Leathercraft Masterclass

[niakulah]

Anyone bought or subscribed to any of these courses?

https://www.leathercraftmasterclass.com/online-courses

The content description and their Instagram looks compelling but the price is a bit high, 30 pounds per video. So I thought I'd check here if anyone has bought any and what they think of it? Is it worth the money?

[howie696]

You can find all that on youtube for free

 

[zuludog]

I've had a look at the link, and I agree with howie696. There is all the information you need on YouTube, though you won't be spoon fed, you'll have to watch quite a few videos to pick it up. Last I checked, there are about 12 pages on leatherwork, each with about 20 videos, so there's plenty to go at. Just use the Search box to narrow it down to what you want

Nigel Armitage & Ian Atkinson/Leodis Leather are good. Also Jacklore; he does mostly knife making, but has a couple of good ones on sheaths, and the techniques can be applied to other leatherwork

Videos may be on techniques, like saddle stitch, skiving, or setting rivets; or items, like a wallet, a knife sheath, or a belt; but watch them all. Even if you have no intention of ever making a possibles bag, the same sort of methods & techniques will be used for other things

If you were thinking of spending that sort of money, spend it on some decent tools instead

Edited August 25, 2018 by zuludog

[LetterT]

In addition Nigel Armitage has a channel at Vimeo for subscribers where he goes into some detail about different techniques, shares tips and in general provides good instruction. Very well worth it. Considering his subscription is just 3 pounds per month of access for just one video of what you saw you can have 10 months of subscription with Nigel. You can take a look at what he covers on the following link:

https://vimeo.com/ondemand/armitageleather

[niakulah]

Thanks for all the replies. Yup I've seen most of Nigel's YouTube  videos. And I've been subscribed to his Vimeo channel for a few months as well, and I can really see how much more valuable it is than his free YouTube videos.
 

The good experience I've had with Nigel's paid Vimeo channel is one of the reasons I'm interested in Leather Masterclass. If Nigel's YouTube videos are good and his Vimeo channel is great, would I have a similar experience with Leather Masterclass? I guess that's the real question I'm looking to get answered.

Hopefully there is someone on here who has paid for the course who can chime in.

 

[terryHHI]

Hi niakulah,

I’ve watched countless free YouTube videos.  You Tube videos got me started with leatherworking. Like you, I subscribe to Nigel’s  videos and have learned from them. 

I started subscribing to Leather Masterclass last week.  I’ve watched the stitching, blade work and edges part 1 videos. Leather Masterclass instructor, Philip Jury is a great teacher. He explains the processes he uses, he explains alternatives, and his videos are well produced.  I like the videos and I’m learning information and techniques I haven’t found elsewhere.  

For me, both subscriptions are worth the investment. Let me know if you have any questions. 

[terryHHI]

Your question made me think of another site I’m looking forward to watching and learning from. Equus Leather, Charlie and Dawn Trevor, have several great videos on You Tube.  They have a Kickstarter going to raise money to film the making of a wood framed attaché case.  If you pledge money, you get access to a private Instagram account showing the filming and build process and other incentives depending on how much money you pledge. 

I’m excited to watch the construction of the attaché. 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/equusleather/equus-leather-film-step-into-our-workshop

 

[niakulah]

On 8/26/2018 at 7:18 PM, terryHHI said:

Hi niakulah,

I’ve watched countless free YouTube videos.  You Tube videos got me started with leatherworking. Like you, I subscribe to Nigel’s  videos and have learned from them. 

I started subscribing to Leather Masterclass last week.  I’ve watched the stitching, blade work and edges part 1 videos. Leather Masterclass instructor, Philip Jury is a great teacher. He explains the processes he uses, he explains alternatives, and his videos are well produced.  I like the videos and I’m learning information and techniques I haven’t found elsewhere.  

For me, both subscriptions are worth the investment. Let me know if you have any questions. 

Thank you very much for the feedback! I didn't realise he had a subscription as well! Cheaper (initially) than buying the videos outright, especially if I'm not sure of the quality of the content.

Yes I also realized he does a few things in ways I've never seen before. His awl pinky strap for example.

