Just Want To Say Hello From Germany :-)

[Vana]

Hey, i just want to say HELLO from Germany :-)

I'm infectet by the leather-virus since september, when i had my first steps on leathertooling on a workshop by Rene Berends. Now i found this page and im really speechless with admiration.

I know my english is not the best, but i hope it would become better bit by bit.

Now here my first steps:

Edited March 4, 2016 by Vana

[Vana]

... my first belt ...

[Vana]

... exercise

[King's X]

Hello Vana and welcome to the forum. You have definitely caught the leather bug.

[Black Dogg]

Hi Vana,

welcome to the forum!

Whereabouts in BW do you live? I am originally from the Ulm area, moved to the States in 2001.

If you're ever in the Ellwangen area, look up Armin Dobstetter at his shop "Custom Leather". He is one hell of a carver, too!!

I learned a few tricks from him when I was starting out over there.

The carving on your belt looks really nice for someone just getting started!

Don't worry about your English; it's good enough for us to understand and will only get better the more you read and write here .

Enjoy your new hobby (it'll become your life if you're not careful )!

Black Dogg

Edited March 5, 2016 by Black Dogg

[Vana]

...

Hello Black Dog,

do you know Waldenbuch near Stuttgart? I call my hometown "Ritter-Sport-Hausen" because of the chocolate.

You're right, i've just noticed that every free time i'm thinking about patterns, dying an of course tooling.

Now i'm looking forward to september when the next workshop is coming, subject will be my first bag.

Until there i'll practise, practise, practise. Actually i'm tooling a belt for my father with the excersise pattern above.

Pictures will follow.

Vana

[Dwight]

Welcome, Vana, . . . glad to have you aboard the leather working train.

Your belt sample looked really good for a first go at it, . . . keep working, you will only get better.

Or, . . . you will get broke, as in "no more money". It is also one of the attributes of leather working, . . .

May God bless,

Dwight

[Vana]

Hello Dwight,

thanks for your welcome

Fortunately i have low costs in this hobby up to now. My father bought on his journey in the USA in the 70s so many tools for leathercrafts (he was interrested too), so i don't need to buy any hardware.. Even leather is leftover. Only i'm not sure about the old dye, but i'll try it. For my crafts above i used new one.

Vana

Edited March 5, 2016 by Vana

[gigi]

Hi Vana, very nice work!

May I ask where from do you buy your veg tan leather here in Germany?

I temporary live in Dortmund-Germany but I understand only a little bit German.

I want to attend to a Rene Berends workshop too.

I think your English it's pretty good, but if you want to practice conversational English there is Internations.org website where you can connect with expats-usually people working for multinational companies and also locals, attend to fun events in the main cities around here. It did help us accommodate and practice our German.

Cheers,

Gigi

Edited March 7, 2016 by gigi

[Vana]

Hey Gigi,

at the moment i use the old leather, which is leftover.

But some good shops are rickert-werkzeug.de (free shipping in Germany and super-fast delivery) and ledermacher.de.

Maybe we will see us in september in Schlierbach/Austria?

Rene Berends workshops are really great, he is an brilliant teacher!

Vana

Edited March 7, 2016 by Vana

[gigi]

Thank you! I didn't know those websites and both seem really good. (I was hoping one of the two companies was closer to Dortmund so I can choose the leather before I buy and to save on shipping costs but I am not that lucky )

I hope I can make it to Austria in September. I saw Rene's work and it's amazing.

Edited March 7, 2016 by gigi

[Black Dogg]

Hi Vana,

I don't know Waldenbuch, but I DO know Ritter-Sport chocolate! "Quadratisch-Praktisch-Gut" .

I bought most of my tools from Rene Berends; "The Bear Gallery" used to be the German distributor for Tandy tools. I wouldn't bother with most of the Tandy tools now anymore, as the quality has gone down a lot (although I have heard good things about their "Pro Line").

Looking forward to more pics!

Black Dogg

[gigi]

A few years ago I bought my first Basic Tooling Set from 'Hobby Lobby' using a 40% off coupon. Those were actually 'Silver Creek Leather' brand stamps made in U.S. or Japan and very good quality.

I also use 'Hide Crafter' and 'Barry King' (Sheridan) and a few Tandy leather stamps.

[Vana]

some more things i did the last months ...

[Vana]

 

Edited September 19, 2017 by Vana

[H2345]

Very nice work!!!  Gut gemacht!

[gigi]

Sieht ganz toll aus!

Well done!!!

 

Edited September 20, 2017 by gigi