NVLeatherWorx

@DavidL: Using your fictitious numbers problem above, your retail price should actually be more like $90.00 as the $45.00 price tag should be your wholesale price which is then multiplied by a factor of at least 2. This give you a truly fair profit margin/amount to work with that covers all of the "other" things that go into your product plus it makes it a bit easier to absorb those annoying price hikes that we see without hitting your overall profit as negatively as it would if you just worked for wholesale pricing level. Remember, as a business you have to make enough to pay all of those things plus maintain financial stability to remain in business.

The $8.00 per square foot price on 6oz. leather is actually a little high unless you are paying the full retail price which is still a bit up there. However, there are way too many variables as there are several different suppliers, the wide range of cuts (which cost more because of the fact that they are cutting it for you) and so on. The best idea is to shop around and look at every option. If quality finished goods are the intent then only direct your attention to the finer quality supplies/materials and don't get side tracked into thinking that you can make more profit by using the lesser quality materials unless you have the skill set to create a masterpiece out of water colors, a gluestick, and crepe paper. Quality starts with quality.

And you can get the same stuff for a whole lot less right here in the U.S.A., all you have to do is look around. Afterall, that calf where the leather in Italy came from was born, raised and processed right here in the U.S.A. anyway. Why buy an American product from a foreign source?

And where would one find it for the lower price than Amazon? That link would be highly beneficial for others to use as a comparison.

Tandy has a program where they do "coop" with other outlets but they have recently made some major changes to this program which actually has a negative impact on those other outlets and some of them are going to drop the Tandy relationship altogether. On the leather side of the conversation, Tandy has recently added two, yes only two, HO leathers into their inventory and I can tell you that even as a business with business pricing from their line, I can get that same HO leather (plus just about every other weight and grade available) for MUCH less than Tandy will ever be able to offer. I use HO leather pretty much exclusively and I get it from two sources: The Hide House in Napa, CA; and Springfield Leather in Springfield, MO. Yes, I have to have it shipped but I am still so far in the savings category by using these sources that I still won't even drive the 5 miles that it takes to get it from my local Tandy store. FYI, one of these suppliers that I get my HO from also has one of those agreements with Tandy and the recent changes are resulting in them starting to create, source, and produce their own (in-house concepts) to create an option to the buyer which I see eventually leading to their ultimate drop of anything Tandy branded. And that isn't a bad thing either. Give them a look and save some money; it will also help your overall profitability.

No offense here but all of that time and over engineering for such a simple looking thing? How much do you sell them for is the question now.

I know it is an old post and before I joined this group but for anyone else who finds themselves looking for something that Tandy used to have and no longer runs, or finds that a store employee insists that it never existed, just ignore that fact and check out Tandy's Leathercraft Library. This site is dedicated to patterns of projects from long ago as well as a vast range of books that are no longer in print or about to go out of print. And the best part is, they are much cheaper to purchase, download, and print than getting the book.

Very nice pattern and thank you for uploading it for others to consider. However, just a heads up to everyone who tries it, you may find that the card pockets are very small and tight. In fact, they will be too tight to put two cards into them side by side. I printed off at the 100% setting that it should have been and once I cut a set of test templates out (I always print off multiple sets of my patterns and use one to create a paper mock-up of the finished product) and found that the spacing between the center stitch line and the outer edges was exactly the SAME dimension as the width of a standard credit card. I took the cut outs and enlarged them to 110% which made them much more receptive for a card. I ended up making a second set at 115% which made them large enough for a user to insert more than one card per slot (and we all know that everyone we make wallets and clutch purses for always cram them full of cards and junk anyway so I did it just so I don't here "could you make the pockets a little bigger in the future?"). Still, a very solid design and it brings a style that far exceeds what others have. Thanks again for the upload and may everyone have some success with it.

Depends on what you are using them for as to whether this may pose an issue. Typically, once you work any of the softer leathers into their final product you will have some natural folding going on anyway, unless they are used as a lining or attached to a firm backing which would require them to be slightly stretched anyway thereby removing any folds or evidence of them. For an example, consider what a leather jacket looks like when brand new and hanging on the rack versus after it has been worn only for a short while. You see every fold where the person twists, bends, etc. and they only get more pronounced over time. Again, depending on the application for which you plan on using them and whether or not the idea of a pristine appearance is going to detract in any way from the finished product is going to let you know what YOU need to do with them. I personally don't lose any sleep over this type of issue as it adds character to the finished product up front and will most likely be seen more folds anyway as the finished product for which it was used goes through the rigors of use and wear.

