Hi
Anyone have a laser cut file for a leather bag or know where I can get one from… been looking everywhere can’t find one.
Thank you in advance for any help 
I’ve searched too and can’t find anything. Guess it’s time to write an e-book!
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What kind of bag are you looking for? There is at least one clutch purse in the GF catalog. If that won’t work, let me know and I’ll try to point you at something more like what you’re looking for.
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Maybe bucket bag, sling bag or anything in fashion really. I’m actually looking for something to try out so don’t want an expensive file if possible.
Thanks 
I’m a fan of Tony See’s patterns (https://dieselpunkro.patternbyetsy.com/) and it doesn’t take too long to convert the PDFs into SVGs. He’s got a ton of bag designs, many of which have the bonus not having any parts larger than the printable area in a Glowforge Basic (no passthrough required!)
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I’ve also been looking for for those kind of patterns. Thanks so much!
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Oh awesome thanks a lot for that. Will be using soon.
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So not aimed solely at laser cutters, there are tons of great bag designs online - check out:
Looking forward to seeing your results!
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Oh thank you very much… hope to post something soon too 
IMHO, for bucket style bag, don’t laser it, just hand cut it…
In part because leathers good for bucket style bags (soft temper) are great to etch, but I have very erratic results with cutting them, and often have to finish cuts with shears or rotary blades, and of course clean the soot off cut edges, so it can be faster to just hand cut from the start… (but then again, it’s the way I’ve been doing for over a decade). And also the size of pieces for bucket bags can exceed the bed.
But it’s great when the laser does cuts through fully!! Just check before you move the leather on the bed in case you want to run another cutting pass!
And get lots and lots of magnets!
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Oh ok, but couldn’t we use a mask on the leather before cutting to prevent the markings? Just thinking if I wanted to laser cut a design on the front of the bag or something.
And some leathers benefit with a mask, others work OK without–and TEST. Some finishes don’t respond well to the adhesive in the masking, but it might not even need to be masked… (most of what I do I don’t mask).
Nubuck or suede should be masked to make cleanup easier, so no soot embeds in the tissue–and then you may need to mask it all so the whole piece looks the same if the adhesive changes the finish in anyway.
Most leathers etch well (I use scores of different finishes & thicknesses & other species–rarely the PG stuff)–though pending the colors, the contrast may not show up well, but at least there’s textural difference, which can be cool as well as color.
And a 2 color artwork is best, and not too much detail–grey scale or depth does not translate well in leather–it’s basically the difference between the top finish and the body of the leather only. (But if you have extra, have fun testing! Sometimes what you don’t think will work comes out well).
But it will create lots of soot, and I actually just use warm water & small scrub brush–only a couple leathers haven’t come out well (discoloring or shrinkage for really thin ones) but most are fine with a light rinse–but is best to test for that, too.
Be sure to measure the thickness (snap gage is ideal for this), as I have no idea how GF team decided on their thin, medium & thick settings, as their “thick” is not very thick at all for leather–so big difference when cutting, but etchings have usually come out well using PG settings, e.g. ‘thick’ for 5-6 oz cowhide has been fine (I also keep a table that shows OZ vs. thickness as I never remember the conversions (since leather is sold by the OZ as representation of thickness).
Good luck, have fun testing. And here’s a picture of some wrist straps I just finished all last night–the green is about 3oz cowhide (intended for upholstry) and the orange is 1-2oz pigskin (lining type–and used sueded side). I did mask both–& through rinse/scrub, and getting them damp also made getting the masking off really easy, too. (they are glued to thicker cowhide & edge stiched, and the green have been edge dyed, too).
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Oh wow those are awesome and thanks a bunch for your reply. A lot to learn there. Hopefully will get a good result soon.
Thanks–I usually just do my logos or small images (less than 3x3), but for these, did a “sheet” about 6"x8" area (and happily got my roll of 6" wide masking film the other day) and applied to the backing leather and then cut to width for these “Aquaman” inspired wrist bands for a show I’m doing this weekend…
I have lots of fun! Hope you do, too!
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That’s nice . I need some training. I don’t know anything about leather or bag making but I’d like to learn.
I started about 15 years or so ago (had been sewing garments for longer than that) and once I decided I really wanted to do it, I invested in an industrial machine–the shop I used in Seattle was great & got set up with a “post bed” and rolling foot, so I can do more details and do shapes/corners that flat bed can’t. I was able to use all my sewing experience to help, but leather is sometimes easier, but sometimes harder to work with than fabric. But more videos finally exist now for machine sewing leather–when I started, it was only hand sewing (which is amazing, but something I’ve not tried myself).
I am also super lucky there’s a good leather supplier in Seattle (MacPherson’s) that sells scrap, and for my first year or so that’s all I bought (and the small kid or lambskins), until I got comfortable enough w/ my skills & familiar enough with different leathers to start buying half hides and order on-line (leather is sold by square foot usually, and half a cow is about 25sq ft).
And finding good hardware is a whole 'nother story… Ohio Travel Bag and The Buckle Guy are my favorites (on-line stores).
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Oh ok that’s nice to know. I can sew on a machine too and I’ve been sewing a lot in the past but if I be honest I do get quite bored of sewing now at times. Depends how quick the outcome will be lol as I lack the patience 
. But yeah il look into some videos and hope I get somewhere with it.
If it’s not an industrial machine, you’ll want leather needles, a teflon foot (walking foot is ideal), and first try sewing with really light leathers (e.g. lambskins or very thin cowhides), before working with any a bit thicker & firmer, but don’t expect to get thicker than a few oz without the machine protesting. And don’t pin, but use clips to keep pcs together–I often “tack” with glue, too, so once it dries, I can remove the clips so they don’t get in my way on the machine.
And I have an embroidery attachment on my Bernina, and can even embroider thin leathers (stick to “light” or “sketchy” patterns). And get sticky stabilizer–don’t hoop it directly. A magnetic hoop is on my wish list, though!
Hmmm, may have to try combining machine embroidered and laser etched or cut designs into some projects!
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Oh thank you yeah I guess I will have to get some stuff before I try this out. Let’s see if I get some use out of my laser cutter first then I may move on to more new stuff.
Embroidery combined with engraving sounds good 
Hi
Guess what… just been to Birmingham market and I found no real leather. One man tried to sell me leather claiming it’s real when it was fake another shop man told me you don’t make bags with real leather lol.
So I didn’t find real leather unfortunately. Any other material I could use to make nice expensive bags?