aLayman

I'm so glad to be a part of this forum now. I've browsed the topics before searching for ways to better my skills, but realized I would like to join in on the conversations and ask questions when I need to. As the saying goes, "A Jack of all trades but the Master of none, is often better than a Master of one." My name is April and I'm from San Marcos, Texas. I started working with leather about 5 years ago. I am self-taught after I inherited a very old Tandy Leather Starter Kit. A very good friend who got me into leatherwork and she still mentors me from time to time. And once I started I was hooked. I sell what I make through Etsy and in local art markets, but I am in no way a master as I always feel (and know) there is much room for me to improve and grow. From leather I make all kinds of things: flask covers, pocket watch cases, masks, bags, wallets, and the occasional costume armor. I also like to sculpt with polymer clay and drawing with charcoal. In the day I work as a Graphic Designer and Print Tech in a Sign Shop. I've attached some of my work below, including a client that took a picture of a flask I made him in Pripyat. The charcoal was a work in progress of my daughter. And the back of a little dude I sculpted. If you're curious about more of what I've done you can find me on my website or on instagram. websites: http://www.agrimmdesign.com instagram: https://www.instagram.com/agrimmdesign/

Hi, I just joined this forum and hope to be a regular member. I'm self taught leatherworker (youtube videos, etc) for the past 5 years. I mainly make pocket watch cases. I'm trying to sharpen my skills and instead of having the inside of the case smoothed, I'd like to make it suede. So I've been searching for making the Reverse Side (Fleshside) of the leather into a dyed suede type feel, while my Grain Side is tooled on the outside. But everything I've tried has caused the dye to fade if I dye it before I roughing it up, or if I dye it after the fibers that I've roughed up to stick together. I've tried bonding suede to the inside of my cases, but I just haven't had any luck with the small size and I'd rather not add any more hand stitching that I already do to it. Does anyone have any good insight on how I could accomplish this?