in which mama's got a brand new bag

Ok, so I am neither a mama, nor do I have a brand new bag.  But I did finish this bag, for Laurie (who I think doesn't read my blog - but if she does, should stop reading now!):

That's the Harriet Handbag from Two Old Bags.  It's a fun and easy knitting pattern - three skeins of Cascade 220 knit in the round.  I did most of the knitting in between movies at Sundance.

However, while the knitting patern is very helpful, the instructions for how to make the handles are pretty vague.  So I thought I would show you how it's done here on my blog - in case you are looking to make handles for this or any other bag.

Bag Handle Tutorial

You will need:

• At least one dowel (the dowels I found were just over 36", which was long enough to make two 18" handles for me, but this will depend upon the length of your finished bag).  I used 1/2" diameter dowels - I wouldn't go any thinner for this handle.
• Four wooden balls with holes drilled into one side big enough to stick a dowel into (if, like me, you can't find dowels that fit these holes perfectly, just go for the dowel the next size up - I'll show you how to make them fit)
• wood stain
• something to apply and wipe off the wood stain (old towels, a brush)
• lacquer or polyurethane to finish
• fine grain sandpaper (at least 220)
• a hacksaw
• a knife for whittling (only necessary if your dowels don't fit snugly into the balls - I used an X-acto knife - you don't need anything fancy)
• gloves (probably two pair - one for staining, one for finishing)
• wood glue
• tape measure
• pen for marking measurements
• timer

Step 1:  Sanding

Gather together your dowel(s) and balls.  Take a piece of the sandpaper, and sand them down until they feel smooth.  Make sure to wipe away all of the excess dust before proceeding.  Oh - and you probably want to do this outside, where you aren't likely to release a bunch of dust into your own home.

Step 2:  Staining

Next, stain the wood according to the direction on your wood stain container.  I had a rub on stain, which was perfect for this.  (It's difficult to paint on stain onto small, round surfaces.)  I put a bunch of stain on an old rag and rubbed that all over the wood, while wearing gloves.  Also to be done outside.

Step 3:  Drying

Now, the specifics will depend upon the directions for your wood stain, but the next step is to let the stain dry.  With a stain like mine, you have to wipe off the excess stain after letting it set for five minutes, then let it dry for two hours.  Better to let it dry overnight, if you have time.  Best done outside.  However, there was a wind and rain storm that night, so I had to move the little wooden things inside for this:

Except that then I noticed a problem.  If you click on the picture above, you might be able to see it, too.  I had stained three small balls, and one larger one.  I didn't even realize that there were two different sizes of balls in the pacakge!  It pays to read.  Anyhow, I found a fourth smaller ball and got it staining, too:

Step 4:  Cutting to size

Now that your dowels have had one coat of stain, it's time to cut them down to size.  Measure against your bag how long you need the handles to be.  Then carefully mark the length on the dowel and saw through the marking.  You can of course do this before you stain the wood.  I waited until after so I could see how the wood was staining, and whether there would be a major flaw in the wood.  That way, if necessary, I could have cut the handles to make sure that flaw didn't show in the finished product.  All was well, however.

Step 5:  Resizing the ends

If, like me, your dowels are a little too big for the holes in the balls, then you'll need to follow this step.  If your dowels fit snugly, then you can skip this and go on ahead.  While you can cut your dowels to size before staining, I would highly recommend doing this part of the process after you have put on your first coat of stain.  Here's why:

1.  You want to measure how deep the holes are in the balls.

2.  Then mark the same depth on the ends of your dowels.  That's how far into the dowel you need to whittle to get it to fit snugly.

3.  Then score a ring around the dowel at that mark.  If you look closely in this picture, you can see how that score mark stands out - it is light wood against the stain.  If you hadn't stained the wood first, this would be much harder to see.

4.  Then take a knife and stick the edge of the blade into that scored edge, and carefully whittle thin slices of wood off - from the score to the end of the dowel.

5.  When you've gone all the way around once, try putting the dowel into your ball.  Should fit snugly now.  If it is loose, you've scraped off too much wood.  Try again.  If it still doesn't fit, try whittling off small bits, and testing it after each whittle to see if it fits yet.

Step 6:  Testing it out

Now try putting your handles together on the bag.  Make sure they are the length you really want.

And - most importantly - measure them against each other!  Make sure the lengths match.  You may need to trim the handles, and even re-whittle to get them to match.  Play around with it until you are happy.

Step 7:  Gluing

Now it is time to glue one of the balls on to the end of each dowel.  Only ONE.  Don't put them both on there, or you can't finish finishing the handles!!!

