Leather hand rail

It was a ridiculously late summer night a couple of months ago when we finished the hand rail of the staircase. This final part of the project was not expected to be that challenging, but it required four hands and allowed no interruptions. Thus, we needed to wait until the children were temporarily removed from the equation. And then the fun started, around 11 pm. 

First, the cut leather pieces were stained in a mixture of alcohol and leather dye just by dipping the leather into the mixture, followed by a quick squeeze just to get rid of the excess dye. We did not aim for the staining to be even, this way the end result would be visually more interesting. 

Fresh out of the dye bucket

A thin layer of urethane glue was applied on top of the hand rail. The wet leather was stretched tightly around the rail to give it a nice, tight fit. Admittedly, wrapping long leather pieces neatly around the handrail without making a complete mess of a white wall right next to it proved to be nearly impossible. But in the end we managed quite all right, causing just minor damage (nothing that a bit of white paint could not fix). One of us chose to wear gloves...

Half way up

...and the other one did not. It took weeks for the urethane glue fixed dye to wear off.

Gloves are for sissies!!

About four hours later the entire hand rail was covered. Some couples spend their "no-children" quality time having a romantic dinner or going to movies, but these hours spent in the staircase were the closest we got to couple time this summer. But hey, it was certainly worth it. And there is some magic in finishing a project at wee hours.

What do you think?

A couple of days later when the urethane glue had dried Pekka applied a layer of beeswax for protection. Now everyone who comes for a visit is advised to hold the rail all the way down, to wear it out as much as possible. The more the better, so you are all welcome - our stair case needs your contribution!

Inviting human touch