This is a remake from the FlooBag made at the Waag Society Amsterdam.
I wanted to make this bag in my own colors and material.

original:
http://fablab.waag.org/archive/floo-bag

Step 1: Blueprint Wooden Sides

The blueprint for the two wooden sides of the bag. They have the size of an A3, 297x420mm. The small circles have a 3mm diameter, just big enough for a little rope or textile line. To engrave my monogram, I placed a black and white jpeg in the file, I was suprised this was possible. Stroke: 0,0254 pt. The lightblue line in the file explains the space of tghe lasercutter, 800x450mm.

Step 2: Wood and Settings

I saw a thin wooden plate, 3mm thick, a soft wood. I saw the wood to 45x65cm, a bit bigger than my document (29,7x42cm).
In the settings I choose ‘Soft Wood > General Soft Woods’.

I used Metric and put 'Auto Z' > 'enabled' on.

Step 3: Test Engraving

I wanted my logo on the wood, so I put a jpeg of my logo in black and white on the side.
To test the jpeg engraving, I put inside the grip a jpeg and tried only this out first. It worked! So then I activated the whole print include the engravings.

Engraving: (power 94,8%) (speed 100%) (PPI 500) (Z-Axis 3.00mm)
Cutting: (power 100%) (speed 12%) (PPI 1000) (Z-Axis 3.00mm)
Auto Z: ‘Enabled’

Step 4: Cut All

The lasercut finished, it has cutted the wood very well.
The engravings are very percise. The little holes just felt out, so I didn't need extra work for that or an extra lsercutsession.

Step 5: Polish the Wood

Both of the sides did i polish with sandpaper, P100, just subtly enough to make the surface and edges soft.
Don’t forget to remove the dust after polishing!

Step 6: Textile Measuring and Cutting

I really wanted to use thick leather, but i couldn’t manage it to buy it in this short time. So, I bought skai, fake leather. Wile buying it I tried to contact the lasercutting agency to ask if I could cut this or not, but they didn’t pick up. I decided to find out later. The skai is 140x80cm, around 5 times to the size I needed, but it was around 6 euros and I wanted to be sure to have enought material to experiment with.

Unfortunately, I found out at the Waag that there is PVC in skai: toxic to burn it. I decided to cut it with scissors, I only needed one row of course. I wouldnt need to cut holes, because I could sew through the skai with a needle. I only needed to draw point where I needed to sew through.

Measuring:

The three sides together for sewing are 91,5cm. The width of the piece of skai could I choose free, I chose 24cm, so I could carry pretty much stuff in the bag.
Draw this piece with a lineal on the skai (on the more cotton back you can draw very well) and cut it out with a pair of scissors.

Put the long perforated side just 1,5cm upon the skai. Draw with a ballpen dots through the holes on the back side of the skai. (1) Do this also for the other long side of the piece. (2) Then you need to do the same for the short sides, 4 times on the piece.(3,4,5,6)

Step 7: Paint/spray

Spray both of the wooden sides the color you prefer. I chose black. I started spraying too late, it was already dark. I advice to spray in daylight. I used black matte ink.

To spray the wood in one job without turning and waiting, I picked to chairs and an iron cord to hang them up freely. Now i could spray them everywhere.
The cord can go through the grip or through a perforation. To prevent slipping of the wood to the middle of the cord, I fold a curve in the iron, so the wood stays at the place I wanted.

Step 8: Sewing

On the market I bought this needle, around 1,5mm thick so it fits through the holes of the wood. And, important, the textile cord did fit in the needle.
The textile cord I bought was 3m long and has a widht of 4mm. It seemed pretty tough, but I found out later that it started to ravel out while sewing though the wood. To prevent this, you can choose a leather cord.

Step 9: Sewing

Put the long side of the piece on the wood with the marked dots on the right place. Now you can sew the skai togeher with the wood. Remind to let the cord come inside at the end of the long side.
In the corners: hold the skai just like the photo above. Go on with sewing while holding the corner. On the right photos, you see the result. Hold the cord tight.
In this way while sewing there comes a nice bow in the skai at the outside and the extra skai is invisible on the outside.

Step 10:

This is what you have now. Do not sew the side to the end. First start with the other wood: sew the long side to the skai first. Later on you will find out the sides are easier to put together in this way.

Step 11: Sewing

Now sew the small side to the wood. First the left hanging skai piece, then the other side. By using clothes pins you can keep the skai on the right position while sewing the dots through the holes. An extra hand is also welcome to keep the wood standing while sewing.
Sew through the dot on the skai, then though the wood. Then throught the next perforation in the wood, thought the textile dot and so on. Of course, you can not see the dot on the fake leather side of the skai, but you can see it while pricking real softly on the textile side without going through.

Step 12: Cord

Remember to keept the cord tight. Try to pull it extra at each perofration so it’s tight everywhere. With the loose end of the cords you can do different things.

- sew it througt the short ends of the skai
- just cut it of
- make a bow with the other loose ends (my decision)

Step 13: Final

The gravure stays visible, even when everything is black.
The skai folds nicely inside thank to the corner-holding.
The underside stays strong and doesn’t fold inside, what I expected from the beginning. It looks pretty like this.