Portland, Oregon Question

[opossum]

Howdy,

I was at a convention in Atlanta over the Labor Day weekend (US Holiday) & sat in on a panel hosted by a Michael Cook which inspired me to look into this craft.

Now that I am back home in the Portland, Oregon area I've found two places via Google which sell supplies to leatherworkers:

Tandy Leather Factory

Oregon Leather Company

I have visited Tandy & will be visiting the other in a few hours.

Tandy has some basic classes every week & I'm sure Oregon Leather Co. has the same sort of thing. This would seem to be a good place to begin, however I would rather become associated with a group or artist co-op/area.

My question: Are there any co-ops or leatherworking groups in the Portland area? And while I have a full time job which I have been at for 20+ years maybe there is a leatherworker who (and this is antiquated) looking for an apprentice? I'm not looking to be paid in cash, just knowledge & I'll buy my own stuff.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

David

[electrathon]

David,

Tandy has weekly classesclasses. They are very basic. I am not aware of any classes currently from Oregon Leather. They are the only two leather stores in town. The next closest is Oregon Leather in Eugene, last I heard they sometimes have basic classes there.

What sort of stuff are you trying to learn? I do a lot of tooling, knife sheathes, holsters and that sort of stuff. I can show you some things if you want. I will also be teaching a class on holsters in about a month at Tandy. If you saw the one on the wall behind the counter, I made that one. It is what the class will be structured off of. I am there sometimes durring the weekly classes too.

Search my screan name and you will see some work I have done posted here.

Aaron

Edited September 12, 2011 by electrathon

[BillB]

You may want to subscribe to "The Leather Crafters & Saddlers Journal".

In the back of this Journal is a list of Guilds and Societies that are involved in Leather Crafts. They list:

Emerald Valley Leather Crafters Guild in Eugene, Oregon, Contact: 541-687-1120

Rogue Valley Leather Guild, Central Point, Oregon, Contact: 5451-826-3177

and

International Internet Leathercrafters' Guild, Contact: treasurer@iilg.net

BillB

[opossum]

Howdy,

I visited Oregon Leather Company yesterday & it takes up the whole block it seems with lots of leather & a bunch of tack. I can understand this as I assume most of the money to be made is in products for horse owners with a lesser amount for motorcycle items, fixing household furniture & automotive seats etc. Sadly, I am not really interested in any of those except one or two. Surprisingly, they offer no classes & pointed me towards Tandy. This led me to believe the only way to learn is to either know someone or through trial & error. We shall see.

@BillB - Thanks for the information; I shall look into those when I return from work this evening. I have friends in Eugene & often make trips down there, so that may work out quite well.

@electrathon - I need to crawl before I can walk, so anything I learn will be great as you never know where or where that ah ha moment will come. That said, what is fueling my ambition is thoughts of making the saddle bags for my bike, some leather armor & costuming pieces for myself or friends, putting the family crest on a piece; maybe on a shield or something...basically things which seem to be in the minority. Not that I have anything against saddles & tack, but I really doubt even if I ended up making a saddle nobody would want it once I got done putting the design on it I wanted & while I don't know what that would be it most likely wouldn't be the standard western motifs I normally associate with riding...but then I haven't been around many horses since I moved from eastern Oregon.

David

[electrathon]

As far as bike stuff, I would recomend you make a tool bag before you make saddle bags. A lot smaller and easier to learn, no need to ballance both sides either. Your main thing you will need to learn is sewing and basic assembly, then all the details that come in between. If you want me to show you some if this I can show you, a few hours playing with things and you will start to get the hang of it.

Aaron

[$$hobby]

Howdy,

I was at a convention in Atlanta over the Labor Day weekend (US Holiday) & sat in on a panel hosted by a Michael Cook which inspired me to look into this craft.

Now that I am back home in the Portland, Oregon area I've found two places via Google which sell supplies to leatherworkers:

Tandy Leather Factory

Oregon Leather Company

I have visited Tandy & will be visiting the other in a few hours.

Tandy has some basic classes every week & I'm sure Oregon Leather Co. has the same sort of thing. This would seem to be a good place to begin, however I would rather become associated with a group or artist co-op/area.

