Danne

Nice, also always good with some interior pockets to store things.

This strap is for an older Certina watch, where I have to replace the movement, and I thought I replace the second hand (Choose to paint one in orange to match the thread and lining on the watch strap.)

Really nice passport holder. NIce design, color/leather combinations, and the finish and stitching is also really nice. You said a few months? I wonder what your work look like in a few years Looking forward to see your coming projects.

Maybe there is a thread like this already. I'm working on a watch strap.

Thank you. It’s combination tanned goat. Alran Sully and the color is rose.

Thank you guys for the nice comments

I haven't been active here for a while so thought I share some photos of some earlier work I've done. (Ps photos could have been better) Feel free to ask questions (construction or leather/materials used) and I will try to answer as best as I can. (Self taught hobbyist answers)

I have some samples of some goat leather that is very soft and "stretchy", and feels more suitable for shoe linings and such. I'm not a professional either, but I use goat a lot for wallets and watch straps, and I think it depends on the tanning process. Just like veg tan cow leather can be quite stiff (like the ones suitable for belts, leather carving and such) there are often also a choice from the tannery to get "tooling leather" soft (tumbled in a drum to break the fiber structure) The goat leather I use is not super soft, but softer than tooling leather. As example when lined (two pieces glued flesh to flesh) there is very little stretch. But I like goat because the strength is very good. You can see examples of things I made from goat if you look at my post history.

I use a glue spreader. I'm right handed so with my left hand I hold down the leather with the glue spreader (at a low angle) and with my right hand I skive, and move the glue spreader and continue skiving. I share a couple of photos where it might be easier to see how I do it. The leather I used in this example is Alran goat leather (Thickness: 0.5mm)

I have only done test pieces, and I don't cast the thread. I just watched the clip, and I stitch towards myself.

This looks awesome, and a slim nice construction.

I have no experience doing the products you do. But just a thought, can't you make your stitching holes with your sewing machine without thread so you can hand stitch it?

Anyone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm quite certain that Eco-Flo is produced by Fenice. A lot of the brands I recommended are quite low viscosity and require multiple coats for good results. But if you want less coats you can for example use Uniters EP-Full primer and Uniters EP2000 edge paint as a second coat, and get a good result with two coats. I have also seen similar results with Giardini products (I haven't tried Giardini though) And I can't say how the durability compares to more coats and heat and sanding in between.

I would stay away from Fiebings edge kote (My opinion) I don't think I ever seen really good results with that edge paint. Brands like Uniters, Fenice, Vernis600, Stahl, Giardini are popular good brands. Here is a tutorial I made (I use Fenice and Uniters EP2000

I have seen some people doing prototypes in salpa (bonded leather) A cheap solution to make sure the fit is correct or if you need to make small adjustments, you don't need to stitch it together, but you can make stitching holes to make sure the stitching distance between pockets and such are good. When it comes to stitching corners, cut small pieces of scrap leather and test different solutions for the corners. When we do a full project and it's time for stitching it's harder to try new methods because we (At least I) tend to do as I have done before which I'm comfortable with. But with test pieces, I can try all sorts of solutions until I find a method I like. (I do the same with creasing and edge paint) One good example is the creasing of the point of a watch strap. If I did it on a finished project with a regular creasing iron (where I had to "heel or toe" around the curve) the results where usually not that good, because I did hesitate. When i cut a lot of small pieces with a strap point and practiced it was a lot easier, so I learned the technique that gave me a good result.

That’s the problem here. I need a material with a little bit of stretch (A low elongation value but high tear resistance) Why? If you make a watch strap with padding. And reinforce the top layer with a fully dimensionally stable reinforcement material. When you fold the strap around your wrist it will force the padding to the lining side of the strap. When it comes to dimensionally stable strong and thin materials there are a lot of options everything from fiberglass mixed with other synthethic materials. (Specially made for leather goods) And super strong from my tests. But also materials like Composite Dyneema, or a lot of other synthetic reinforcements from companies like Jaeger, Rhenoflex, NST, Luigi Carnevali, TechnoGI and so on.

Yes, certainly something I will try

May I ask what you plan to use it for? Folds on watch straps? If it’s for reinforcing the whole top layer of a watch straps the 0.19mm version work awesome, strap stays soft and nice. But in my opinion not suitable to do it that way with this material for padded straps.

Unfortunately I don’t know. If you would buy directly from Freudenberg you would have to buy larger amounts. Like a full roll. 100-200 meter (guessing the amount on a roll) Try searching Etsy and also Instagram tags like Vildona, velodon. I think I have seen 3q.leather selling both 0.1 and 0.19 versions. Send them a dm and ask.

Nice work. The tooling is awesome. The quilted style looks really nice. Remind me a little bit of a Chesterfield couch.

Nice wallet. For me the time it takes to make something will never be important. It would remove everything I like about this craft, spending a lot of times on the smallest of details is very important for me, and a large part of what I enjoy with this craft. Do I believe I could reach a level of finish and reputation so I could charge a higher price that would make it worth spending like 4-5 hours on a wallet? Yes I do, if crafters like Sima, Hughes, Shiang can do it (they mainly sell based on quality, attention to details and reputation) then I can reach that goal also. Will it be easy? No, Is it hard competetition? Yes, is the customer base large? No. I don’t sell anything, but have sold one bifold (veg tan exterior and goat interior) for 300euro + shipping. And was asked if I could make a couple more wallets to friends of that person. I have also been been asked if I can make wallets in exotics. And I have explained that I don’t take any orders, but people have been willing to pay a decent price if I would change my mind. So I think there are people who are willing to pay decent for what I make. Does this mean I could get enough orders to make a living out of this today? No. It would take time. I would need a lot of options when it comes to leather, and I would need to get a reputation. And also improve both finish and more designs. And it’s not like I could just start making 800-1000 euro gator wallets. There is a demand for those handmade products but the competetition is really hard. But no matter what anyone say to me, I will still feel certain I can reach that goal. Some people have laughed at me when they have asked what my goals are, people who also do similar work where they spend a lot of time on crafting their products. They have told me ”You will never be able to charge those amounts” (of course I don’t talk about high end fashion house prices, far from) Those people with that mindset will most likely never succeed themselves. And of course to reach that goal I would have to take this from a hobby and get a space large enough for equipment and leather storage and work hard and slowly come closer to my goal. Starting with card cases and watch straps in regular leather and now and then get some orders in exotics. But one day I would be able to take mainly custom orders and work a lot with exotics.

0.1mm

Even if you might not like making watch straps. I really recommend doing them. Material cost is low, and it’s certainly the thing that have improved my attention to details most. But also I’m a little biased here because I really like making watch straps.

Yes it will also result in a slim wallet. But I agree with you. It feels like the wallet will hold up well for many decades, except the pockets. If you decide to try it have a look at Renia syntic total, I have found that glue to be very strong with most synthetic materials. But I feel a little skeptical to this solutions durability.