JAZZMAN

No Gill, i am not up to that standard yet, only been leathering for a few months, i have just put some pics up in the gallery for the first time if you want to see my work. Can you recommend some good craft fairs to visit.

Hello Gill, i am not too far awy from you in Huddersfield, i wish you had a picture of the first lighter brown bag opened up so i could see the inside pocket, i made a similar bag for my wife but she now wants another bag making with an inside pocket like yours, would love to see how you attatched it.

Hi everyone, i have just made a wallet and dyed it with eco flo medium brown dye, when i have come to bend it for the first time the inside middle section of the wallet has wrinkled up, i have used very good quality veg tan 1.5mm leather. Has anyone else had this problem and can it be avoided? I am quite new to leatherworking so any help would be great.

Hey thats pretty nice, i too have only just started out with tooling and i am finding it to be a lot harder than it looks, you seem to be off to a great start keep it up.

Thank you for your kind words calait and navyvet, i belive that creating things is a basic human instinct which might even come from a survival point of viewi, i also think it is in danger of being lost as many of the handcraft type skills are slowly dissapearing ,Take care my friends.Peace.

For those who are interested in the 10,000 hour rule, there is a very interesting book by Malcolm Gladwell called outliers where he sudies many of the high achievers in the world(Beatles, Bill Gates, etc). It really is an interesting book and i highly recommend it to any one interested in what makes some achieve more than others.This is a subject i have spent a lot of time researching, i have been a musician /jazz guitar player since i was eight years old , i have been very dedicated to this to the point that when i was still working i would get up at five in the morning so as to be able to get a couple of hours practice in before work, when i got home from work i would try to get another four hours of study on the evening, i did this for over forty years. What always used to make me smile to myself was when people have said to me they would love to play guitar like i could but they do not have any natural musical ability, well i believe i also do not posess any inbuilt ability or special talent , i have merely put in more work than a lot of other people, in fact i think considering how hard i have had to work at it just to reach a level of competent musician i might actually be a bit slower in learning than some other people. So to sum up i believe that most high level talent is as i think Edison said is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration, in my own opinion of course. Due to a disability i am now unable to play guitar in a group and hae recently taken up leatherworking to fulfill my inbuilt urge to create, and i hope to apply the same dedication to my new found craft as i have to music.

Hello papaw, that sums it up for me, finding peace, i belive that sometimes calling certain things hobbies almost does them an injustice, something like this can almost replace medication, take care my friend hope to talk more soon.

Holy cow, that really is impressive then, great work man.

Hi Juan, yes growing near sheffield nearly every knife or fork or pair of scissors you used would say made in sheffield on it, again it is something you take for granted until someone like yourself points it out, take care my friend. Peace.

Hi twisted that wallet is out of this world man, you must feel very proud, how long have you been doing leathercraft please?

Wow Bob, you are truly blessed, what a fantastic place to raise your kids, i live in a place called Huddersfield, Yorkshire, in England i wonder if you have ever heard of it, It used to be a thriving textile town, sadly now all the mills are now closed down and work is not so easy to find for many, but it's home for me. Here is a link to a song on you tube by a local folk musician about my home town.Hope you like it. Peace.

Hi colt, i love that coloured piece, please can you help out a complete beginner and tell me are those colours dyed in stages using a resist type of idea or are they painted with a paintbrush and then sealed. Please remember you are talking to a complete beginner who knows very little about the types of products available just yet, thanks. Peace.

I am retired due to disability, but when i did work it was as a construction site labourer, i wish i could say something a bit more exciting or glamorus than that but there it is, it did pay the bills and feed my familly though but as far as job satisfaction and excitement goes there was none of that.My dream now is to become good enough at leathercraft to maybe sell some pieces one day, but as i have discovered i have a lot of learning to do before that is going to happen but at least i have hope.Peace.

Hello Bob, nice to meet you, i just looked up where you live, am i right in thinking you live right next to the roosevelt national forest, if you do that must make you a very lucky man indeed from what i can learn on the internet it looks like one of the most beautiful places on earth, you are so lucky, any chance i could come and live in your garden shed please.