Follow the instructions for your wood glue here.  (Mine said you needed to clamp the wood together.  Not really for this kind of project.  Just let it sit and dry a while).

You'll notice, however, that at the join between ball and dowel you can see a little bit of light, unstained wood peeking through.  This can happen as a result of the whittling stage.  No problem.  That's why we have done all of this work after only one coat of stain.

Step 8:  Restaining

Once your glue has dried, it's time for a second coat of stain.  When you put on this coat, be sure to stain any exposed unstained wood on either end of your dowels.  Here are my dowels staining outside:

Be sure to stain the balls that aren't yet glued onto the dowels!  You want everything to match!

You can go nuts at this point and keep staining to your heart's content.  Staining is not trivial, since we are working with what I would consider to be low-grade woods.  The woods for the dowels and balls that I used are completely different and took stain at different rates.  You might want to consider factors like this in the staining process.  But at a certain point, you have to let go of the imperfections of your stained wood, and move on to the next step.

Step 9:  Finishing

Don't get too excited - we aren't really finished yet.  We are just applying a finishing coat to the wood.  There are a couple of different kinds of products on the market you could use here - lacquers, polyurethanes, etc.  Follow the instructions for your particular kind of product.

I used a spray lacquer.  I have to say I will NEVER use this stuff again.  I used it outside, but it didn't matter - it still managed to seep into my apartment, and I had to air out the apartment all day long during 45 degree weather.  Ugh.  You'll still want to use gloves while handling this - cause it is sticky.  Use a different pair than you used for staining, so you aren't messing up the finish with stain residue.  I put on two coats of finish - the timer is there to make sure they were going on at 30 minute intervals - check your packagaing for details, but generally you want to do multiple coats within a limited time frame.

Then let it all dry.

A few tips:  a) make sure you are finishing the balls that are unattached.  b) there seems to be no good way to make sure that the balls aren't touching the ground somehow.  Maybe if you had a complicated clamp system, you could clamp the end of the dowel to a table and suspend the rest of it in the air.  That would be cool.  I didn't have any such contraption.  I just made sure that the dowel wasn't always resting on the same side, and I flipped the balls as I finished them.  I got a little bit of lacquer pooling as a result, but not so much that I can't live with it.

Step 10:  Assembling (or really finishing!)

When the handles are dry and no longer tacky to the touch, they should feel pretty smooth.  If they don't, you may need to do more to finish them (including re-sanding and re-lacquering).  Mine worked fine after two coats.

Then, you start with your bag:

Insert your finished handles:

(note how shiny they are - that's the lacquer.  You can get lacquer that is more or less shiny.  I went for the shiniest.)

Then, attach the balls on the other end with wood glue:

And finish off with a cute pin:

Voila!  You now have a bag with wooden handles!

Comments

[Katherine]

Wow. That is one hell of a tutorial. Thanks from the bottom of my heart for all the work that surely went into it. And I LUUUURVE that bag!

[margene]

Sadly Laurie doesn't read any blogs. The bag is so beautiful! She'll love it..er lurve it. You are one smart cookie to figure out how to make the handles!

[Chris]

Thanks for the tutorial! Gorgeous bag, too.

[Jenifer]

Nice job! I'll definitely remember your tutorial here. Go post it on the tote-along, too!

[Jill]

I am quite certain, after reading that tutorial, that this bag would remain in my UFO pile forever. You are amazing!

[Katherine]

Hey, Dooce has got a great post about Big Love on her blog. A (female) former Mormon's POV much like my own.

[Isela]

Thanks bunches for that great tutorial. Just last night I was thinking of making a bag with handles like that but didn't know that I had to make them. Now, I know and I have printed out the instructions. Thanks bunches :)

[Zonda]

Thank you! Great tutorial! Will be printing it too :)

[Peggy in Utah]

What a Beautiful Bag. I just love the flowers and the handles are gorgeous. You are so very talented. Thanks for sharing.

[susan]

Wow, that's one hell of a post. Thanks!

[Alarming Female]

As the very fortunate recepient (sp?)of this lovely bag, I can only say THANK YOU, Michaele, for all the work and talent that went into this lovely piece. I love it, and I get compliments on it everywhere I go. You rock.

[maggie]

Wow! That is exceedingly cool! hmmmm maybe you can paint it different colors, they have colored poly stuff :O) Greens Blues Organges the possibilities are endless! and I love the bag as well! Though I am a Vegan :O( I am going to see how to do that with animal friendly stuff, but the colors ROCK and the idea is Smokin'!