Introduction

[ClayB]

Hi,

My name is Clay Banyai and I live in the badlands of southwestern North Dakota. I have been carving leather as a hobby for about 30 years. I like to try lots of different things with leather but my favorite thing right now it extreme embossed figure carving in the style of Robb Barr and Jan Schoonover. I have taken several classes with Jan in the last couple years and he is a really good teacher and has become a good friend too. I never got a chance to meet Robb, but have gotten to know a couple of his relatives, so have had a chance to see quite a bit of his work in person, and he really had an amazing talent. I started learning to build saddles a couple years ago and that has been fun and challenging. You can see pictures of my work at my photo site http://clayb.dotphoto.com