Bag

K.C. indicated that pewter casting would work really well for the purse frame, so I found a Florilegium article on pewter casting with soapstone. Whether I can actually master this skill or not is something to be determined. I don't know that I can carve much of anything to make it resemble what I need, but I can always try.

Florilegium - Pewter Casting

Pewter Casting - Has illustrations and other research.
Pewter Casting - This site has a nice equipment list as well as two projects he worked through and a link to an online supplier for pewter.

Soapstone Bricks from Vermont - I think this is a fairly reasonable price, but it's not easy to find a lot of soapstone online, at least thus far.