pacopoe Report post Posted August 31, 2011 Hey there, my name is Ana Poe and I've been working with leather for almost 10 years. I have a company called Paco Collars, we make leather dog collars and leashes (www.pacocollars.com). I've been doing that for 9 years in October. Even though I've been working with leather for a long time, I still feel like such a newbie in so many areas. When I started, I was mostly self-taught and focused on only the skills that dealt directly with making dog collars. Progress was slow, I learned by trial and error, most of my first works fell apart so I had to improvise or get out. Slowly but surely I figured it out, used sales to buy more tools and build the company. Now we're a full time operation, I've got about 6 steady people, we have a storefront in Berkeley, CA (but we're not hippies, I swear), and do it all by hand. We also teach beginning leather working classes and have teamed with our local Tandy to teach more advanced stuff. Of course, I've pretty much only learned to one thing and do it well, so now I'm trying to tackle other areas of leather working. My newest obsession is tooling. I've been learning so much lurking these past few months. Sometimes I'll see a technique and say to myself, "dang, that took me like 3 years to figure out... I could have just looked it up here!" Better late than never, right? My mentor taught me that knowledge is a gift that should be shared freely, so I'm excited to learn and pass on that gift. Glad to join you guys! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rdb Report post Posted August 31, 2011 Welcome to LW! sharing is the key, fer sure. Looking forward to pix of your work. Too bad you aren't hippies! The world needs them now...lol Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mijo Report post Posted August 31, 2011 Hey Anna, I've actually met you before as I'm Christine's (of Mijo and Bambi) husband. It's funny b/c Paco Collars helped inspire me to get back into leather working, and also the fact that i couldn't find a vendor that offered handcrafted leather harnesses specifically for small dogs. This forum kicks ass, lots of very friendly members willing to share their knowledge. I'll probably see you next week at Super Zoo... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
King's X Report post Posted August 31, 2011 Welcome to the forum Ana and Paco Collars. I have seen some of your videos on the process of how you make your collars, impressive work! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pacopoe Report post Posted September 1, 2011 Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone! Mijo, we may or may not see each other at Superzoo... we forgot to sign up early so are now on the waiting list. Sure hope they let us in because we have a few classes lined up to teach in Vegas! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
