Wineskin

Sometimes the best ideas come when it's too late to order online and nobody has one to borrow. Instead of throwing away a great idea, get those creative juices flowing and those wheels spinning - and make it yourself! That happened recently when we needed a wineskin as an object lesson for Luke 5:37.

Using a thrift store leather purse, leather twine, jute twine, sewing awl, and a hot glue gun, I made one in just a few hours.

Deconstruct the purse, leaving as much usable leather as possible, and cut it into the desired shape. There are several different styles to choose from.

Add pieces of fabric inside for shape.

For the wineskin neck, I used a heavy, thick paper towel roll. Use anything sturdy and tube shaped you have on hand. Then hot glue as you wrap the leather around the tube. (The paper towel roll extends to the bottom of the purse to help hold up the neck upright.)

For a stitched look, punch holes with a sewing awl (or other sharp instrument) large enough to push the leather end through along the cut edges and weave it closed. It doesn't have to be pretty. Hot glue any areas that need to be flattened or closed.

For the strap, hot glue the purse strap ends onto each side. (This purse had two straps so I hot glued the ends together to make one long strap.) Wrap leather twine around the neck and where the straps are joined to hide the glued areas.

For the wineskin bottle cap, I wrapped jute twine around a small empty thread spool and hot glued in place.

And that's it! Just let it evolve and you go. I started with the idea of using a purse and created it as I went.

Look for the things you have on hand and you'll be surprised at what you can create.