ConradPark

Just out of curiosity, would you mind clarifying what you mean? Did you get requests to make a custom item or did you already make it? Do you have an Etsy shop yourself? And the pictures, are those your pictures of your made items or just random pictures of other peoples works? Sorry, no mean to offend, I just got a bit confused.

It's really hard to know what you're talking about as there are no pictures. But I'll try to help you. First, I don't know if you're using regular pricking irons or if you're using the 'Japanese style' for lack of a better word. But regardless, it's always more difficult to punch through more layers/thicker material than less/thinner so PRACTICE. You should glue all parts together first. Otherwise, you make it hard for yourself. If you have a stitching clamp, just mark the holes and use an awl to drive through the holes. A bit difficult at first so you need to PRACTICE but after a while it's actually easier, especially if the material is very thick. There are loads of videos about saddle stitching on YouTube - have a look. Finally, like every skill you can only get better with PRACTICE. Sometimes when you fail, it's not because you've done something wrong, but because you haven't done it enough. Good Luck.

Well, if you're actually talking about the item in the picture I'm afraid that you will not be able to salvage it. You'll need to remove the stitching and start over. Regardless of how you attach the zipper to the leather prior to stitching (gluing or tape or whatever) it's there and then you'll be able to make any adjustments. If it's not lying flat just pull it off and start over. Once it's flat, start stitching. Using a stitching pony/clamp helps. Make sure not to pull away the zipper material of the leather as you stitch - difficult in the beginning but with practice it gets easier. I always push a stitching awl through all holes prior to stitching while having it flat against a rubber mat or similar. Makes it easier when sewing. Also - the width of the gap for the zipper should be as little as possible. Yours seems a bit unnecessary wide - but it might be the photo. Finally, use metal zippers. Nylon/plastic zippers are usually of lower quality and that might also explain the stretchiness. Good Luck.

I think that most people have mentioned the most important things on this thread already, however I would like to emphasize that you need to realize that your belt, the craftsmanship and quality etc. has very little to do with if that item will sell on Etsy or not. The truth is that Etsy and all the similar market places work in a specific way and to succeed there requires very much of an effort - too much to mention all of it here. Basically, you need to enter it as you would with running any business and you need to have that mindset. A lot of people complain about Etsy and how difficult it is. It is difficult to succeed there, but the truth is also that most people - regardless of how beautiful and well crafted items they produce - aren't very good at running a business. This is why you see many successful shops selling mediocre and sometimes crappy stuff, because they know how to run their business, they know how to price according to demand and how their target demographic perceives value, they have professional photographs taken with studio equipment, well researched business plan, they know what works and what doesn't and they are ready to change to make it work and everything is about making the sale and run a profit. On the other hand, you'll see plenty of well made stuff that hardly sells. At the best it might provide some coffee money, even though their products are superb. The reason is foremost that they lack the will and knowledge to run a business. Secondly, most people that want a high end quality hand crafted whatever and are willing to spend silly money to get it - will most likely not go to Etsy to look for it. I'm not trying to discourage you. However, I do think that you should worry less about Etsy and more about continuing with your craft and the pleasure of doing it. With time you'll get the hang of Etsy and the rest, even if it will probably take years. The thing is, that if you rush into the whole thing about selling and so on, you'll soon notice that there will be little time over for actually enjoying doing leather craft. Food for thought. Remember to have fun.

Get a proper oiling stone or water stone and learn how to properly sharpen your tools, this takes time and will be very frustrating, but when you'll finally get the hang of it you'll wonder how you did things before. It affects everything from stitching to cutting. And finish your projects even if it turns to crap in the middle of it. That will teach you that sometimes you can salvage things anyway, and it actually makes you to be more careful for the next project. There is nothing wrong and even advisable to use a free template or copy something that is copy free to learn how to make something for the first time. But for the next time, try to do something that is your own, change anything really - size, design, type of leather, etc. This in itself will teach you not to just be a robot. Do start and finish a project, small or large on a regular basis, especially if you're not sure how to go ahead. You will quickly realize that most questions, answer them self as you're working on your stuff and that there are seldom needed to seek answers through others. Most of the time your questions are because you haven't tried.

Looks great! Would really like to know a bit about your process, maybe you could do a tutorial for the future, like how you attach the teeth and what materials you're using. Refreshing to see a different kind of work than the usual card holders, gun holders and book holders. Cheers.

Get an arbor press, one of the best investment you could do, ever. It doesn't cost too much and you'll be pretty much able to do almost everything that requires a hammer - besides from tooling. This way you can concentrate to do only tooling when the hours permit it and then you can do all other leather work at any other hour. Besides it gives you more control when using pricking irons and it gives a better end result when you set rivets or stamp big stamps like a makers mark. Good Luck.

Looks very nice! Out of curiosity, are you using any machines when producing a belt like this besides a sewing machine and a clicker press? And do you use leather for the filler or any other material? Would be nice if you wanted to share these 'secrets', thanks.

