Gathering Bag

A woman from a neighboring town (whose family had commissioned several of my favorite pieces) came to see me with her daughter, who is a naturalist and photographer. Her daughter wanted to commission what we came to call – the gathering bag.

This bag would have a detachable telephoto lens case and a detachable collection bag for small rocks, pieces of wood and other delicate things. She also wanted a way of collecting leaves so they wouldn’t get crushed. For this I made her a leaf press that fit on the back of the bag.

The main bag was to have a raw edge overflap with a pouch or two for cutting implements. Under the flap (not shown) would be a slot pouch for personal things (wallet etc.). The body of the bag was to be open for larger items with two tie straps on the bottom for anything extra, like a small tarp she might want to carry with her.

The body of the bag is oil tanned leather while the lens case, collection bag, and back pouch for leaf press are milled vegetable tanned leather. In this project I used a combination of hand and machine stitching. (all is cow hide)

We decided the bag would be decorated with Native American motifs embossed with the printing plates from Sun Circles and Human Hands.