 

[LeathercraftMasterclass]

Hello guys!

I appreciate the enquiry Naikulah, and thank you Terry, I'm glad you are getting value from the courses!

I have a workshop in Kent, England where I own Finch England. I am a full time leather goods maker specialising in custom work for individuals and a few London based retailers. I also provide personal workshop training one to one.

I started the Leathercraft Masterclass earlier this year as I was receiving a lot of messages from people on Instagram saying that they would love to come and train with me but they live on the other side of the world. Thus the idea was born to create video courses that people can watch the world over.

The courses are based on what isn't currently available on Youtube or from other makers. 

From the makers that have been mentioned in this thread, it appears that they specialise almost exclusively in vegetable tanned leather and rugged leather goods. I do work with vegtan and bridle hide (I live near a tannery producing it!) but I also work with many different European chrome tanned leathers and exotic skins, so my work is not quite the same in that sense.

I'd say 60% of the students who come to my workshop are there to learn how to make handbags, design patterns, install leather linings, zippers, rolled handles, enchapes, interlinings and reinforcements etc, so I specialise in a different style to many youtube based makers.

As for cost, well the value of something is very subjective! personally I don't see the value in a $300 damascus and fossilised walrus testicle handled skiving knife, but that doesn't mean it's not worth the price, it's just not worth it - to me!  Of all the great skiving knives I own, I always reach for my re-shaped carbon steel putty knife! After heat treating that sucker, there's nothing that flexes to skive thin soft skins quite like it! - all for £6

If someone buys one of my videos and what they learn helps them to create a higher grade of leather goods, improve their confidence and create more sales, then they will have received great value. On the flip side someone might buy the video for £29.99 and think 'nah, not into that fancy stuff - I want to make riveted axe sheathes', they on the other hand will receive poor value! (Yes the £9.99/mo subscription is a lot better value).

If you guys have any questions, feel free to ask away and I'll try and get back to you as quick as I can.

Talking of free, I also have a Youtube channel. So here's a free video on back stitching neatly (you may already know it):

 

 

[kiwican]

Good answer 

[niakulah]

12 hours ago, LeathercraftMasterclass said:

Hello guys!

I appreciate the enquiry Naikulah, and thank you Terry, I'm glad you are getting value from the courses!

I have a workshop in Kent, England where I own Finch England. I am a full time leather goods maker specialising in custom work for individuals and a few London based retailers. I also provide personal workshop training one to one.

I started the Leathercraft Masterclass earlier this year as I was receiving a lot of messages from people on Instagram saying that they would love to come and train with me but they live on the other side of the world. Thus the idea was born to create video courses that people can watch the world over.

The courses are based on what isn't currently available on Youtube or from other makers. 

From the makers that have been mentioned in this thread, it appears that they specialise almost exclusively in vegetable tanned leather and rugged leather goods. I do work with vegtan and bridle hide (I live near a tannery producing it!) but I also work with many different European chrome tanned leathers and exotic skins, so my work is not quite the same in that sense.

I'd say 60% of the students who come to my workshop are there to learn how to make handbags, design patterns, install leather linings, zippers, rolled handles, enchapes, interlinings and reinforcements etc, so I specialise in a different style to many youtube based makers.

As for cost, well the value of something is very subjective! personally I don't see the value in a $300 damascus and fossilised walrus testicle handled skiving knife, but that doesn't mean it's not worth the price, it's just not worth it - to me!  Of all the great skiving knives I own, I always reach for my re-shaped carbon steel putty knife! After heat treating that sucker, there's nothing that flexes to skive thin soft skins quite like it! - all for £6

If someone buys one of my videos and what they learn helps them to create a higher grade of leather goods, improve their confidence and create more sales, then they will have received great value. On the flip side someone might buy the video for £29.99 and think 'nah, not into that fancy stuff - I want to make riveted axe sheathes', they on the other hand will receive poor value! (Yes the £9.99/mo subscription is a lot better value).

If you guys have any questions, feel free to ask away and I'll try and get back to you as quick as I can.

