This Leather Soaks Up Everything ☀️

I've worm this watch to nearly every single event of every single day in the last 6 months. It's been my only watch I've used since the Dome began and boy, does it show. I took this on walks with coworkers, out for dinner and drinks with the wife and friends, on rock climbing excursions, out camping, and more!

I bought this veg tan from Tandy leather goods and it has absorbed all the sweat, oils, water, and chalk dust I've thrown at it. I used a leather cleaner once to spot clean a small oil stain one time, but other than hydrating the back with some VSC at the beginning of the Dome, I have not used any other products on the strap. I think the leather has darkened a little too far for my taste at this point, so I'd like to give it a rest and see if the color returns to a dark orange at some point instead of the burnt copper brown it has landed at. This has been the most exciting color change of any item I've submitted to the Dome!

This is a fairly straightforward design using the acrylic templates to cut out the pieces and stitch together a few straps and a clasp. I definitely goofed up marking the clasp a little too far from the final placement and I marked a spot for a hole that I never punched. Other than that, the strap came out straight and symmetrical, once I lightly burnished the edges just to give a smooth edge and no waxes nor conditioning was needed. I want to make a few more straps using the same veg tan and experiment by backing it with thin boar skin lining leather for a smooth contact surface and to prevent as much darkening of the leather as this item.

Some of the scratches in the leather come from my 3rd child and I will treasure those marks forever.