It is indeed the market for the smaller, cheaper items which will basically walk out the door at any of these events. However, it does help to have examples of the bigger stuff or those special items that people always ask about so that you can get an opening for a custom order. I always have key fobs/key rings on-hand, a couple of money clip wallets/magnetic money clips, a couple of biker style wallets with the chain, a couple of regular billfold wallets; all of this can walk out the door as cash and carry. I also have a range of belt sample ideas (the remnants of belts that I have done over the years), and a couple of handbags on display as well (these are actually my wife's but we put them on display as that is a commonly asked about item for custom orders). I also have some small home decor items on display as cash and carry such as coaster sets with a carrier. I also always take a full work station with me everywhere I go and am actively working on a project during the event. This attracts attention and gets people into my little "leather zone" which then gets them watching how an item is stamped or tooled, or even when I am lacing or stitching, they are riveted to what they are seeing. I get about a 25% custom order response just because of this alone. I also get another 20% custom order response when I have spent time answering the clients questions about materials I use versus what are typically used in commercial production. Off and on I include some wristband blanks that can be stamped out real quick and finished as a cash and carry item as well. I stay away from having high-end or labor intensive finished goods sitting out, that is what the custom order process is about and you have to be ready to take them when the client wants to place it. And I too am always the only leather related vendor at these events and it doesn't matter where I go, even at the County Fair's where we have juried divisions.

Have you checked this out yet? It might be of some assistance you in getting the idea and approach down to where you want to go. https://www.leathercraftlibrary.com/p-1748-steampunk-plague-doctor-leather-mask.aspx

I would say that the edges have been lightly block dyed with a darker finish before the main color application was completed in order to achieve the tones that you have referenced by the link. You can go to Tandy's Leathercraft Library and download their Coloring with Eco-Flo books that are free and this technique is explained in great detail. It doesn't matter what type of dyes/stains that you are using, the technique is really the same across the board. Keep in mind that being able to pull this technique off successfully requires just as much practice on scrap leather as being able to create beautiful full-color artwork on floral and other detailed carved patterns. Practice, practice, practice. Good luck with your venture into the advanced coloring techniques and I would love to see some of your finished works once you get there.

Waxed nylon for the larger projects for the added durability when stitching and when finished; waxed linen for the smaller items as there is not as much stress and strain on the stitch. Both are pre-waxed with bees wax but I always give them my own run through on a big block of it here in my shop just to make sure that the outermost areas are properly covered (the exterior wax does tend to feel like it dries out if the thread has sat for some time on a shelf). Don't really concern myself with the "size" of the thread so to speak but I do make sure that I have no less than 4 strands and that the twist is tight.

I got my start with leather work over 40 years ago when I received my very first (and very Old School) Tandy Leather starter kit as a gift. I kept working on projects all the way into High School where I found two leather classes - beginning leather and advanced leather. I took the beginner class because it was required in order to take the advanced class but I was pretty much cut loose to work on whatever I wanted as I had proven to the instructor that I was way beyond what she was teaching the class, even helped out as a "teachers assistant" on more than one occasion. The advanced class was actually structured along the concept of how a leather crafting business operates so it was more of a business class than a trade class. As I left for my military service (which ultimately lasted the next 25 years) I took all of my leather tools with me and kept working on stuff. I setup a small workshop and ran a custom made line of items out of it that were primarily sourced from the various kits that Tandy used to have (they were much nicer than they are now but that is what supposed progress results in). My "lightswitch" moment was when I started working with creating my own patterns and templates for the various components that make up any one of the many projects that I liked working on; it was boosted when I made the jump to saddle work and rodeo gear repairs for my equipment and my fellow Cowboy's and Cowgirl's (yes, we had an American Rodeo Association in Europe that traveled around the region promoting the sport and sportsmanship, even had foreign national members that we taught how to ride all of the events and some of the stock was down right ugly to try and stay on). I also ended up taking orders for various items at events and delivering when they were done. Even when I was deployed to combat zones I took my tools and always had some leather to make some things and sell them. But I found that making everything from the raw materials was far cheaper than any kit could ever be and that the quality of the leather much better than is found in a kit because I could buy the finer grades and controlled exactly what the grain structure looked like; if it was damaged or questionable I would just work around the bad spot and only use the cleanest sections for the critical elements. I still do everything by hand, even the stitching, and that is the way I will do it until my fingers don't work anymore. I don't sacrifice any level of the quality and integrity of an item for the ease of mechanical assistance as that is what our "slave labor" copycat Nations do and we always have issues with the quality of any item that is produced in those areas, regardless of what it is. The art of leathercrafting/leatherworking is skilled Artisan hand trade and it has been that way for Centuries, that is the way I was taught and that is the way that I teach today. As far as a business plan, why waste your time trying to figure it out based on the standards that are recommended by those professional business planners? You will spend all of your time trying to figure out what you really already know; just have a vision of what you want to do, create your product line, and make every piece to the highest standards that you can. The biggest mistake one can make if they are truly trying to make a go of it as a business is to try and compete with other leather workers. The truth is that the vast majority of them only buy kits (in bulk) from Tandy or some of the other leather suppliers who offer them and then do nothing to them but dye/stain them, finish the edges (maybe) and then stitch them together; they aren't truly making anything, they are just putting it together. Some of these guys are making some serious money doing it this way but it isn't the true measure of a craftsman; the ability to create something from raw materials and turn it into a work of art is what a craftsman is all about. And make sure you price your works to reflect your skills and the quality of the finished product. And the final piece, if anyone ever tells you that they can get something similar from another source and for a lower price, don't hesitate to tell them, "if similar and cheap is what you want, please go buy it". The look on their face is always classic and more often than not results in them asking for some more details about your process and materials which ultimately results in a sale. I setup at several prominent Markets and Fairs around my neck of the woods and always have an active work station where I am doing something. It attracts attention and lets the prospective buyer see what really goes into making an item. I also promote the concept of asking questions or opening a dialog with everyone who spends more than 10 seconds looking at things which nets several orders. I have had some of the other vendors at some of these events ask why I always talk so much and share so much information with potential clients and all I can tell them is, "if you don't show an interest in what you do and how it could help them with their needs then you aren't going to be successful, if you want to sell everything and make money but just sit there waiting for them to make the move, you might as well just put all of your stuff in a consignment shop or do wholesale only". Hope that helps.