Talking of free, I also have a Youtube channel. So here's a free video on back stitching neatly (you may already know it):

 

Hi Phil,

Thanks for taking the time to sign up and reply!

Yes I have subscribed! Soon after you launched the Corner Stitching video. That is a pet peeve of mine and I really wanted to see what your solution might be. I did independently get to your Option 2-B. Here is a piece I did a few months back. It's an employee card holder and I'm wearing it right now (yes I need to work on my inside corner cuts ).

But the way you explained it is excellent. I tried to replicate the stitch I did above and have not always been successful. I think your approach should help me to be more consistent. No offense but I find your "solution" to look a bit too "busy", I prefer 2-B above.

And your backstitching video! I think Ian Atkinson explained a similar thing in his YouTube video, but I didn't get it when I watched it about 2 years ago. Now I do! And my backstitches have never been neater.

[LetterT]

I have been following Phil on Instagram and i really like his live session straight from the workshop, a nice mix of work and craft related chat.

I think in time it would be nice to have a video that would bind the techniques together, like building a simple wallet, how do the techniques combine into workflow and ultimately the finished item.

[LeathercraftMasterclass]

Hi Naikulah, Thank you for the subscription! Much appreciated.

That's the wonderful part about our craft, it's all very much subjective. I have to agree, you card wallet corner - you nailed it! 

40 minutes ago, LetterT said:

I have been following Phil on Instagram and i really like his live session straight from the workshop, a nice mix of work and craft related chat.

I think in time it would be nice to have a video that would bind the techniques together, like building a simple wallet, how do the techniques combine into workflow and ultimately the finished item.

Thank you T! Yeah, I really love the whole live video thing on Instagram. When I can match the number of followers on YouTube I want to switch to live videos there as they record and keep them on my channel. Unfortunately Instagram only keeps them for 24hrs.

Regarding build along courses, that is where all this is going, once 'The Techniques Of Leathercraft' are complete, I will be moving into 'The Manufacture Of Leather Goods' -named on honour of C.G. Moseley's excellent book from the corwainers technical college in London. 

That way, if someone watching the making of a bifold for example, doesn't understand how to turn an edge, skive T slots or perform edge binding, well - there's a technique course for that included in the subscription!

Thank you everybody for the warm welcome, I really appreciate it. Some fashion and style forums I've signed up to are full of egos and and hotheads, everyone seems really nice here! It's refreshing.

Philip

[LetterT]

That is nice to hear and I am off to subscribe to your YouTube channel. You should advertise the channel more, I am sure people would follow you.

Money is a bit tight for me, my wife has hobbies too so we have to split the hobby budget but when you reach the the "build your first..." I will subscribe for sure.

[Dunluce]

Philip,

i htought I would have a look at your site and from what I see it looks interesting . Your free backstitch video was well explained . However I have found the site quite glitchy. Some pages takes ages to load and sometimes they only partially load then stop. I’m not criticising but just making you aware that it may put people off. I don’t know if anyone else had the same problem

[LeathercraftMasterclass]

13 hours ago, LetterT said:

That is nice to hear and I am off to subscribe to your YouTube channel. You should advertise the channel more, I am sure people would follow you.

Money is a bit tight for me, my wife has hobbies too so we have to split the hobby budget but when you reach the the "build your first..." I will subscribe for sure.

Thank you for the support T, I appreciate the sub!

10 hours ago, Dunluce said:

Philip,

i htought I would have a look at your site and from what I see it looks interesting . Your free backstitch video was well explained . However I have found the site quite glitchy. Some pages takes ages to load and sometimes they only partially load then stop. I’m not criticising but just making you aware that it may put people off. I don’t know if anyone else had the same problem

Thank you Dunluce, I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Cheers for the heads up regarding the website! If I may ask, did you have this issue on a computer or a phone?

Phil

[Dunluce]

Phil,

i tried on my laptop and iPad. It was better on the laptop but was still slow. On the iPad some page just failed to load at all.

