Ornyal

Latest projet : a commission for someone who is about to propose! The future spouse is a heavy reader, so he thought about getting a nice bookmark for her, which will patina along her reads. I find this idea to be very cute!

This place is about sharing, so it's always a pleasure to do so when my experience can be of any interest

Ok, so once again, not a native speaker, so let me know if I don't make sense. They are very well implanted where I live, I'm not going to say exactly where because we're on the internet, but I think it's pretty obvious. So here, they have a partnership with the national unemployment agency, and every year, they take around 10 people (sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less), and help them get a leatherworker diploma. The training goes 6 months in a specialized school and 6 month in one of Hermès workshops. After this, you automatically have a contract with them (if you are willing to work for them). The tuition is free for the attendees (I think it's partly paid by Hermès, and partly by the unemployment agency), and it gets even better: if you are eligible for unemployment benefits, you can get it during the school part of training, and if you are not, Hermès will compensate to a bare minimum (which is around $1250 per month). During your time in their workshop, your salary is fixed to by Hermès (around $2050 per month, but you'd have to pay some tax on that here). Their recruitment process went like this: basic math & geometry test since there are a few hundreds of person applying logic test, which is a lot like some IQ test practical test where you spend a morning pretending to be a leatherworker at Hermès, you have specs to follow, tasks to do etc... personality test (you cannot get disqualified based on this test only) interview with the HR & interview with some people from their workshops But there are downsides : I have asked many questions along the process and there are the reasons why I'm pretty sure I will not follow up on this: Technical: you do not get to work on creating patterns (they obviously already have a well established line of product) you do not get to work on the cutting steps, you kinda receive a puzzle that you have to assemble & finish some stitch lines are machine-made, not many, but it was a disappointment you have to make 1 bag per day, which seems insane to me Personal: they were unambiguous that there is no place for creativity and that work will get uncomfortable & tiring you will be making the same item of just a few variation during several year (in order for your skill to mature) Very personal: I already make a lot more money, and I have a family to support, so despite the passion; and taking in consideration all the above points, it seems wiser to just keep this a hobby I am planning to move to the countryside with my family so that the kids don't grow up in the city --> not compatible with Hermès I was mostly interested interested in learning how to use new tools, learning new techniques, and trying new materials and products and then using this knowledge to start selling more seriously. But it seems somehow deceiving toward Hermès, and more importantly it's kind of a bet that spending a year with Hermès will make it a lot more easy to sell my crafts, and I am not really able to estimate to what extent this is true There, you know pretty much everything. Feel free to ask any question/clarification, and if you feel like you have any advice to offer on my situation, let me know.

This means a lot, and it is much appreciated, thank you @MarshalWill!

Hi @NatesLeatherGds, thank you for your kind words too. I'm not actively trying to sell, I get commissions from time to times, mostly from word of mouth and through reddit, so whenever it's someone I know I'll charge the cost of material, and when it's a stranger, I'll charge a bit more (maybe $5 an hour), so I can save some money to buy new/better tools. I am not a bifold kind of guy myself, so I will probably try to sell it on reddit. In this case I will align my price with the one of leatherworkers, to avoid unfair competition. Actually I have gone through recruitment process with Hermès since they have a school near where I live, and I got a positive answer just last week. Unfortunately I will have to decline the offer due to personal events :/ I'm glad I went through it and got some sort of validation anyway.

Thank you @dikman, I appreciate the kind words

Thank you for your kind comment @MarshalWill And here is my latest work:

Here are another couple of recent projects

Ok, thank you for taking the time to answer !

Hi, I've always cut my trim allowance before stitching so that my stitch line is parallel to the edge, but I am curious, but on occasion (when I stitch too close to the edge), I'll get a wavy edge, so I'm curious, how do you do it? Cheers,

Hi @Danne, glad to see you back, I saw your recent post on r/leathercraft about what colors should a strapmaker keep in stock, and I immediatly thought you may have answered here. You post history on reddit is a gold mine, so many interesting questions & answers, thank you for sharing !

