SojournerLeather Report post Posted October 17, 2007 Hello, all. My wife and I are new here, and we thought we'd introduce ourselves a bit. Our names are Luke and Christine Thompson, and we run a small leather artisan group, Sojourner Leatherwork (www.sojournerleather.com). We learned our craft in Argentina, not the U.S., so our method is slightly different than American saddlework. Our teacher called his method 'cincelado del sur', a leather stamping method of gaucho/Andean origin. So, we learned our leatherwork in Argentina, and now we do leatherwork on the side here in the states. Our small business works mostly on book covers, like sketchbooks, journals, diaries, photo albums, wedding books, etc. We're interested, though, in expanding our skills into U.S. leatherwork, so I'm sure we'll be bouncing around this forum quite a bit picking up what we can! I uploaded a couple photos of our work. Nice to meet you all and see so much gorgeous work. Stop by our website and say hi. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jordan Report post Posted October 17, 2007 very nice tooling, welcome and enjoy Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Regis Report post Posted October 17, 2007 Welcome Luke and Christine. That is very nice work that you posted. Looking forward to seeing more of your designs. Are your book covers lined or just flesh side in? Once again, glad to have you join us. Regis Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Beaverslayer Report post Posted October 17, 2007 Welcome to the forum Luke and Christine, glad to have you here. That's some fine looking work you both do, and I like the lok of your website too. Ken Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
abn Report post Posted October 17, 2007 ¡Bienvenidos, Luke y Christine! I visited your web site and was amazed at all the beautiful work on display. You clearly have a treasure trove of unique handmade stamps, and you know how to use them, too! Kudos for helping keep the traditional craft of cincelado alive. For those folks here that may not know, Argentina is one of the world's leather capitals due to its fertile cattle land (known as Las Pampas) and the Argentine people's legendary appetite for red meat. I've been told that Buenos Aires is perhaps the best city in the world to acquire leather goods, especially considering the currency exchange rate, which makes most items half-price for American visitors. I'm actually in the early planning stages of a trip to Buenos Aires, and was wondering if you two might have the answers to a couple of questions I've been wondering about... What stores should you visit to see traditional Argentine leatherwork? (Not jackets and such, but rather boleadoras and other specialty items.) Is there a store in B.A. that not only sells finished leather goods, but also supplies like tanned hides, tools, or the handmade stamps you all use in your designs? I'd like to return to the States with an appreciation of Argentine leatherwork and ideas for incorporating some of those traditional designs into my own work. Great to have you here, and thanks for posting your pics! Regards, -Alex Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Major Report post Posted October 17, 2007 Welcome to the both of you! Very nice work. Look forward to hearing what differences you find in the different tooling styles. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mike Craw Report post Posted October 17, 2007 Welcome to the site! When time permits, I'd like to see more of your work and perhaps a discussion of your tooling techniques. It is unusual and very nice! Mike Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SojournerLeather Report post Posted October 18, 2007 Thanks all for such a warm welcome. Alex: What stores should you visit to see traditional Argentine leatherwork? (Not jackets and such, but rather boleadoras and other specialty items.) Is there a store in B.A. that not only sells finished leather goods, but also supplies like tanned hides, tools, or the handmade stamps you all use in your designs? 1. There's two ways to go about this: You can either a) head to the really expensive "tourism" focused gift shops, but you're looking at paying much more (although the quality's guaranteed). We didn't check these out so much because we were traveling on the budget, but it should be fairly easy to find them with a good B.A. travel guide. The second option, is to head to the fairs. We were disappointed in the most famous street fair in B.A., the Sunday Plaza Domingo fair in San Telmo, but we stumbled on a real nice and big fair in Recoleta where we found a fair amount of leather work, including some beautiful cincelado. If you're heading to Cordoba, the big fair in the antique district had some beautiful leatherwork. Our teacher, Enrique Valdez, lives with his family in Cafayate (Tucuman province) and has his shop in the little market in the square. His work was the most impressive we saw (although he's talking about moving south to Ushuaia). 2. Most industries cluster their small businesses, so if you find one leather store, you'll find four or five right next to them. The best cluster in Buenos Aires we found was near the Buedo stop on the E subte line. I can't quite remember the details, but the cluster is two blocks walk from the stop, and you have to walk under an overpass. We bought several stamps there for the most reasonable prices in all of Argentina, and the selection was nice and fat. The neighborhood is not real touristy, so don't go at night (the shops'll most likely be closed). That should keep you busy researching for a bit . If you have any questions at all about any of this, shoot me an email or start a new thread, and we can get into the details. Argentina is an amazing place for crafts in general: not only is the leather top notch, but they have precious stones galore, as well as tin and jeweling metals. You can find a lot of beautiful art work to keep a craftsman busy in between mates. And you can't beat the prices for locally made tools. An average hand carved one-of-a-kind leather stamp cost about $3 US dollars. We came home with heavy luggage. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
abn Report post Posted October 18, 2007 Wow -- thanks for all the info. That gives me an incredible head-start on planning. I'll be sure to get in touch with you if I have additional questions. In the meantime, I hope you'll hang around and enjoy all the great members and their works of art we have here on Leatherworker.net. And don't be shy about posting pics of your latest projects -- your stuff is beautiful! Best regards, -Alex Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
abn Report post Posted October 18, 2007 Would you consider doing a tutorial or perhaps starting a new thread that explains the cincelado process and its history? I don't want to pressure you two 'cuz I know you're new, but I'd love to learn more about this if you're willing to share... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ClayB Report post Posted October 18, 2007 Hi Luke and Christine and welcome to leatherworker. Your work is really nice. I agree with Alex. I would love to see how you do your work, and see the tools you use. No pressure, but if you are interested, you have an audience. Clay Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SojournerLeather Report post Posted October 20, 2007 As soon as I have the time, I'll definitely do a nice overview of what we were taught in Argentina. I was considering doing a couple articles to post at our www.sojournerleather.com website as well as anywhere else. If possible, I'd like to contribute an article on it to anyone that has a leather website and posts articles and tutorials. Is there much interest in that, you think? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ClayB Report post Posted October 20, 2007 I would sure be interested! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
abn Report post Posted October 21, 2007 I'd be very interested, as well. Leatherworker.net attracts many thousands of visitors each month, so it's a great place to post information about products and processes -- in a place that will definitely get noticed. I look forward to reading more about cincelado in your future posts. Regards, -Alex Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
