Who is this "Johanna" person?

[Johanna]

I was 28 when I met my first husband. He was twenty years older than me, and learned leatherwork in prison. He said, "I'm a leatherworker, baby!" and I said okay, whatever. I, like most American consumers, did not know leather from vinyl anyway. He decided to start tooling again, and I humored him. I didn't care- I was single, no kids, no bills and had a good job. If he wanted to spend time doing arts and crafts, fine. I couldn't believe the masterpieces he threw in the scrap bin. I was in shock that people reacted the way they did when they heard he had opened another shop. They were coming to our house, way out in the country, and leaving cash on the dining room table. If they weren't coming, and work was slow, we'd go to a bar or a biker event or a concert or whatever, and I'd wear the stuff he made for me. I learned how to keep sales slips for him, and I took the deposits. He used to joke that when he was in jail he kept three Mexicans busy doing his lacing, and I began to understand why. My husband earned his 40 page rap sheet by being a con man, and he had the gift of knowing exactly how much money someone was willing to part with, but he could back up his leatherwork. It was flawless- beautiful, functional, exceptional. I didn't even know how good he was until years later when we went to our first IFoLG show and people were aghast that I was wearing and using his leather. I was pretty casual about it even then, because, after all, if I wanted something, I just told him. I was floored at that first show- I quickly realized my husband was one of the top leatherworkers in the world. By then I had quit my job just to help him with orders. I did all the dye work, the appliqué stitching, lacing, answered the phone, did the billing, you know how it goes. My husband would turn the music up loud and work like a fiend in the shop, stopping every now and then to play his guitar along with the blues he liked to listen to, and we had a good life. Then he fell off the wagon and got arrested for a whole bunch of things because he always did go nuts when he was drunk, and I didn't know what to do. I couldn't keep the shop without him. So I went to work as a store manager for Tandy Leather. That's when my real education in leather started. He died about a year after he got out of jail, I guess, and I stayed with Tandy.

I had to go to a bunch of meetings in Fort Worth, and I got to know another store manager who was from the same part of Pennsylvania as I was. He was "stationed" in DC, and I had already lived there and knew it would be a cold day before I went back to city life, so after a year or two of a long distance romance, he quit his job at Tandy and moved to Georgia. We ran a shop together, but it was more fabrication, less art. All those days of dealing with people wandering into the Tandy wanting to make something, and me figuring out how to do it so that I knew what to sell them and so they felt confident enough to buy all the stuff they needed started to pay off, and I even considered quitting Tandy, up until the time I discovered I was pregnant. Ooops. I decided to stay because of health insurance and a steady paycheck. That was in 1998, when they started closing Tandy stores. I started to show and word quickly got back to the district office. My sweet store was one of the first to go. We doubled our efforts at our own shop to make it, but when my daughter was eight months old, I realized I was pregnant again with what would turn out to be our son. Babies can't be around sharp things, poison things, expensive things...lol We came up to Ohio to help my mom while my grandmother was dying, and the kids' dad got a day job. A year later he unexpectedly died at work of a massive heart attack. He was 50, and the kids were 2 & 1. For the next few years, I didn't even unpack the rest of the shop.

But after he died, I decided to learn something about computers, because I didn't want my kids to outsmart me with these new fangled machines. Maybe I was a little lonely, maybe it's the problem solver in me, but I think I found my calling. I am a comp tech. I am not an artist in leatherwork, I am a carpenter. I can't carve to save my life, and I'm not ashamed to admit it. I can make just about anything, but my decorative abilities are limited.

Now my hands are never funny colors unless I want them to be. If I go into the shop it is to play, and my running joke with the family is that I will not put another frog on a checkbook cover again. If I make it in the shop now, it's because I wanted to. I survived doing leatherwork by being able to do a variety of jobs, and making what the customer wanted, not what I thought was best. I was surprised one day to hear my first husband quote someone $10 for setting a simple rivet. He said, "They don't pay you for what you do, they pay you for what you know." Plus, he had the tools and the expertise. I started to appreciate the value of a good leatherworker- where are you gonna get your ball glove relaced, your orthopedic boot, your custom dog harness, your saddle, guitar strap, bible cover, wallet, biker gear, etc ? Wal-Mart? I see bad leather everywhere I go, and I have to resist the urge to say- "Can I dress up your Harley?" When I was green and new to the leather business, I didn't know beans, and lots of wonderful people were patient with me, and taught me what I needed to know. The Pitt Pounders in Pittsburgh and the Georgia Leathercrafters are examples of Guilds at their finest- freely sharing information and knowledge. If I don't know the answer to a question after 15 years in the business, I do know where to ask.

