Lets talk about WOW factor in leatherwork.

[ABHandmade]

It seems to me that the wow-effect is important first of all for the master himself. To see and feel that your new work is pleasing to yourself more than the previous one is the best reward.
Try to put next to your first project and the one that ended yesterday. WOW !!!
But in order to make the subsequent work better than the previous one, you need to see and admit your mistakes, but not to sprinkle your head with ashes, and in order to prevent them from later. And constructive criticism of professionals is very helpful in this.

PS. And more ... I think that sometimes even a very experienced master can discover something new, looking at the work of a beginner

PPS. I consider myself a newcomer, because for the first time in my life I learned about the veg tan leather and a swivel knife in November 2017.

Edited April 24, 2018 by ABHandmade

[Boriqua]

I build for me first and the customer second. I am my own worst critique and have restarted projects due to flaws I know would never have been noticed by the end user.

I like to look at work I think is superior to my own, which is very easy to find, because my personality is somewhat restless and I know I would grow very bored if I weren't always trying something new and to push on bounderies. Sometimes I see something and don't think it is superior work or not even comparable work but am intrigued by how they did this or that and pursue it just for sport.

Lately I have been working on some pyrography .. I am pretty sure its not a marketable item but its something new.

I think wow is born of your own integrity to the Craft side of building first and secondarily the decorations you choose to embellish your work with. Luckily for me most of the people who come to me want outside the box type stuff so its easy to stay entertained and engaged .. Is my work WOW ... nah Im still working on it!! 

My real life before now was spent designing and producing large scale exhibits. In that role I managed a large group of carpenters, scenic painters, technology people, sculptors and everyone else involved with production. I once had a carpenter tell me after I commented on a 1/4" gap in his work "We're not making watches here. no one can see that from space"  .... It was his last day!

Edited April 24, 2018 by Boriqua

[immiketoo]

Lol...I hate excuse makers.  

[Bob Blea]

WOW is a tough goal for any of us to reach.  I see lots of really fantastic carvings online now, particularly out of Asia.  Some of the artists there are doing really incredible work.  I see makers who have perfect stitching and beautifully clean lines in their assembly.  Like @YinTx it gets to be overwhelming for me because I know I need to work on my hand stitching, my edges, my carving skills, my dyeing skills, etc.  It does seem like there isn't enough time in life to learn all I would need to know to really master anything in this craft.  But I also believe that the way we look at our work is different than how the average person looks at it.  We look at all the technical details and they see the overall item that doesn't look like anything they have seen in their modern mega-mart.

For me the WOW factor comes from custom making items for people.  Most of the work I sell is commissioned and they have something very specific in mind.  I get the WOW from them because I spend time to find out exactly what they want and take the time to make it to their imagination as much as possible.  The final product isn't flawless and I see lots of things I want to improve, but if the customer is thrilled then it's a success.

I was in a Robert Beard class once where he said that he wasn't paid for the QUANTITY of his work, he was paid for the QUALITY of his work.  I've always kept that in mind when I'm making anything for a customer.  Seemed like good advice to work by.

Bob

[rodneywt1180b]

Great topic.

The very definition of the Wow factor means that not everyone can achieve it.  Would I like to reach that point? Yes.  Will I?  Probably not.  The good news is there is plenty of room for makers like me who don't reach that lofty standard.  Good, serviceable work has it's place too.

I'm still a complete novice when it comes to leather.  No "Wow" there and there won't be for quite a while, probably not ever.  If I ever do get a wow on my leather work it'll be along the lines of "Wow. How did you manage to mess that up that badly?"  That doesn't keep me from trying. 

Canes are my main focus.  As far as my cane making goes, well, no "Wow" there either.  I try to get better with every one I make and I can see the improvement.  I'm still a long way away from equaling the work of makers I admire, but then, maybe that's not my biggest reason for making them.

Canes are different than some things.  Canes tend to be more needed than wanted. Nobody wants to have to use a cane.

I see this frequently.  A good cane has a profound effect on the user's self esteem.  They give a a little bit of the person's dignity back to them.  It's something your typical drugstore cane just can't do. That's an important reason why I make them.  My goals are simple.  I want to make nice looking canes that are comfortable and that get used.  In fact I want my canes to be the ones my customers reach for first.  I also want them to be affordable.  If someone wants one of my canes I want them to be able to have it.  I generally make a few lower priced ones too just for that reason.

I would love the ability to make a truly high end cane.  I envy the skill and precision of those makers. On the other hand if that's what I made maybe I wouldn't be able to achieve my other goals as well.

[bikermutt07]

This has been a really good read. I will chime in later. Great thoughts, everyone.

[immiketoo]

9 hours ago, rodneywt1180b said:

Great topic.