Leather and water don't really work well together for a long time as we all too well know. For 'exposure' only, leathers for saddle, reins, Latigo leathers and such could work but would eventually be ruined. A friend of mine had a 'leather' collar for her Pit bull that held for a long time, when it finally started to fall apart, I realized that the maker had a made the collar with a padded outer layer of chrome tanned leather and a core of parachute webbing. Not a bad idea if you think about it. The picture is NOT this collar but rather a stock picture illustrating the style of collar. The webbing and padding are obviously hidden.

The Lucris Handpress M A III Series - Manual clicker is available in Europe from either Germany; http://www.starcuttingboards.de/en/handstanze.html Or UK; https://www.alpress.co.uk/new-products.html As far as I know it's trade only and unfortunately the price range seems to change quite often, but unless you're going to use clicker templates that are for bag making this is still a very economical alternative, not to mention that they are small and doesn't need electricity. If you contact them for a price quote, I think a lot of people here would like to know the current prices! Good Luck!

My advice is to either take the seat to a furniture restorer or at least get in touch with such a store, they obviously specialize in this matter and often have special treatments to make old furniture leathers get a new life. They will probably advise you to use some kind of de-glazer to clean it up, sandpaper it even to smooth out bumps , using some kind of latex filler to smooth out any holes and cracks, use a re-conditioner to make the leather oily and soft again, airbrush in a new color (all these restorers can usually mix colors to exact shades an sell it in small 2 Oz amounts) and seal it with a lacquer. I actually think the leather looks in pretty good condition, scraped and miss colored, yes, but no major cracks and the stitching seems fine. From time to time I have taken up with re-holster old pub stools and the few times the owner wanted to 'bring it back' rather than to have a new cover I took them to my local furniture restorer. No shame in that. If the Conchos are removable I think that cleaning them by electrolysis is the easiest method. I don't know how it works in Texas, but here in London most larger car shops can do that and some also do chroming or re-plating. Otherwise, I'm afraid that the only other option might be fine steel wool and elbow grease with metal polish! Good Luck!

Well, I don't know where in South Korea you are but leather craft is HUGE there, much more so than in UK or Sweden where I'm from, so I'm afraid I need to correct you on this one. Maybe you just have been misinformed! Anyways, I know for a fact that in Seoul, Busan, Incheon, Dageon and probably a few more, there are several leather craft shops, both studios and workshops, suppliers etc. In case that you're far from those cities or any of the other larger cities and stuck on the country side - well, then I do apologies for your inconvenience. Now before you ask me to name a few places, I actually think it's easier for you to find one if you start to ask/google around (just do it and you'll see that there are several places that sells materials, offer classes and yes, rent and sells equipment and the services), since you're actually there. I also know that there are quite a few Korean leather crafts people here on this forum that you could ask, the most famous one is probably Huns (I don't know him but he is definitely one of the best leather workers on this forum AND Korean).

I don't know where you're located but most larger leather workshops/shoe shops/saddlers and leather craft reseller/suppliers also have a leather splitting service or at least the machine and if asked nicely they are most of the time willing to do so for almost no money, unless you bring 100 square feet of material to be split! . Cut out the pieces slightly larger than the pattern you need for your wallets and bring all the pieces to the workshop. If they have an industrial band splitter it shouldn't be a problem to split leather up to 10-12 inches wide, more than enough for any wallets. I almost always need different weights of the same leather, thinner for card pockets, even thinner for lining, medium for inside walls and a thick one as an outside and for small runs it's cheaper to cut all the parts from one hide to later split the leather at a workshop than to buy 4 different hides in 4 different weights. Good luck.

Having grown up with a family business that manufactured clogs and shoes, I have to say that by looking at the pictures alone won't really give you any good answer. Why? Because these kind of product/advertising pictures photography is made to look nice. Not to reveal any trade information. And what kind of leather that is used is as broad as there are brands/manufacturers. When you produce shoes (I guess this is what you're interested in) depending on what scale we are talking about and what the budget is, you'll most likely to visit different leather suppliers that will show you a vast range of leathers. In the end what will matter is the look you're after, the economical restrains and what is on offer. You'll be surprised how much cheap leather that can look expensive and how much expensive leather can look cheap. Not to talk about all non leather materials that can be used. On top of all this there are loads of 'speciality' leathers just for the shoe manufacture, market (some leathers or skins have a plastic surface, some are treated for oil and fire resistance, some are approved to be used for shoes to be used in hospitals), likewise as there are special leathers for the automotive interior market and for the furniture market. To cover them here would be almost impossible.That's why there are suppliers. It's their job to supply you with the leather you're after and those are the ones you should contact to get information about what leather YOU need for YOUR shoes. Then you'll need to find suppliers for all the other material, find a shoe manufacturer, get price quotes, haggle, have everyone to agree and approve of every step and what part they play, sign contracts and insurance, make sure that there is a timetable that suits everyone, cover costs of transportation, stocking, import and export taxes, customs, unexpected costs, delivery to retailers ( because I assume you already HAVE customers for your shoes...), and there you have some of everything that goes in to have shoes made today. Then of course there are the marketing and future sales and so on. Good Luck.

