Cozee Report post Posted December 25, 2012 New here. Long story short, I am looking for another avenue for artwork/creative release. I have been airbrushing in one way, shape, or form for nearly 40 years. I am a bodyman by trade and also do a lot of metal fabrication. greatly enjoy building and riding motorcycles. I also turn pens too. Most of my family and many friends have been encouraging me to start tattooing but don't want the issues of dealing with the health department. I recently had a custom leather wallet made and after looking it over after receiving it, the process it took to make intrigues me so I started checking out resources on the web which led me here. I am excited to start, not only tooling leather but also in fabricating my own tools and stamps. Thinking of picking up a Tandy deluxe starter set as they have them at my local Hobby Lobby for $70.00. I understand the tools are not the best but I am a firm believer that even a bad tool and do decent work in the right hands. Looking forward to learning as much as I can from the members here. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shotgunwilllie Report post Posted December 25, 2012 Greetings! From one bodyman to another I think you will find Leather work a excellent creative release with so many ideas that can carry over to your motorcycles. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
benlilly1 Report post Posted December 25, 2012 Welcome Cozee! Sounds like you're a jack of all trades and not a bad thing!! Good luck in starting up in leather work. We'll be waiting to see some project photos. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
immiketoo Report post Posted December 25, 2012 Cozee, Welcome! Where in Illinois are you? I live in the chicago burbs myself. Let me know if there's anything I can help you with. I started with the same kit, and there's nothing wrong with it, but yo may decide it's not up to your standards if you are already a craftsman. Good luck! Mike Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cozee Report post Posted December 25, 2012 Thanks for the warm welcomes. I live 12 miles SW of of Champaign-Urbana, about 2 hours south of the Windy. I will definitely be leaning towards motorcycle based projects as I already have a "want" list for a couple of my bikes. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
REDTAILHAWK Report post Posted December 26, 2012 Howdy, Cozee, from North of Peoria, I would think about what sort of designs you had in mind first. I started out with a beginners kit back in the early 1970's. It got my feet wet into western floral carving, but that wasn't the carving style I had in mind to get into at the time. It might have been better for me to pick up the few tools I needed at first and build from there. But that is just me. A friend of mine who helped to get me interested in carving leather started off with some vegetable tanned leather, a pocket knife, a hammer, and some filed down nails, and he did descent work for beginning. Welcome to the group. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
