Rivet, Rivet

I’ve been dreaming about getting a rivet press for a while now. I have a stupid little hand rivet setter with the hammer but they never seem to stay in place or they are mangled. For some reason the thought of buying a rivet press (which is much cheaper than other equipment I have purchased since starting this journey) just seemed like an extravagance. Like it was somehow a luxury that I wasn’t worthy of. After working with materials such as cork and vinyl, it’s really something I would need in order to attach handles correctly and make certain details look more finished. My temporary solution was to get Chicago Screws and use those instead. That worked for a while but once I figured out that, yes, I’m going to be using these other materials on a regular basis, it just made more sense to get the press. And it also comes with a hole punch attachment that goes through these thick layers much better than me trying to crunch through them with a hand held tool.

So, if I’ve been committed to this for over two years and have already invested in lots of other supplies, why deny myself the rivet press? I guess I was just trying to determine if I really needed it. It is pretty big and heavy. I also have to find space to store all the separate cutting dies and rivets/snaps in various metallics. I was thrilled when one of my favorite youtubers, Oklaroots, did a whole video just about the rivet press and showed how to use it and what supplies are the best for bag making. I think my biggest obstacle turned out to be that I just didn’t know what to order. Right after that video all of her followers went out and bought the rivet presses! The company was so overloaded with orders that they had to backorder my rivet press. So I waited for about a month (because I wanted the pink one and I was willing to wait for it). It showed up a few weeks ago in all it’s glory!

It is really heavy! I did some tests on scrap fabric before using it on any real projects. The first thing I used it on was the faux leather handles of my Blanche Barrel bag from an earlier blog post. I was amazed that it was able to cut through all the layers and the rivets look really nice, although I’ll need to work on centering them better. So, mission accomplished and now I’m ready to put rivets in everything!

The Details:
Rivet Press: KamSnaps
Rivet Sizes: I ordered the 8” and 10” rivets as those will work best for what I need. I also ordered the metal fashion spring snaps
Video by Oklaroots