Top Grain/full Grain Leather

[kdaebi]

First post.

A few weeks ago I started working for a company that manufactures custom furniture, using only top or full grain leather. He has waste leather (approx. 15%) in two huge cardboard boxes that I'm sure the he sells to someone. I'm trying to come up with some way of turning that leather into extra cash for me, perhaps making leather bracelets, or dog collars. Hell, I don't know.

The leather is very thin, certainly much thinner that a dog collar. Would I glue the leather back to back to achieve a thicker stock? I've never done any leatherwork but it sounds appealing, and with the apparent availability of the most expensive part of the hobby, perhaps something I should take up.

Any thoughts or ideas?

Kurt

Flower Mound, Tx

[kdaebi]

Also, this leather is already dyed, and some of it is embossed. You can't stamp or carve leather that's already been dyed, can you? As you can tell, I'm at the very beginning of this adventure.

[mlapaglia]

The thing to find out is what kind of leather, Veg-tanned is what you need for carving and stamping. You can stamp and carve dyed leather as long as its veg-tanned. Chrome tanned and the other types will not work for carving or stamping.

Yes, glue it flesh to flesh to make it thicker and give you a good looking surface on both sides.

Leather is measured in ounces. 1 ounce is 1/64 thick 2 oz is 2/64 thick etc. so with a caliper you could measure the thickness and tell us what you have. I am going to bet that it is chrome tanned because of what it is used for.

Michael

[kdaebi]

I've just been told that almost all of our leather is chrome dyed. Now I know that I can't stamp or carve it...thanks! Any ideas on what I might do with this stuff? Some of the pieces are very large.

[particle]

Bags, journal covers, linings (for non gun related items), bracelets, cuffs, cup wraps, napkin rings, coasters (if you laminate them to something like cork), drawstring pouches, case linings, wallets...

Those are just some of the things that come to my mind. I'm sure others will have more ideas.

[Sylvia]

The easiest way to make a profit from this leather is to package it into "one pound crafter's bags" and sell them on ebay. If you really want to do something with them that will sell and cost almost nothing to make. Buy a bunch of inexpensive picture frames at the $1 store and cover them with leather. Sell them for around $25-50 each.

[educatedcobbler]

Buy a bunch of inexpensive picture frames at the $1 store and cover them with leather. Sell them for around $25-50 each.

great idea

[Anne Bonnys Locker]

Upholstery leather tends to be very soft and stretches something terrible. As you get closer to Aniline type, the worse it gets so get some samples and have a play before making any decision. Semi Aniline leather would probably make very good Journal covers etc but it will stretch too much for most other things.

[Tree Reaper]

Tool rolls comes to mind.

[WinterBear]

Why not make decorator pillows/pillow covers and bolsters to match the furniture?

http://www.etsy.com/shop/thundermoondesigns?section_id=5810146

http://www.decorinnovation.com/Leather_Pillow_p/pillow-leather.htm

http://www.xianleather.com/Custom-Items2.html