what do you do for a living

[Suze]

Well here goes - I have only had TWO jobs in my life - a waitress for a year out of high school - (toughest job ever - you learn to be POLITE if it KILLS you)

and my current job of 30 + years -- I work for Crown Equpment - we build lift trucks - I work in the electronics assm department building circut boards - in a "cleaner room" >giggle< some days I come home filthy......

but before I worked in the "clean room" (why they call it that I have no idea - it is NOT a clean room by any definition) I worked for them building TV antenna rotators. I did that for 20+ years and then they decided that they wern't "profitable" anymore and got moved from Plant 1 to Plant 7 (We have 13 plants in one little bitty town) and 3 others in outlying bergs. Johanna's hubby works in one of the other ones.

as far as hobby addiction ---- YES. If the tools to do something are not that expensive - I think I've done it.

and the only reason I have been sucked into leather is a certian someone with a leather shop in her basement........(Hi Cuz) I don't have to buy tools......

Well that's me in a nutshell.

[Grunt]

WOW! THere are lto's of different folks here. Let's see. I am a career Army Infantry Non Commissioned Officer stationed at Fort Bliss, TX. I have been in, between National Guard and Active duty, for 19yrs.

I have been doing leather work for about a year now. I would like to do this full time but I will have to assume a second career after I retire from the Army. I have been making a little bit of money here and there from my leathr work so I am enjoying myself and making a little money.

Nick

[Kustom]

My full time gig is web marketing and in particular search engine optimization. If people have a business selling a product or service I do keyword research to see what people search for that would be interested in their product or service, then I get their website in the first page of the search engines. I like it, I've been doing it full time since 2001.

[Jordan]

Whoda thunk it! there is an amazingly diverse group gathered here.....or is it preverse. LOL Must be a rightbrain leftbrain thing. Congrats to all for finding a common grounding point in leathermania. And a great big thanks for all the help I get from this forum. Jordan

[whinewine]

I began leatherwork back in the late '60s as a hobby, worked various jobs & had various careers...

was asked to become an assistant for Tandy Leather in my hometown & freelanced my holsters, belts & wallets,

wrote & sold articles on a freelance basis,

became a professional photographer shooting graduations in action & in the off-season, shot senior class panoramics with a 4 X 5 view camera,

became a full-time stringer photographer for a daily newspaper,

worked in various social services in diverse facets, &

retired from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections in 2005

(plus I did other stuff throughout this time period, but some I don't remember anymore {due to some of this being SO unmemorable} & some I choose NOT to remember {because of it being SO memorable}).

After my myocardial infarction (heart attack) , triple bypass & re-opened left carotid artery, I've made a lifestyle change by walking every day, (to the extent my emphysema allows), try to eat healthier, keep off the weight & drink less. Now I do leatherwork, ( http://www.wheredragonstread.com) , deliver flowers ,and my son & I do celtic- & ren-faires together. My son is a web programmer for a startup company manufacturing electronic medical prescription dispensing devices & it is starting to take off.

I feel blessed.

And I've never had more fun!

[TOM123]

I work at TORO CO. I have worked there for 23yrs (it started out as a winter job to get throu to spring, man this is a long winter lol) I am the shipping clerk there, i also do custom bailing and my own bailing to feed my horses, also help on the family chicken farm and a few other small job for cash, so about a year a go i needed something to do in my spare time (what's spare time) I started to work on saddle repair and holster making.

When looking for some tool i fund this web site and have been here alot of times---thanks to all the info many of you give.

[Ronny]

I am a semi-retired saddle maker and horse shoer, who is also a rope aholic. Been building and repairing saddles since 1975. Still love it. Truly the Lord has blessed me with the ability to earn a living doing something I truly love. Great wife for 45 years, great kids, and grand kids, good horses.WOW! Life is good. Ronny

[easy]

I worked 15 years for the US Army in the Netherlands , then i had for seven years an pawnshop and now i do upholstery for fitnessequipment , and also make party and erotic leather clothing , belts .....

Ron

[Deb59]

I have had a wide variety of jobs through the years, I grew up working at a 4-H Camp in Central Kansas waiting on tables, washing dishes, cooking, cutting grass, teaching canoing, archery and other activities, and the last couple of years I was the Wrangler at the stables for the trail rides.

I met my husband there and moved to East Central Kansas. I sarted working at a school, cooking and driving a bus, then in 1990 I went to work for the Sheriff's office as a 911 dispatcher. I absolutly LOVED the job! I did this for 7 years. Our daughter got up into highschool and would soon be headed for college. I decided I needed to find a job that did not have rotating shifts and paid a little more for the upcoming college expenses. I went to work in the Transportation office for a Wal-Mart Distribution center. I am the Safety Clerk and keep track of 225 Wal-Mart drivers, DOT Files and training. I have been with the Company for 12 years.

I have always done some time of craft project and displayed at craft fairs selling some of what I made.

My start in Leather began with getting someone else needing a hobby. My Father in Law needed something to do when he was laid up after a surgery. I suggested Leather tooling. There was a store in Topeka Kansas and Bill Gomer was teaching classes at that time. He took the classes and started leather. He taught the grandkids as they went up through 4-H. Then when our daughter went off to College, I found my self with some time on my hands. I started playing around with her tools and I loved it. I gave things as gifts and orders started coming in. I got on the internet and found the Santa Fe Leather Artist's Guild in Topeka just a couple of months before they hosted the IFOLG show in 2003. I have been hooked ever since. I have met a lot of nice people through the shows, guilds, and websites like this, and continue to learn a lot.

I have started building a part-time custom leather business, and would like to be a full time retirement business. - Deb

[LAPat]

I started out in the film business as a secretary to Donald Sutherland. Worked my way into a job as a creative executive, did story notes for screenwriters, producers and directors for years, and taught story development at UCLA. Published a little scifi, a little literary fiction and produced a low budget horror flic called Voodoo Dawn. Took a break to go to art school. Still do dog portraits on commission . Schooled horses at Pepperdine for a guy named Jim Wyllie (90 years old and still in the saddle, he is). Switched to dogs when I got my first Leonberger. Hooked up with a woman named Vicki Hearne, a philosophy instructor and dog trainer who wrote a book I loved and she introduced me to a lot of the old classical dog trainers across the country. I can't tell you how generous everyone was in teaching me everything I could learn. Not to mention that Dog Training will change your life, becuz you have to do what you say and say what you mean. I got a weird sleep disorder and gave up reading. Training dogs kept me awake. I ended up specializing in remote electronic collar training for pet and competition dogs, spent a few years working with Sit Means Sit, put every sort of training onto my Leo I could think of (utility obedience, agility, water work, tricks, but no bite work, he was too heavy) and then crashed from lack of sleep. Gradually woke up, took a job managing an all natural pet store in Los Angeles for a former client, and started making leashes and then recycling old belts for collars. For years I have made dog toys out of sheepskin that are used by top agility competitors in my area. Now I'm getting into making my own stuff from scratch. I want to start doing dog portraits in leather, but haven't got the time right now to learn how to use a swivel knife, so for now it's the other stuff.

Pat

PS Having a hard time managing attachments. Sorry if they come up in weird places.