[LetterT]

Speaking of this, you About section on YT lists a website that doesn't exist (http://www.finchleather.uk/) and Instagram account that doesn't exist (https://www.instagram.com/finchleather.uk/)

I use a 4k monitor so I may not be a good representative on the site layout but here are some issues - Online courses page loads very slowly - my guess due to embedded videos. Course supplies page once I click on sublinks - text flows under the photos (in effect becomes invisible). Video subscription page text is centered but doesn't flow, the text if fixed in size (since it is too big the left and right side of the text is cut off).

Edit: You use Wix to build the site, I know it is an easy solution but it is far from the best. In time you might at least consider a different template or switch to WordPress. WP has hundreds of templates and should still provide an easy site to build and maintain. I had some training on web development and I hope one day to switch career into that.

Edited September 14, 2018 by LetterT

[LeathercraftMasterclass]

2 hours ago, LetterT said:

Speaking of this, you About section on YT lists a website that doesn't exist (http://www.finchleather.uk/) and Instagram account that doesn't exist (https://www.instagram.com/finchleather.uk/)

I use a 4k monitor so I may not be a good representative on the site layout but here are some issues - Online courses page loads very slowly - my guess due to embedded videos. Course supplies page once I click on sublinks - text flows under the photos (in effect becomes invisible). Video subscription page text is centered but doesn't flow, the text if fixed in size (since it is too big the left and right side of the text is cut off).

Edit: You use Wix to build the site, I know it is an easy solution but it is far from the best. In time you might at least consider a different template or switch to WordPress. WP has hundreds of templates and should still provide an easy site to build and maintain. I had some training on web development and I hope one day to switch career into that.

Cheers T! Thank you for taking the time to help me problem solve, I always appreciate it!

 I've updated the YouTube account for the external links. That was my old website and account which I hadn't remembered to change since the relaunch.

I've modified the Online Courses page to have all the videos load on one single grid that seems to load faster now (at least on my laptop). I still opened a support ticket with Wix to come up with a better solution regarding speed. My uneducated guess is that each individual video thumbnail was loading a 20 second preview at the same time as the thumbnail causing a horrible delay! You would know more than I would about that.

Yes, Wix, the armatures choice!  I have been told that Wordpress is a better option before. My issue is now I have momentum with the business I really don't have the time to invest in a new website. The thought of trying to move paying subscribers and members over seamlessly gives me nightmares!

I also moved the text over to the right of all the pictures on the last link in the suppliers list 'Techniques of the edge Pt2'. Can you tell me if the issue is still there? If that has solved the problem I'll go ahead and fix the rest of the pages.

Thank you in advance, again I really appreciate you taking a look into this!

Phil

[LeathercraftMasterclass]

2 hours ago, Dunluce said:

Phil,

i tried on my laptop and iPad. It was better on the laptop but was still slow. On the iPad some page just failed to load at all.

Yeah, same problem here too. Wix is notoriously slow with mobile sites apparently and I know it's definitely putting off potential customers. I am working with them today to sort this out. My Mrs phone loads all the pages fine, but on my older Samsung I have to load4 'Online Courses' twice to even see anything! I just assumed it was my phone playing up. Guess not! 

Thanks,

Phil

[scrapyarddog]

It's worth it. I'm at a stage where I can produce better products than most of what's shown in free Youtube leatherwork videos, and from my experience, both Nigel and Philip's paid contents are worth it. If you want to build a solid foundation and you can discern the difference, you'll think what they are charging is quite cheap. What sold me the idea of buying contents is Nigel's class from 2019 in Berkeley because it just answered so many questions I've had since I started in summer 2017, and he gave many simple and clear answers to some questions I'd spent a longtime wondering but received no clear answers online. 

Nigel's Vimeo breaks down very basic techniques into manageable small chunks and gives you ample information on the why's and how's.

Philip's plan videos break down more advanced techniques and shows you step by step how to produce "fancy" leatherwork.

If you're interested in tooling, they are not for you.

If you're happy with just putting 2 pieces of leather together and are impressed by this one Dunhill briefcase video on Youtube, they are also not for you.

If you're interested in foundational skills and knowledge, structure, no nonsense and you want to actually produce higher end English leatherwork, BUY THEIR CONTENT.