Skinner88 Report post Posted February 10, 2015 (edited) Hello everyone, What a great site for a guy who's just starting out, thanks to the powers that be. I'm wondering if members of this site might have some time to provide me with some feedback when they have some time. I'm wondering if I'm rushing things a little starting a small side business or if I'm right on track and thought this might be a place to start to get feedback. I took a 10hr Intro to Leather Carving course at Zelikovitz Leather here in Ottawa in Oct/Nov of last year and almost didn't take to the craft. Something clicked in the last 30min of the course and I've been hooked since. After a handful of projects, and the urging of the owner at Zelikovitz, I've opened up a little side business doing carving and kits for friends and the owner of Zeli's passing my name to people requesting carving. At the risk of sounding like a braggart the owner was telling me I'm doing things in 2.5 months that some take 2.5 years. With that siad here lies my concern... Is my ability up to par. I'm not here to do a plug for my biz in any way, but I will provide a link to my facebook site for my biz that has photos of all my projects at different stages. I thought it might be easier to put a link up vs uploading a ton of pics. If anyone has the time to review and offer any feedback, critique, or other helpful tip I'd love to hear them, and greatly appreciate them. Here's the site: www.facebook.com/skinnerleather Thanks in advance and I can't wait to absorb as much info as I can from this site. Edited February 10, 2015 by Skinner88 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Basically Bob Report post Posted February 10, 2015 ... Can't grab your link. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skinner88 Report post Posted February 10, 2015 (edited) Moron moment, typo. Fixed orig post too. www.facebook.com/skinnerleather Edited February 10, 2015 by Skinner88 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skinner88 Report post Posted February 13, 2015 Hello again. I hadn't heard much feedback since my last post so I thought I'd put a couple of images here and see if I might be able to get some people's feedback and critique. I'm about 3-4 months into this craft and know there are many areas I need more practice in (the camo tool, veiner tool and accent cuts are issues for sure) but I'm open to any additional feedback, critique or anything else to help me improve. I also have 2 questions: 1. Acrylic Resolene seems to be my enemy. I have to "air" application so I'm using a sponge brush. The water based pigment dies seem to either come off on the edges of the tooling (See Mallet pic) or it smears the colour or antiquing (See iPhone cover pic). 2. I have requests for items but have no idea how to price things. Any tips? Thanks in advance for any assistance, tips, advice, etc.. anyone might have. If you'd like to see more photos all my projects to date are posted here: www.facebook.com/skinnerleather Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Longview Report post Posted February 13, 2015 Great work! It's hard to believe you've only been working with leather for a couple of months. Very nice. Welcome to the site. There's a wealth of information here. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ambitious1 Report post Posted February 13, 2015 I hope I'm that good in 2.5 months. i haven't even taken my first class yet, hoping to find one locally, soon. Looks like great work to me, but I'm not an expert, however, I have purchased a lot of custom made leather goods, and I'd buy your stuff. Go for it! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skinner88 Report post Posted February 13, 2015 Thanks for the compliments, I'm blown away at what comes out myself each time. I may have a few things going in my favour though: I'm an artist since childhood, I'm a graphic designer with print production exp for the last 25 yrs, I'm a model builder, and my last name is Skinner lol. The only thing I can think of is it must be in my blood or something and all my career/hobby choices seems to have come into play, too bad I found the craft at 42. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fullmetalsam Report post Posted February 13, 2015 Your stuff looks pretty good ! But, I'm having a hard time understanding why you're so anxious about your "talent" or "experience". If people are willing to pay for what you're doing, who cares how it look ??? A quick tour on Etsy will make you understand that even if it looks "less than perfect", people are still happy to buy it. About pricing, you'll find that everyone has their own view on this. My own opinion is that I'll never sell below what it costs me to make the item... regardless of the fact that there is a millions other similar item on the net with lower prices. It's a side business afterall, so there's no point to waste my time on something that's not gonna be worth while. The "cost" of my item takes into account the material I use (leather, dye, thread, hardware, everything) as well as the time it took for me to do it (for which I give myself a "salary" at a rate per hour). If I feel the price could be higher, then I add to that cost and I can truly call that profit. It might be difficult to calculate the time it will take you to make something specific in the beginning. What I usually did in those cases is that I would take the time to make a prototype of sort... just to make sure I was able to do it and to understand how much time I would be spending on the project. The customer are also willing to wait if you're going to have something to show them, even if it's just a quick and dirty prototype... it's giving them an idea of what the finished item will look like. Then I would come up with the final price and if the customer doesn't like it and doesn't buy... I'd put the prototype on the shop at a clearance price and it usually sold pretty quickly. So no wasted time, no risk : ) Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
King's X Report post Posted February 13, 2015 Nice work! Welcome to the forum! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skinner88 Report post Posted February 13, 2015 Thanks Fullmetalsam, your post I think is what I needed to hear. My concerns came from my time doing the craft but you're right, I've seen Etsy and ya, I'm confident in my product now LOL. As for the pricing your comments really help too. I'm a freelance graphic designer and I can appreciate the cost of time and how to bill it. Based on my 25+ years of experience I have a $40/hr rate but I can't very well charge that for my time doing leather, I'll just have to find the right $. Right now I sold 2 coin purses for $50 but was told after someone would pay $75. Your comment "It's a side business afterall, so there's no point to waste my time on something that's not gonna be worth while." helps a lot as well. Thanks for the feedback everyone, much appreciated. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Basically Bob Report post Posted February 14, 2015 You are progressing quickly, for sure. Try using Etsy as a resource to establish your own pricing, but make sure you are comparing apples to apples. You need to find similar products with the same skill level you are at. Resolene. Cut it 50/50 with water. Wrap a sponge with a piece of soft cotton cloth & soak that in water - squeeze out till just damp. Dip in the resolene and squeeze out again. Wipe on VERY lightly, in one direction. Wait an hour and do a second coat. Works for me, every time. The leather looks like leather and feels like leather. Sometimes I will put on three coats - still gives me a nice finish. I always using Fiebings pro oil dye. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Skinner88 Report post Posted February 14, 2015 Thanks Bob, I will most definately try that on a scrap in the next few days and see what result I can get. I keep trying different things only to end up ruining my work. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fullmetalsam Report post Posted February 15, 2015 Glad my comments helped you out As for that hourly rate, you'll figure it out, but don't be shy about pushing it up a little. It always depends when and how you sell, but I've learned that if your products look good enough, people are ready to buy at a higher price than what I was thinking. The only exception here is if you sell online (Etsy, eBay and the such) - you'll have to get a couple of sales and feedback before people will "trust" you. Good Luck ! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tempus Report post Posted February 21, 2015 Great stuff. I'm a newbie here too & still tool shopping. Let me know if you found any deals. If you need inspiration or ideas check out Ian Atkinson's stuff on Youtube (Leodis Leather). Interesting techniques I can't wait to try out. He makes things look easy. It looks like you could give lessons too! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
