NH97

Thoughts on if yall would pay anything for these if you had a kiddo that spent $600+ on a showpig, or other market animal (steer, lamb, goat), and wanted to look really good with a fancy showman’s brush out in the show ring come February? (I painted the pig from a pic to match our “Oinky”, and I planned on getting pics from any customers to match theirs as well.)

Great points from both of you, thanks! See.. I’m not wanting to hurry up and go full-blown everything leather AT THIS TIME. Do I want to get there some day? Sure! But do I feel like I am ANYWHERE close to that? Heaven’s NO! I would kinda just like to stick the idea out there and basically go ahead and make a page to let family, friends, and local community know that “Hey, I'm doing this.” I don’t want it to be a thing (for the time being) where people come to me and ask can you make me this? I’d rather it just be a thing where I share what I’ve made and if I want to ask something for it, see if there’s any interest in it. I know I’ve got a long ways to go with learning all the tips and tricks, but I feel like I (as a SAHM), could use this to make a little extra spending money to help us out in this crazy economy. For example: We’ll have our local livestock show coming up at the end of February. My daughter is finally old enough to show this year and she got a pig, so I made her a show pen sign to hang on her pig’s pen at the show barn, and I also made her a leather backing for her showman’s brush. I also plan to make a leather wrapped picture frame to put her picture with her and her pig in to give as a gift to her buyer as a “buyers gift” with her thank you note. I feel like these 3 items would be a huge hit in my local community, and advertising now would be to my advantage because it gives people plenty of time to tell me hey, I’d like one, while also giving me plenty of time before the show to be able to make them and get them out. However, I just don’t know if my work is quite “good-enough” yet. (I’ve definitely still got some learning to do on techniques for dying, painting, finishing, etc, cause I’m not happy with how my finished brush turned out this morning :/ But I’m working on it and open to any tips!) I may post some pics of what I’ve got so far, and see if yall could give me some constructive criticism on them. Also, if yall could be honest and tell me if you’d pay money for them or not? (I’m definitely not looking to get rich off of this, just looking to get my feet wet in this kind of work and if I can help get some pocket change while doing that, that’s just extra points!) Open to hearing yall’s thoughts/ideas?

I know this is obviously gonna be hugely up to personal opinions, but that’s okay, cause that’s what I’m looking for! Like, when did yall decide, or “know”, that it was time to finally start offering your products for sale? Or when did you make a little side-gig out of it? I’ve got little random things and projects that I’ve done here and there, and I can definitely see the progress I’ve made from whenever I first started, but how do I know if I’m ready or not? Also… How do you start out? Should I go ahead and make up several of “somethings” to have on hand to offer for sell before advertising that I do leatherwork? Should I make a page (like on Facebook) and showcase what I’ve made so far and slowly throw in here and there that I could make “these” for sale if anyone is interested? Maybe say that I can add a little personalization to the “things”? I definitely don’t think I’m to the point of taking completely custom orders just yet, so I do plan on making that well known right off the bat, but saying that hopefully in the near future I will advertise when the time comes! …Or, scratch everything so far, should THAT be something that determines when I am ready to “put it out there”? Hmm… I need some perspective! I’m ITCHING to go ahead and get started up as a “business” in my local community, but unsure if I feel like I’m “good enough” yet.

Everyone seems to do it differently, so I’m just comparing… What order do you do those in, and what products do you like to use?? (BONUS POINTS for links!) I’m wanting to dye some areas of the work, paint some areas of the work, and antique on top of the tooling (some areas of tooling are painted, some aren’t painted- just dyed). Tool first, I got that. But then what? And do I need to use sealer in between steps? If so, any tips on timeframes for drying are much appreciated!