Latest crafts, sorry low quality images, full HD files are to heavy ^^ Spec below: 1. Brown strap, for a Movado serie 800 : 105mm - 65mm (small wrist), 21/20 Buttero biscuit on top, Koala Nude on the inner side Linen thread M30 from Meisi. Fully padded 2. Blue strap, for an Hermes Arceau 115mm - 70mm, 20/17 Leather is Pueblo Petrolio on the outside, Koala Nude on the inner side. Linen thread M30 from Meisi. Thinly padded (1mm).

@Stitcher64 Thanks, just took a look and your holster are pretty neat too! Here is a pic with a third one before punching them, plus a basic cardholder I made to keep my hands busy last weekend.

Another couple straps I recently got commissioned. I've taken pics along the process and I'll try to make a humble tutorial on how I make them.

Hi @Danne! Thank you again for sharing. I'm only use bees wax, and I'm interested in knowing what use do you make of the parafin wax?

Hi @Danne, your work is extremely clean, congratulations. I have a couple question that I'd like to ask: What type of thread do you use ? Would you mind sharing the brand name if you're satisfied with it ? I struggle to get such nicely angled stitches on both sides, so I would be very much interested in reading about your stitching method ! I will describe how I proceed below, so you can maybe offer some tips or correct my mistakes I also wonder if there is a particular reason why you don't stitch over the end of the "bottom" piece of leather ? Stitching method : Punch the stitches with a french stitching chizel Place the piece to be stitched on a pony, stitching holes pointing down toward me Start on the "bad" side (in this case, the side that'll be in contact with the skin) First needle goes through second needle on the back of the first, pull the thread toward me and second needle goes through Thread goes around the second needle (starting from me and going outward) Pull the thread, and repeat. I hope this is understandable, let me know if it's not or if you need more details. I've been told that using an awl would a better way to make my stitching holes, so maybe that's it.

Thank you for your answers, I do indeed look for information on google, but the thing is you can find contradictory info, and it's not alway "leatherwork focused", plsu sometime a type of glue may behave differently depending on the brand, and condition in which you use them. I agree with @fredk (thank you for the adhesive cleaner tip btw), it's been in the back on my mind for a while, and I think this forum is a great place to create this wiki, this way leather worker can share their actual experience in a centralized place. I will work on some sort of template so that the thread would be easily searchable and will come back to suggest it, then we can of course discuss/complete it together with the ones who are interested in creating this kind of ressource.

Hi everyone, I almost only use water-based glue, because I always stitch, but whenever I need something stronger, I'll get some neoprene that I'll use every once or twice before it dries out. So I was wondering if there is some sort of glue wiki for leathercraft, where one would find information per type of glue such as ; how long should one let them dry before assembling how long do they take to fully dry once assembled how they behave went the item is soaked in water will they hold well if the glued part is to be fold are they suitable for gluing lining even if all edges are not to be swen what kind of residue can be expected and does it go away easily with crepe rubber how much of a mess they are to use how long will they hold on your shelf Potential toxicity Main brands for each type etc... I'm probably dreaming but if there's a website or a thread that comes close to it, I'd be more than happy to take a look! Cheers,

Thanks, much appreciated

Thank you very much for your insight!

Hi, I was playing with leather, and tried burnishing the grain side of some pueblo with tokonole. It looks great, it's like patina without having to wear the item. Now I enjoy seeing the patina develop on my crafts, but it got me thinking : is there any downside to doing this ? Could it damage the leather, or make it crack later ? Or is it some sort of cheatcode or shortcut to make it look like the item has been worn for a while? If anyone here has tried it too, I'm very interested in your experience. Cheers,

Another one for my little seiko. Pueblo burgundy outside, natural veg-tan (Koala from puccini) inside & linen thread from Meisi (gold, M30). Fairly easy build, but I went crazy stitching it. I stitched as usual (I had been worked on my stitches this week and I found a method that gets me decent inclined stitched on both side, so I thought I'd stuck with it). But I couldn't get them clean this time. It's fine since the inside is not visible, but still it got me frustrated.

Hi & thank your for your reply, just to clarify, I have no trouble getting a clean cut on the tip of the trap, I meant that on strap that are for instance 18/16, you loose 1mm on each side, so you have to cut at an angle, but it's a very small one (or big one, depends how you look a it). I usually cut with a ruler, but in this occasion it does get tricky.