KatC

Hi! I’m Kat (Kathleen) and I’m in New Jersey. When I was in high school (a thousand years ago!), one segment of our art class was to make a leather key holder. I made one with an oak leaf and acorn pattern and was completely enchanted by the process. I always wanted to get more into leatherworking but with life and work and whatnot, it never happened. About 15 years ago, I bought the basic Tandy leather kit and also won a batch of old stamps and tools on Ebay. They sat in various places in the house until the Covid lockdown; at some point in the summer of 2020, I got out my basic kit and set of old tools and dove right in. I am again completely enchanted with the process! Prior to all this (and years of working in IT), my main focus was collecting and restoring antique spinning wheels. With my leatherwork, I am using practice pieces to make small bags that hang off the end of a spinning wheel and hold odds-and-ends. I’ve made a bunch of small belt bags as well. I keep it simple and am working my way up. I’ve been taking some of the Jim Linnell classes online and taking advantage of other resources on the internet. There is so much to learn in all this! It is one thing to transfer your pattern to leather and pound away, but there are fasteners, stitching vs. lacing, dyeing, finishing – it has been quite a journey so far and I am excited to explore further. I hope to tap all your collective brains (the hive mind!) as continue along!