The flipside is that if you live along a highway, one that is actually federally funded, then you may even need to get permission from the fed gov. Even though we "own" our property, they don't allow us to "own" our property. I can tell you that where I live the City codes prohibit having anything in my yard that is larger than 4 square feet; most of those small yard displayed campaign signs are bigger than that so what good would it do to have a post-it note sitting in my yard? Good luck on your endeavors, hopefully you can find something that will help grow your business.

Just use a wing divider and set it to the spacing you want your stitching line to be from the edge and then scribe your line around the entire length to be sewn. Typically your stitching is no less than 3/32" and no more than 1/8" from the edge but everyone has their own style so just go with what you typically do.

I use a standard groover for the straight or "not so tight" curved lines and for the tight lines I use a "freehand" groover; just make sure that you have a guideline to follow wherever you plan on grooving. Otherwise, when you get to a corner just slow down and slowly walk the grooving tool around the corner until you are back on the straight and narrow. And it does help a bit if the leather is damp, just shy of dry, and you do all of your grooving before you bevel and finish your edges.

If you are using thin leathers you should have it affixed to some sort of material so that it doesn't stretch during the tooling process, cardboard is a great example of a solid base to affix your leather to and there are several threads within these forum as exactly how to do it. You should also allow your leather to dry completely before removing it from the cardboard; if you stain/dye then you should oil it first to keep it supple and then apply your dye/stain; leave it on the cardboard base to do this and again allow it to dry completely. Rule of thumb is to let it dry at least 24 hours to ensure that it is truly dry. Following the method of attaching your leather to a solid base to work with it should and always allowing it to dry completely should keep your leather parts right in spec, if not, then you may want to cut the interior parts a little bigger to allow for the shrinkage.

Retired combat soldier (US Army 12/81 to 9/06) with combat service in EVERY operation during that time frame. Now spend at least 8 hours per day as an armed bodyguard for a very prominent person in my area. Have been doing leatherwork much longer than my service time though and no matter where in the world I was my tools were always by my side. And for those who are curious, Camel hide is not very good to work with.

Yup. It is the standard Double-Loop stitch. It was just done using an angled thonging chisel and what appears to be 1/8" wide lace.

