowling balls. Never let it be said men never contributed to fashion.

3.       Clutch : A fashion necessity for everyone from a princess to a professional work women. This bag is recognizable since it has no handles and is usually compact.

4.       Drawstring: Used in Victorian times to keep coins and other trinkets, it has since evolved into a more practical shape and is nowadays also used as evening bags and travel bags.

5.       Hobo: Contrary to what the name suggests, this bag is quite graceful and elegant. Made in the shape of a large crescent hanging from the shoulder, with a zipper in the middle.

6.       Muff: A bag made specifically for colder areas, this is made of real or faux fur, wool or velvet and has zippered compartments or a slip openings where the women can keep their hands.

7.       Tote: A necessity for the modern women owing to it’s ability to carry large quantities of goods that other smaller bags cannot. Hence it’s nickname, the ‘shopper‘.

8.       Satchel: Used in the older times for travel, a satchel is a bag for casual day to day activities. Recognizable with the long shoulder strap and multitude of pockets, usually made of leather.

Handmade Leather Bags – Shine to Finish

Now that you have been introduced to the various types of leather grains, it is time to delve deeper. We now look into the process that gives that handmade leather bag of yours the perfect finish, Tanning. It is a long and ardous process which is necessary to turn the processed hides into ductile leather. The steps involved in tanning sometimes number over a hundred and take over six weeks to complete. All of this simply to make sure that one special bag shines the best.
Once the soaking, wringing, drying and conditioning are over, the hide still requires finishing to make the material market ready. This is final phase before these hides are moulded into their various forms and it is here that these stretched membranes are given a make over to make them more aesthetically appealing. The type of finishing determines what kind of post sale care will be required, some of the commonly used ones are

• Aniline – These retain the original grain of the leather complete with all scars and pores. They are formed using only soluble dyes that do not cover the original surface.
• Pigmenting – Can be considered similar to painting a wall where the original surface of the hide is completely covered to hide all imperfections.
• Nubuck – It is formed by buffing the top grain of the leather with a fine sand paper to give it velvet like appearance.
• Suede – These are formed when the grain if buffed with a sand paper from both sides, that is why suede products are ‘fuzzy’ from both sides. It can be processed from any kind of leather though the best and strongest suedes are made from split leather.
• Patent – Highly recognizable from their glossy finish, they are formed by coating the grain with PVC or polyurethane. Mostly used in high fashion footwear, sturdy but reduces the surface aeration.

There are ofcourse numerous other types of finishing applied to leather surfaces nowadays, such as Oily, metallic, waxy, Napa and bonded or reconstituted. But each of these can be derived from the parent set.
As always we here at the Antidote Store are concerned if your attention span has expired. So to remedy that simply contact us for all your leather related queries and we’ll try to answer them the best we can.