Laser Cut Leather and Wood Phone Case

I bought a big box of scrap leather, so I make things out of leather now. :) The difference with many other leather projects is that I also have a laser cutter. Combining leather with a laser cutter makes leather working so much easier.

I have no previous experience with leather so I probably do things wrong, but I love the results and that is all that counts for me.

For this phone case, I combined laser cut wood with laser cut leather.

Materials:

• Leather
• Ply wood
• Thread
• Glue
• Stain (optional)
• Wax (optional)

Tools:

• Laser cutter
• Needles
• Brush (optional)
• Sanding paper
• Hammer
• Computer

When you measure your phone, you should do it accurately, and not two times over like I did.

You can change the design on the front to your taste.

The holes in the wood are bigger (2mm) than the holes in the leather (1mm). This is to make sure that the needle can go trough.

• Measure your phone.
• Change the added design accordingly in Gravit Designer. (Gravit Designer is a free, cross platform alternative for Illustrator and I am a huge fan)

The leather and wood designs are in the same Gravit file on different layers.

Use wood that is thinner than the thickness of your phone. My phone is 8 mm thick and the wood I used is 4 mm thick.

• Cut the ply.
• Cut both sides of the leather.
• Test fit and check whether the holes match.

• Put contact cement on one side of the wood.
• Put contact cement on the edge of the bottom leather part.
• Wait until the glue is dry enough.
• Hammer or press the wood on the back leather part.
• Put contact cement on the front of the wood.
• Put contact cement on the edge of the front leather part.
• Wait again for the glue to dry.
• Hammer or press the front leather part on the wood.

• Use a saddle stitch to stitch around the edges.
• Test fit your phone. (The first time you might need to stretch the leather a little for your phone to fit. To make it easier to stretch the leather you might need to make the leather a little wet.)

Here you can check out how to saddle stitch: https://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-saddle-stitch-leather/

It is very easy to do.

If you like how it looks now, you can skip this step.

I can't find any leather stain where I live, so I experimented with alternative stains. I like the result with orange Clou water stain.

• Brush the water stain on the leather and the sides. Work wet in wet for a nice even result.

To make the leather softer and more durable, you will need to treat it with some kind of wax. I didn't have any special leather wax, so I used de-molding wax. This is not advisable, but was all I had. It did the job.

Now put your phone in the case and enjoy it.