The gun metal snap post is slightly longer on your picture and I think that is a more likely cause to your problem. One way to counter the problem would be to make and use a leather washer. There is also a snap fastener setter tool that CS Osbourne are making (around 25-30 USD) that is cheaper than a dedicated snap setter press. If you use that with an arbor press you will basically never fail - as long as the length of the snap post is suitable for the thickness of the leather.

If you read old topics from this forum, you will notice that, while some are happy to give specific feedback and a lot of negative criticism, NO ONE will help people that doesn't show to make an effort them self or at least to have a clue what they are talking about. You might as well have asked how to start a restaurant. I'm not trying to be rude, I'm just giving you a reality check. Go to a local business center and get free advice there, go to the library for loads of free books. Do a semester in business management, work in the business yourself, learn the trade from actually working in a factory. When you've done all that you'll realize that you won't need to ask what you did. Good luck.

I personally always prefer to make and use leather washers. Some don't like the look, but I actually think it looks very professional. This is some pictures of a notebook cover I made a year back. It's oiled vegetable tanned Italian leather, 1.4 mm (on the inside) and very soft. I used line 20 brass snaps and reinforced with one leather washer (same leather) as seen in the second picture. Depending on the length of the snap post, you might need to use a thicker leather for the washer - learn by trial and error as there's never just one rule that works. Never got a complaint from this method.

There is no short answer to your question and I'm not really sure this forum is the best place to get any real helpful advice more than is already written. Success in business depends on so many different factors that you're probably better off spending some afternoons at your local library reading books about managing small business, online marketing, etc. On top of that you need to focus on providing a better and more unique product than others. If you can't or aren't maybe you're better off having your items produced for you and that gives you more time to focus on marketing. Running a business is very different from just having a hobby. It takes patience, sweat and long hours for a few years. At least. Not trying to put you down or anything but this is the truth. The library will have all the information you need. You need to be prepared to do this for years to come. There are no shortcuts. Others that seem to have a quicker success have most likely had a good funding and probably a small army of employees and others to help them out and on top of that previous experience in starting up a business. While I know that your question was more specific about your website and traffic, I think that you need and should focus on all aspects of your venture. With time and hard work you will see that things start to pick up. If you manage to endure. All the best.

I just moved to Sweden from the UK and felt a bit dissapointed with what's on offer. The cheapest veg tan leather I found so far was on sale and 100SEK a square feet and that's twice the price what I can buy good quality hides in UK for. I was wondering if any of the Scandinavian based leatherworkers here have some good advice on places in Scandinavia to buy veg tan. I would feel sad if I had to import from the UK as that means my margins would shrink even more. It's bad enough that taxes are almost the double here already. I also would like to find somewhere in south of Sweden where I could outsource a splitting service. Hope there are someone here to help me!

This is the method I use and it never failed me. I take a square of lint free cotton (normally found in a paint shop or iron store), fold it a couple of times and tie up the corners with a rubber band so what you get is something that looks like a mini picnic sack from a cartoon. Apply the Tan-Kote to your cotton and then 'paint' your leather with the cotton in ONE direction only. When there is no more Tan-Kote transfering, apply more Tan-Kote to the cotton and continue to transfer to your leather in the SAME direction. Let dry overnight.

It is called a 'back stitch' and is a common way to do a decorative hand stitch with garments. It is especially helpful to hold flimsy textiles in place and get away with a wide stitch count. Only make sure to have the needle go up on the same side on the back side of the previous stitch to get a uniform look. To 'lock' it just over stitch and back stitch one stitch and either burn the edge if it's a synthetical thread or white glue it.

With the number of people that on regular basis do things like this on the forum (trying to get promoted) just to get a ass whopping from this friendly community I can that conclude that most of them are lazy. Because if they actually took the time to check out the forums they would know better than to try in the first place. The one thing on this forum that is not in general appreciated, is the prospect of someone else success in business. I have over the years wondered why so many of the established leather makers and professionals in various leather related businesses always seem to be absent here unless it is to try to promote or advertise. Sad really.

Looking great! May I ask what size of grommets you use and the weight of the leather?

It also depends what kind of leather of course. If you find vegetable tanned leather that has been drum dyed, you'll find that slightly more supple that natural saddle leather. Still easy to both do tooling and apply finish (and to hand color if you got a light colored one to start with). To a certain extent this is true with tumbled leather as well but the weight is in general heavier and the surface has more 'character'. I sometimes use vegetable tanned calf that has been both drum dyed and tumbled. Normally it's around 3-4 oz, soft and pliable but because it's vegetable tanned you can still surface decorate it. Maybe not a full sheridan pattern but definitely a border or your makers mark. Most reputable leather merchants will send/give you small samples to try on.

I'm sure the professional saddle makers here will give you a proper answer, however I just think that the time and effort to take away the old stitching, make a fringe, re sandwich and sew everything again seems as much work as to do it from scratch. But less fun. Why not use the old ones as templates and learn something new!