Leathercrafting Creations: PYC

[silence_kid]

haha, thanks man. you can see my next project under one of the straps, black ostrich leg. i'm also making one in tobacco, should be pretty nice. my first exotic leathers.

good luck! sounds nice... next thing you know you will be making alligator belts

[hollowsleather]

Here' yesterday's project. Skull style.

[hollowsleather]

Decided to make a Man With No Name style belt,

This was all hand punched and hand stitched. Takes ages.

[corter]

nice stuff man, that belt must have taken forever

[hollowsleather]

Yeah, I was thinking hard about audio books while stitching that up. NPR starts repeating after a while.

[beardedpotato]

Someone asked earlier but I didn't see anyone answer, what resources would you recommend for someone trying to start making leathercraft?

All the pieces seen have a very similar feel, is this from an instructional or just reverse engineering pieces?

I'd love to start this stuff.

[hollowsleather]

Someone asked earlier but I didn't see anyone answer, what resources would you recommend for someone trying to start making leathercraft?

All the pieces seen have a very similar feel, is this from an instructional or just reverse engineering pieces?

I'd love to start this stuff.

Start off slow, it's easy to spend a lot of money on tools. I'd just get an awl, some nice waxed thread, some middle-quality 5oz leather, some snaps, and some nice measuring and cutting tools.

I learned by looking at tons of pictures. If you're good at taking things apart and putting them back together you can probably learn this way. I didn't make much use of websites or books, but others may have recommendations in that vein.

Here's a piece I made last night in honor of Jun at Zipangu (who is truly a master of the craft):

Pictures are kinda crappy this time, but it's an awesome card case and coin purse.

[unlucky]

My recommendation is to get a few good Osborne tools - awl, edger, groover, punch. You can pretty much make anything with these.

[bruised]

thanks unlucky. i find my self with a lot of down time at my new job. my coworkers are knitting and crocheting, and was about to take that hobby on, but now have decided to leatherwork on my free time. kitting can come later.

i'm looking into the tools you mentioned. i'm gonna start by making belts, bracelets and simple wallets. i'm not such a huge fan of these japanese raw leather stuff, but i i'm really liking the weirder kinds of things like washed wrinkly destroyed leather from the likes of mr olive :

the belts look like they use some pretty heavy oz leather, whereas the wallet looks to be lighter in weight. also the stitching seems thinner on these wallets than you would get using an awl, do you think they just used a sewing machine? is that possible?

can anyone recommend what size tools i should get for making something like above?

i'm gonna have to look into soaking and twisting leather too. do you think people do this distressing before or after assembly? what types of leather and what weight?

does leather shrink? how does one take that into consideration?

plus rep for helping leather newb.

[unlucky]

I'll bet those are distressed after they're made. Wrinkling leather isn't hard. Just get it wet and crunch it up. It will look just like the pictures if you use veg tanned stuff. You can get it as light as 2 oz. I hand sew all of my stuff, but I''ve got a home sewing machine and it will go through garment leather pretty easy. You do have to get a leather needle and use stronger thread. I forgot to mention another tool that is indispensable for me -- wing dividers. You can get a good pair at Harbor Freight for a couple of bucks. I'd say the smaller the size, the better, for tools - especially edgers.

[Guest n1cx0]

I'm not quite sure where to put this but I thought that I'd get the best help here.

So I got a leather backpack from ebay and it came with these spots on the leather. Does anyone know what I can do to make them disappear/less visible?

[hollowsleather]

Many of my items are now for sale in the Marketplace.

See here for details

Thanks for all of the kind words, everyone.

[aisforapple]

Question-

where do you guys get your leather

[isjoshua]

Tandy has been mentioned as a source quite a few times.

[hollowsleather]

Tandy is a great place to start, they have a good selection, and often times you can get bits of nice quality scrap. Great for getting your feet wet.

I often wear a pair of jeans without belt loops, so I've come up with a few little things to help me carry what I carry without a belt to hang things from.

[Charlie Delta]

Interesting, I came up with both solutions for the same problem aswell...

(1890's or 1901 LVC's?)

[hollowsleather]

Interesting, I came up with both solutions for the same problem aswell...

(1890's or 1901 LVC's?)

Simple but effective.

They're actually Samurai S7000VX's. It'd be easy to tell if my camera/photo skills were halfway decent.

[hollowsleather]

Made this yesterday. It's hard to snap the snap when there's nothing inside, but I really like it. Turned out nice, and it should be really durable.

Toe strap for attachment because it's quicker than a buckle. Quick is nice when you have to take it off to lock up.

[knucks]

Made this yesterday. It's hard to snap the snap when there's nothing inside, but I really like it. Turned out nice, and it should be really durable.

Toe strap for attachment because it's quicker than a buckle. Quick is nice when you have to take it off to lock up.

DOPE

I want one

[hollowsleather]

Thanks Knucks.

If anyone is interested in this one or a similar bike bag, PM me.

[nattomoto]

What jeans are you wearing those pics?

Tandy is a great place to start, they have a good selection, and often times you can get bits of nice quality scrap. Great for getting your feet wet.

I often wear a pair of jeans without belt loops, so I've come up with a few little things to help me carry what I carry without a belt to hang things from.

[isjoshua]

What jeans are you wearing those pics?

They're actually Samurai S7000VX's.

(Ten characters.)

[hollowsleather]

Yesterday's project.

[Kranky]

Staying on topic.

Finished this sometime last week.

I'm having a friend who rides nearly everywhere give it a good beating to see how well it holds up/ages. He's loving it.

Even better- a local shop saw this recently and said they'd pay me to make a few for their stock, which is pretty exciting for me.

[hollowsleather]

Nicely done! I dig it.

[knucks]

Kranky, looks like those loops need to be smaller?

[hollowsleather]

Today was a belt and some bracelets. Shots of the bracelets later.

[arlee]

lots of leather crafters here, any of you have advice on how to repair a small scratch more like a tear i would say on a leather coat?

[corter]

really haven't had time to post anything lately. here's a skull inspired piece i did, it's probably the most storage i've ever built in a wallet!

lots of cards!

[Kranky]

Kranky, looks like those loops need to be smaller?

I probably should have attached it to my seat properly prior to taking the picture. The loops are adjustable, but you're right. It looks a bit dangly like that. heh.

hollows - kicks arse.

I wish this thread got as much attention as the evolution thread. :/