magelet

Hiya, also from the Bay Area here. Last year I temporarily (~3 mo, not a real apprenticeship) moved to Texas to train in an armorsmith atelier and was blown away by the possibilities when you're able to interact with someone who really knows the craft you want to pursue -- so would absolutely recommend getting mentored in some kind of arrangement that fits you. This instance was a trade (i.e. unpaid on both sides) where I was did minor consulting* on some CNC fab stuff and also I made lots of small pieces (probably 30 or so individual prêt-à-porter pieces**) that were sold in the shop (although the atelier was funded primarily by custom commissions). I've taken a few ad-hoc evening classes at Amblard (not her full program, and I don't want to specialize in soft leather anyway), but the most useful class I took was a 2-day hard leather intensive at the Crucible where I filled out some gaps in my knowledge with basic projects. The final project was completely freeform; I had a very clear idea in my mind (and had failed at one attempt already), but having the instructor basically consult on how to construct it caused that piece to turn out stunningly. That class is really what started me off, after years of off-and-on trying to construct various pieces and failing miserably. I'm now at the point where executing and repetition are the most helpful for my technique, but couldn't have gotten here without the aforementioned foundational experiences. It's interesting how hard it is to package/disseminate some forms of knowledge. I'm an autodidact in a lot of things but leathercraft has been one of the most arcane things I've ever studied. *(imo sadly not enough, we didn't have the right equipment on hand for it to be useful) **these were the pieces I learned progressive technique on