The very definition of the Wow factor means that not everyone can achieve it.  Would I like to reach that point? Yes.  Will I?  Probably not.  The good news is there is plenty of room for makers like me who don't reach that lofty standard.  Good, serviceable work has it's place too.

I'm still a complete novice when it comes to leather.  No "Wow" there and there won't be for quite a while, probably not ever.  If I ever do get a wow on my leather work it'll be along the lines of "Wow. How did you manage to mess that up that badly?"  That doesn't keep me from trying. 

Canes are my main focus.  As far as my cane making goes, well, no "Wow" there either.  I try to get better with every one I make and I can see the improvement.  I'm still a long way away from equaling the work of makers I admire, but then, maybe that's not my biggest reason for making them.

Canes are different than some things.  Canes tend to be more needed than wanted. Nobody wants to have to use a cane.

I see this frequently.  A good cane has a profound effect on the user's self esteem.  They give a a little bit of the person's dignity back to them.  It's something your typical drugstore cane just can't do. That's an important reason why I make them.  My goals are simple.  I want to make nice looking canes that are comfortable and that get used.  In fact I want my canes to be the ones my customers reach for first.  I also want them to be affordable.  If someone wants one of my canes I want them to be able to have it.  I generally make a few lower priced ones too just for that reason.

I would love the ability to make a truly high end cane.  I envy the skill and precision of those makers. On the other hand if that's what I made maybe I wouldn't be able to achieve my other goals as well.

I agree with you about not everyone being able to, because lets face it, some folks just don't see the flaws.  Thats ok.  But, most of us do and we want to improve.  Wow factor can be achieved on simple items with no embellishment as well.  Ive seen basic knife sheaths so clean I've said to myself, "well shit."  Back to the drawing board.  If a person picks one thing to get better at, over time these things all combine to make a fine piece.  

Don't sell yourself short.  You can have a goal of affordable items, but that doesn't mean they have to be poorly made.  Price is up to you, and I admire the fact you want people to have your cane in their hand.  Kudos to you.  Nice looking and simple is a good combo and it applies to leatherwork as well.  

Anyway ,the whole point of this post is specifically that things DON'T have to be perfect to earn a wow.  Thats the beauty of making things with our hands.

[Rockoboy]

Excellent topic, and some very beautiful sentiments from lots of people.

Some of my things I have made, fishing rods, leather goods, wood or metalwork items, acrylic items etc, I am happy to show people. On the flipside, there are some items that I am less than impressed with my own efforts. There are some very talented people on this blog, and whilst I agree with the idea of not ripping-off some other person's design, I have tried some ideas. Some have worked and some have not, but the pleasure is in the making, not the praise and (possibly) fake opinion of people who may not know the worth of that article.

[rodneywt1180b]

On 4/25/2018 at 1:51 AM, immiketoo said:

I agree with you about not everyone being able to, because lets face it, some folks just don't see the flaws.  Thats ok.  But, most of us do and we want to improve.  Wow factor can be achieved on simple items with no embellishment as well.  Ive seen basic knife sheaths so clean I've said to myself, "well shit."  Back to the drawing board.  If a person picks one thing to get better at, over time these things all combine to make a fine piece.  

Don't sell yourself short.  You can have a goal of affordable items, but that doesn't mean they have to be poorly made.  Price is up to you, and I admire the fact you want people to have your cane in their hand.  Kudos to you.  Nice looking and simple is a good combo and it applies to leatherwork as well.  

Anyway ,the whole point of this post is specifically that things DON'T have to be perfect to earn a wow.  Thats the beauty of making things with our hands.

I'm not trying to sell myself short.  Affordable doesn't mean poorly made.  Canes won't allow it.  At the very minimum they need to provide additional support for the people who rely on them.   Keeping things simple and using less expensive woods help keep things affordable.  I gather and harvest most of the woods I use myself.  They're not lesser quality, just less expensive to acquire and I have fun doing it. 

I look at my work from when I started to now and I see the improvement.  But still I look at it and think: "That joint could have been tighter." or "I should have sanded it more." or "That shape could be refined a bit."   They're things that won't detract from the function of the cane and a lot of people probably wouldn't even notice them but to me they're things that I can (and should) work to improve.

I do agree that things don't have to be perfect to earn a wow.  I would even go so far as to say sometimes it's the imperfections that set an item apart.  Poor workmanship isn't one of them though.  A lot of my canes feature the imperfections in the wood.  Things like knots, old wounds and worm holes become features.  I use a lot of spalted wood.  Spalting is basically the early stages of rot but it can create some beautiful patterns in the wood.   I think the leather working equivalent would be using brands, scars and the raw edges of hides as they come from the tannery as features.

[immiketoo]

@bikermutt07, still waiting to hear from you!