New to Leather making

[newtoleathermaker]

Hello, My name is Alex and I am completely new to leather in general. I want to learn how to make purses out of leather for my own use. So I just want to ask what should I start doing to beginning this hobby? What should I buy to start out with 

[bikermutt07]

In the beginning it is best to start with small repeatable items. Bracelets, key chains, and the like.

Here is why. If you jump around to one off projects in the beginning, (like I did) you will miss steps or get the order of steps out of whack.

I suggest bracelets to everyone, not because I like bracelets, but because you get the best yield of leather to learning ratio.

With one single shoulder you can have a months worth of learning fun.

You can learn to use the tools and learn all the steps.

Cutting, dying, edging, burnishing, antique, tooling, finishing, hardware, conchos, laminating, pretty much everything.

And you can do 20 (or more) at a time.

Mess up?, chunk the 50 cents worth of leather in the bin and keep moving forward. 

I can't tell you how many projects didn't reach being finished because I made a misstep along the way.

Another tip is use patience. The slower you go the better it will be. Lots of steps require 24 hours between them. This is a good time to work on another project. There is nothing in leather that looks fabulous without time and care being spent.

There are people here that can pump out beautiful work in a hurry, but they have equipment and more importantly the knowledge that comes with decades of experience.

I have been at it almost three years. But I have had very little time at the bench. So, I still count myself a newbie. I am hoping that I will have more time as my boy gets older.

Anyway, good luck. And I hope this helps. You will be making bags in no time, I'm sure.