I started this forum (with the help of some friends!) to encourage fellowship and education, and provide free publicity to leatherworkers who want it, on the main site. I don't want any leatherworkers to have to get day jobs to pay bills! I hope as things come together that people enjoy the forum part, and that the member profile part of the site attracts customers to browse through leatherworkers' sites so they can decide where to buy real leather goods. I would appreciate any suggestions from leatherworkers to make the forum better, and I thank everyone for the kind words of encouragement. The Internet is big enough for us all, and it's great to see leatherworkers sticking together to preserve the ancient art, and using computers to access all the resources available. I'm looking forward to meeting new friends and reconnecting with old ones.

Best regards to all,

Johanna

[BruceGibson]

I just found this. What an AMAZING story. Hat's off to you, Johanna.

[pella]

thank you for starting this forum

[BruceGibson]

I second that--Thank You.

[Johanna]

Aw, shucks... all I do is the tech stuff here. It's the friendly leatherworkers and what they have to say that makes this a fun place to be. I am amazed and delighted to see what others have to share. Keeping the coffee hot and the doughnuts fresh is the easy part.

Johanna

[ClayB]

Aw, shucks... all I do is the tech stuff here. It's the friendly leatherworkers and what they have to say that makes this a fun place to be. I am amazed and delighted to see what others have to share. Keeping the coffee hot and the doughnuts fresh is the easy part.

Johanna

I gotta start getting up earlier. I always miss out on the doughnuts!!!!

[freak]

(while chewing a mouth full of the last doughnut) No, no let Clay sleep. He calls sleeping in his " leatherworkers rest".

I searched and searched for a forums like this. I just knew it had to be out there somewhere. I could not find anything like this. The closest i could come was diff motorcycle forums. Where i would admire the seats people would do and ask them questions. Not all where eager to tell there " secretes".

Then one day i found a TLF just a few miles from my house. I asked a few questions there and i was lead to a aisle that had shevles. Shevles full of books, books full of "secrets". Oh the joy ! the glories joy. The joy a 6 year old is full of christmas morning when they see that Santa came.

Then very soon the reality hit....hit hard...so hard it bounced in fact. Theres too much, too many. How will I, how can I ?? I'll never be able to read them all. How will i know which one will answer the question i have right now. What if i have a question and i don't have that book and the store is closed .... i need that book...ahhhhhhh...Sure RAdio Shack answears the phone " you got questions , we've got answers" but they don't know butt itch about leather...So how can the say that !!!!??

Then i started searching the web again. I found another so called forums for leather craft. Pretty empty yet wide open forums with just one section. Making tring to find a subject pretty much "NOT". But,,,somehow i found a post that was titled something about another leather workers forums by no other then Johanna. Could it be, was this for real, you mean there truely is a Santa. AS my heart raced and feet started tapping , it seemed nothing was fast enough, My connection was just as fast as always but at this time it just did not seem fast enough. I click the mouse a hundred times to fallow the link this one sent from the skys posted.

That's when i learned never stop believing, there is a Santa !!!! Merry Christmas Butt Itch !!

I check these forums a few times everynight when i'm on the pc. lately i can't keep up with all the new post. That's a good thing a very good thing. Even more so for the begin hobbiest like myself. When i think of something i want to do, it does and will allways bring up questions. It's becoming that 8 out of 10 times i can find my answer by searching. Also most of the time i find in the same post ; although i don't know it yet the answer to the next question i'm about to have.

Thank you Johanna for starting these new friendships i'm building. And to me that's one of the things that make up a great forums, FRIENDSHIPS !

I'd also like to take this time to thank all of those that post here and that share there knowlegde so quickly. Ya'll are what makes up the forums. THANKS !!

[JohnD]

I've only been doing this a short time and hope to be doing it for a while. I had sort of the same experience as freak. This site is great, every time I have had a question I just search here and end up finding an aswer. Since most of my questions have been asked already, I've been able to find answers without posting. Thank you, Johanna for starting this and everyone for all the info.

John

[rawhide1]

Well I'm kinda of slow so freak had to led me to this thread and I'm glad he did!!!!!! SO I want to say a big THANK YOU Johanna for starting this site. It gives me something to do besides yelling at the kids and kicking the dog. Just kidding about kicking the dog! Thanks

Mike

[Rayban]

Johanna, I just now found "your story" and quite a story it is..

This site has quickly become one of my favs...I just pound on leather as a hobby and for beer money. I've been a little afraid of making it be too much like a job....

But regardless, this site gives me a daily dose of inspiration, not to mention the fine folks I'm encountering along the way.

Thanks for all you do....

Rick