ClayB

When I was about 14, my grandfather made me a leather belt for my birthday. That was my first introduction to hand carved leather. Later that same year we had an introductory class in leather carving in junior high school. After the class, I continued my learning through some classes at a Tandy Leather store in Oklahoma City. Carving leather has been a hobby (obsession at times) ever since.

After graduating from high school in Salt Lake City in 1979, I moved to North Dakota onto my grandparent's ranch in the badlands. I helped them with the ranch for a few years, eventually taking it over when I married my wife Stacy, and my grandparents retired. I spent the next 20 years of my life living my childhood dream of being a cowboy along with raising a family. Over the years, the dream lost some of it's appeal and I ended up selling off the cows and leasing out the ranch. I spent the next several years doing construction work but never liking it at all. In August of 2011, my wife had an opportunity to purchase a scrap book supply store in Rapid City, SD. We decided to start a new chapter in our lives and are now living in South Dakota. The Black Hills has always been one of our favorite vacation spots, so living here is pretty special. I am now working at Tandy Leather Factory, helping other people find the supplies they need to do their own leather projects, and teaching what I can.

A lot of people who have websites on the internet say they are self taught. I am not. I take every opportunity I can to learn from those who have more skill than I do. When we first got on the internet, I joined an online leather guild. The first thing I learned was that I had a lot to learn! For the last several years I have been attending the big leather trade show in Sheridan, WY. I have been able to take classes from some of the real masters of the craft, Bob Beard, Pete Gorrell, Al Gould, Jan Schoonover, Tony Laier, Paul Burnett Kathy Flanagan, Jim Linnell and Cheryl Smeja. A few years ago, I met Rex Cook, a saddle maker from Dickinson, ND and with his instruction (and a couple grants from the ND Council for the Arts) I have learned to build saddles. I have also had the privledge of being one of the founding members of Leatherworker.net, the worlds largest online community of leatherworkers, dedicated to education, entertainment and fellowship. Through this group, I have met and shared leatherwork experiences with other leatherworkers from around the world.