@kwelna: Bingo! That is exactly the approach to take and it works. It doesn't work for everyone as there are the vast majority that have become stuck in the "mega-mart" mentality and they ain't getting out of it any time soon. But if you have your quality product out there and have your pricing established and set (without exception), you will find some success and when you do you will find that those satisfied customers will be helping you gain recognition to those who appreciate what you do. I always have my Maker's mark on each piece that I make and everything has a business card attached to it, even if it is a custom order that gets shipped out. And when I go to any of the craft markets/fairs or other events that I attend (County Fair, Small Business Fair, etc.) I always take a fully functional work station setup and will be actively working on real items (whether they are going on the display table or filling a custom order); it is amazing how much difference it makes when you are actually making an item right before a potential clients eyes, they see it being done and they start asking about that special something that they are looking for and the next thing you know you are taking information for a quote or calculating out their custom order right then and there. And, it cannot be said enough, DO NOT attempt to compete against the low-ball kit crafter on price as you will always lose. Quality of materials and craftsmanship will win every time with those who understand what it takes to make a premium quality product and they will never haggle on the price. In fact, I have quoted some simple items (a made-to-order bifold wallet with a simple linear stamped pattern along the bottom section, hand-sewn assembly, no other special requirements, sold for $75.00) that the customer asked me, "is that all?" when I gave him his quote. He actually thought it would be more than that. I make enough of these that when there is no major stamping or carving & tooling being done that I can knock one out in about a total of 2-1/2 hours total labor time. I make it even easier when selling on the local scene by ensuring that I identify to everyone "Price includes sales tax", which I have actually included based on the highest tax rate for the State. I too do not enjoy having cash or loose change out at events as it creates a potential safety issue for myself and those around me. Haven't heard of anyone robbing a craft vendor yet for their cash but it is a matter of time before we unfortunately do and I do not want to be that story that makes the headlines.

Use this for an example: There are several "craftsmen" who sell their wallets and other little personal leather goods at shows, fairs, on Etsy, and the like, and ALL of their product starts out as a pre-cut/fabricated kit from Tandy; they do nothing to the item except dye it one of 4 colors and then stitch it together with the provided thread from the kit. They sell the average Deluxe Triplefold Wallet for no less than $80.00 and it doesn't even have anything that makes it unique. I know of one seller that sells at least 5 of these per week alone, not to mention the 8 Maverick billfolds, 6 Flip Clip money clip wallets, and you get my point. This one person is banking over $1500 per week and his only investment is the kits (which you know he is getting at the rock bottom wholesale price) and the 1 hour (or less) in time spent dying it and then stitching it (which he does by hand but the holes are already punched for him). If he can peddle this type of an item, there is no reason why those of us who actually make all of our own designs and then cut each piece by hand one at a time, and do all of the other stuff that we do, can't justify why we should be able to charge what is fair for our work. To help people (i.e. clients/customers) understand the difference in quality I actually have some items that are kit based products that I have finished and put together (in a fully professional manner mind you) and use them to show the difference between what is trying to be sold to them and what my product looks and feels like. It typically results in a customer wanting me to make them one of my items and I have never had anyone even ask if I could match the price of a lesser quality/materials item yet. Buying some of those kits will require a little investment but if you go that route to show the difference in quality between mass manufactured materials and hand selected and cut materials, you end up coming out on top every time. Just an idea; we all have our own methods of finding out niche.

That is, as you put it, Crazy but man it is beautiful. And that is an example of what we custom leather people are all about; it is what the customer wants, not what we want to sell them. Great job and I hope to see more "Crazy" stuff just like this. What is the intended base finish color here?

That is very beautiful indeed! Keep up the great work and I am sure that we are all looking forward to many more prime examples from you.

I also use both methods, but I used to only use the stitching awl as that is all we had at the time I started. My choice for any given moment is based on two factors: 1) The size of the project, and, 2) Is speed (time) a factor for the project. Regarding the comment about a diamond punch leaving a bigger hole that won't quite close all the way there is a trick to that: only punch your lines when the leather is completely dry, don't driver the punch all the way to the hilt, and ALWAYS make sure that you have a stitching groove on the presentation side. All too often with some of the modern examples of hand-stitched work I see that there is no stitching groove where the stitching line is. This groove is the channel that helps give your stitches a uniform, straight, clean look and also helps to protect the thread from early wear as it protects it from rubbing on everything and from moving around (which we all know weakens the fibers of the material). Not to mention, one of the most common questions ever asked in any forum on the web is "how do I get my stitching to look like this" and then have an image of a perfect line that is even and clean. There are several users of the awl that I also notice when I am monitoring classes and other venues where leather is being worked that do not use a spacing wheel first to ensure that they have even hole placement, there is nothing more unprofessional looking than unequally spaced stitches that meander all over the place. There are so many examples of this result that you can find thousands of them by just doing a simple internet search for hand-stitched leather goods and then viewing the images. Most scary part of this is that the vast majority of those items are actually being sold online and frequently for prices higher than most of us list our works. The bottom line is that either method is fine and everyone has to pick their direction but we all have to ensure that we do it right all of the time.