Thinking about it, i am suprised that manufacturers of inks and dyes don't make the bottles cone shaped, they design cat and dog bowls that way so they cannot tip over with tapered out edges, this really does suprise me they don't make their bottles harder to knock over. Mind you i suppose they would sell less ink that way.

I hear you zulu.

Hello juan, nice to meet you, yes making something out of nothing is a big part of it,how long have you been doing leathercraft for? I see you live near the sea that must be wonderful for you i love the sea but sadly live in a town away from the sea. I woulld love to be able to go and be next to the sea any time i wanted.

Thanks bearman, i will take a look.

Hi hobbihorse, i am not able to post pics yet for two reasons, one i have not even finished my first project yet(i really am brand shiny new) and second i am such a dinasor i do not think i would know how to do it anyway, i promise i will try though.

Hi Gafer , that looks strong enough to hold an elephant what a great job, please could you tell me as i am new to leatherwork is the point of lining leather for comfort or just because it makes a nicer look on the inside?

Thank you Tom for taking the time to reply, i had not spotted how thin that one was so i am glad you did, what kind of glue would you use to stick floor tiles together, i really am new to all this so i am sorry if i am being a bit dumb.

I would just like to talk about why i am getting into leatherwork and what i hope to get out of it, but i would also like to ask how everyone else feels when they do leathercraft and their reasons for doing it. All my life since i can remember i have allways had a feeling inside me which is quite hard to put into words as i am no great wordsmith but i will try anyway. It is like an energy inside me trying to burst it's way out of me, i believe it to be creative energy that most of us have in us but some have it stronger than others. I have been a musician since i was eight years old and have played guitar in various jazz and blues bands over the years. Now after 42 ish years off playing i am now unable to continue playing in bands and the like due to a disbility and so found myself looking around for a new outlet for my creative urge which is still strong within me. I find that even just watching a master craftsman working away in his workshop seems to calm my soul and believe that working away in my own space creating leather goods that will be usefull will not only give me something to fill my time but i also believe that it will be good for my mental state of mind. I firmly believe that building and making useful items with our hands is a basic human function/need that is slowly being lost in our world of instant gratification and fast food.Many people are missing out on the joy that can be had from creating something with our own hands that can be used in everyday life. I firmly believe that creative energy is the same in each person but is just channeled through different mediums wether it be dance, music,woodwork,painting or leatherwork. I have chosen leatherwork as i believe it to be something that can accomodate my limitations set by my disabilites and hope that it will also help to calm my soul and bring some joy back into my life. I would love to hear how leatherwork enhances other peoples lives and what your reasons for doing it are. Peace.

That is great, but if you want to tool or carve the leather i have learned that you will need veg tanned leather, try typing into you tube, Ian Atkinson leather or Nigel Armitage leather, they both have some fantastic tutorials on leatherworking. Hope that helps a bit, these were recommended to me by other forum members and i have found them to be great.Peace.

Hi Jason, i am new to leatherwork and so would not offer any technical advice with regard to treating the leather, i will leave that to the more experienced on here. However if i might be so bold as to tell you my thoughts on this. I collect old coins and in the coin world most collectors are against cleaning them myself included, prefering instead to have the grime and dirt that has been picked up from the many hands they have passed through some of it being a hundred or so years old grime, it is part of the history of the coin, and to remove it would be like wiping away the history of it. I feel that it is the same with your grandfathers hatchet cover the stains and grime are a direct result of your grandfathers labour and hard work , my opinion is that the only wotk that should be done to an item like this is work that would stop the item from deteriorating over time, like conditioning.Just my own thoughts of course.Peace.

I hear you Aonir, i too am just starting out with leatherworking on an almost non existing budget, my advice would most definately have to be to start with a keyfob with your limited funds and tools or maybe even a bookmark, sadly and i know you said you did not want to hear it but the reality is that if you really do want to get into more advanced projects it will mean buying more tools and some leather, the good news is though there is loads of advice and help available for free on here and on you tube. The best thing to do is decide what you are going to make and then start asking questions on here about how to go about it. I am no expert as i said but i think a pair of shoes might be a bit ambitious for a starter project with hardly any tools, but hey as i said i am no expert. Good luck with it though at least you have come to the right place for help, i am sure the more experienced people on here will have more advice for you. Take care.