My question: Are there any co-ops or leatherworking groups in the Portland area? And while I have a full time job which I have been at for 20+ years maybe there is a leatherworker who (and this is antiquated) looking for an apprentice? I'm not looking to be paid in cash, just knowledge & I'll buy my own stuff.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

David

welcome.

good luck in your seach.

afa Oregon Leather in eugene, you maybe disappointed. the last time i was there was in the mid 80s and at that time it was a small store. they had some stuff that i needed when i was at UofO,but also back then there were several Tandys around too. just dont expect the same size.

depending on what you want to make will determine who you want to apprentice with. i would say that leatherwork is leathework,but if dont want to make horse tack, then why would you want to apprentice with a tack maker. So, if you figure out what you want to make/do, then search out those poeple and ask them. BTW, you have Saturday Market with crafts people there. if you find someone, ask or even ask them where they learned.

SInce youre a noob, joining the group at Tandy/TLF is going to HELP you more then hurt. you can learn the basics tools and handling techniques and terminology. Then when you get board, you can leave and look for whoever. also, fyi, there are schools out there that cover saddle/tack making and maybe some others.

also, fyi, there is a leather trade show in Pendleton in November? i belive its put on by Ferdco? anyway, there will be crafts/trades people there too.

another also, if youre into books/reading about the subject, try Powells and the many used book stores around the area including the Library. Our library system can "order" books from other libraries if they dont have it locally. at one time it was free to do the "order" but i havent done it in a long time. fyi, Powells has a section on leathercraft. look for the "Texttiles" section near the NW corner entrance. i was there a last weekend and it appeares that either its been cleaned out or someone got alot of the books.

also, fyi, you may just have to do the T&E approach.

Edited September 14, 2011 by $$hobby

[opossum]

Howdy,

With friends in Eugene the trip alone to see them to decompress is worth it, but I'll check it out when I'm there plus one of my friends there mentioned some sort of artist co-op or something where leather work was being done...I might be confused about that part.

As far as being an apprentice, I really doubt there is someone out there who likes to make weird things with leather such as some of the things I mentioned, however learning even the basics such as how to tell when the leather you are working with is cased correctly, using dyes, stitching etc would go a long way towards any future leatherwork I believe. So, I'll give Tandy a try when I can since my schedule rotates around some. A trade show in Pendelton in November? Oddly enough that is also the month the Fall Round up Poker tournament is; now I have two reasons to go.

Powell's is normally an excellent source of reading material & I have as of yet to hit them up, but will do so this weekend.

Thanks for all the pointers & I figure T&E is life.

David

[Sylvia]

Howdy,

I was at a convention in Atlanta over the Labor Day weekend (US Holiday) & sat in on a panel hosted by a Michael Cook which inspired me to look into this craft.

Now that I am back home in the Portland, Oregon area I've found two places via Google which sell supplies to leatherworkers:

Tandy Leather Factory

Oregon Leather Company

I have visited Tandy & will be visiting the other in a few hours.

Tandy has some basic classes every week & I'm sure Oregon Leather Co. has the same sort of thing. This would seem to be a good place to begin, however I would rather become associated with a group or artist co-op/area.

My question: Are there any co-ops or leatherworking groups in the Portland area? And while I have a full time job which I have been at for 20+ years maybe there is a leatherworker who (and this is antiquated) looking for an apprentice? I'm not looking to be paid in cash, just knowledge & I'll buy my own stuff.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

David

Hi David:

I'm originally from the Roseburg area. I know that Paul at http://www.sodhoppers.com has a video apprenticeship available on DVD. I don't know if this is something you are interested in but the Course is $500. I would give my arm and leg to be able to do afford that. (maybe when I win the lottery?) Paul seems like a very friendly soul, so it couldn't hurt to give him a call. Maybe you and the gent from Gresham can lure him up to the big city for some private lessons? Couldn't hurt to give him a call, all he can do is say "No." right?

[dragonspit]

One of the positive things about the tandy stuff, you can buy some of the cheaper smaller kits such as billfolds. A lot of these kits, are really helpful as far instruction and getting to know how to do some of the basic stuff and its pre made so you can learn one thing at a time. for me, it was a great starting point. you can learn as you go and there is a ton of help here. and if you afford one of there box kits that has some of the basic tools already in it. all the better.