Greetings from Israel.

[Nowandagain]

Here I am, doing leatherwork again after a long hiatus. I had a one man shop in a college town from 1972 to 1975, then decided I needed a steadier income. 

Now I'm retired, living in Israel, where leather and supplies are not easy to come by. I was self-taught and am learning some skills that I never mastered before. You.tube and forums like this one make that a lot easier than it was 50 years ago. 

Constraints challenge us to grow, and I have a few new ones here. I'm aiming at smaller projects now, like wallets and card cases, since I'm limited to whatever leather friends can bring me in small quantities when they visit from the U.S. Chemical dye for leather isn't available, even from Amazon (and my doctor doesn't want me near them), so I've been using vinegaroon (the recipe here is fantastic), coffee, shoe creme, olive oil and similar substances. If you hear of a new "kitchen table" recipe for dye, please pass it along. And I can't even think of trying to sell my work or I'd have to register to collect VAT.

When I first started, I hated saddle stitching. I'd put my handbags together by lacing them with strips cut from the same leather as the bag itself, until I treated myself to a Consew 226. These days I'm saddle stitching nearly everything and have gotten a lot better at it. But I still miss my Consew.