MartinS129 Report post Posted June 7, 2015 Hello, my name is Martin and I am from Czech Republic. My first leatherworking project was about a year ago. I did not have any tools and I worked with absolutely inappropriately thick leather, but it was fun and I loved the smell of vegetable tanned leather. Then in November 2014 I decided to make a belt for me and my friend. So I bought pre-cut strips of leather and alcohol based dyes, pricking wheel and awl, I worked on an old pastry board, for cutting I used a scalpel and my grandfather gave me revolving hole punch my grandgrandfather used to work with (he was a cobbler). I was happy with the outcome so it motivated me to work more with leather. I ordered some tools on Ebay from China and for the Christmass of 2014 I got a butt of 7-8 ounce leather. With which I made a few little projects, some bracelets and belts. On the picture is a atomizer sheath I made for my girlfriend. This year I really haven't had much time because of my study. I could only work on my leathercrafting about 1-2 saturdays a month. But during that time I was able to look into some books, I have seen a lot of videos and some posts on this lovely forum. So my knowledge slowly expanded. My lack of time for actually working with leather I compensated with buying more tools I thought I would need later. As here in the Czech Republic there are not many places to shop I mostly shopped online - definitely my most favorite shop is Leathercrafttools.com. My most favorite leather project so far is this simple handbag (here without a strap) I made for my girlfriend. Lately I have tried some leather carving and stamping. Firstly I worked with chinese stamps but it was impossible to get a decent result. So after investing in a few of old Tandy stamps I attempted a floral design which I drew (drawing is a bit of a problem for me as you can see). I have just read Sheridan style carving but I haven't had much time for practice. Next week I will hopefully have some time to draw a neater design and some more "Sheridan style" stamps will arrive, so I hope the next outcome will be much better. My latest leather projects are a wallet and a cardholder, which were really fun. Following two months I will have more time so I will be able to produce more and focus on larger projects I have on mind for a while. Also I will be able to read trough this wonderfull forum for a bit and get to know things that are not clear to me at the moment. What I like about leathercrafting is that I can see progress from project to project and with everything I have just done I know I can make it better next time. One last thing I did this weekend was a stitching clamp, as I didn't want to spend fortune on it. I must admit that working with wood is much more difficult. If you read all this thank you for your time and I hope to see you around. Have a nice day, Martin Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
King's X Report post Posted June 7, 2015 Hello Martin and welcome to the forum. Nice work. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BWL Report post Posted June 7, 2015 Same here Martin, welcome to the forum Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
capsterdog Report post Posted June 9, 2015 Welcome Martin, looks like you have good start on your projects, there is a huge amount of info here and don't be afraid to ask a question, I am sure someone here will have your answer. Keep going strong. Looks really good! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DoubleC Report post Posted June 10, 2015 Welcome Martin. Nice projects you have there. Keep it up. Cheryl Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites