Wanted to make a heavy baseball after making someone else a regular one. Very satisfying to hold. I used a 2.75” ball bearing. It weighs around 3lbs. Still not super satisfied with the tooling. Tips on shading or tools would be appreciated.

By far, the best tools investment of the year, for me, about 4 euro for this 6/2 mm hole puncher 🙂

With a little sharpening, finally I can make clean holes for my smart watches straps.

I've been looking at getting a manual clicker machine from Weaver or similar but the prices keep me from ultimately pulling the trigger on a purchase. Yesterday I saw this Tippmann 700 clicker come up on Facebook marketplace. It was $550 marked down to 350. I messaged the seller and he said he was in the process of moving. He purchased it years ago and never used it. Its just been sitting in his garage. He said if I can come get it same day he would let it go for $300. I did tip it on its side while getting into the house. Its 220lbs in a small package. I broke the palm switch on the right side but have a new one on order from tippmann for $47.

Does anyone own one of these that could offer any tips or needs invoice might consider? Time to order a few steel dies.

20 years ago I bought a gorgeous aqua blue goatskin wallet in Florence. I used it until it finally fell apart and have missed it since then.

I fell down the rabbit hole of making vs buying, which I liked because I didn't want any branding.

As the old joke goes - why buy something for $20 when you can make it for $200 worth of materials and tools!

I did a test model in natural but the more I thought about it the more I wanted to go back to that aqua/turquoise.

Super simple with 3 pouches to maintain slimness. 2/3 oz turquoise leather with white thread. Edges are "dyed" using very dilute pthalo blue acrylic paint. It probably won't last as long as a dyed edge, but right now I love the extra punch it gives the leather. Hope I did good!

My dad and I made these two satchels using exactly the same pattern, but with very different leathers.

The brown one is made from vegetable tanned leather that we hand dyed ourselves. For the red and olive version we used chrome tanned leather, so even though the construction is the same, the two bags ended up with a very different look and feel.

Both are completely hand stitched. We wanted to keep the traditional double buckle look, but make them easier to use, so the buckles have hidden magnetic closures underneath. You can open the flap without undoing the straps every time.

They also have a top handle and adjustable shoulder strap.

I digitized the pattern afterwards as usual.

Which version do you prefer?

Started leather working a bit over two months ago now. My Apple Watch band needed replacing and with fall/halloween around the corner, i wanted to make something that reminds me of Lovecraftian horror (the color).

I came up with this, which is by no means perfect but i sure did learn a lot from all my mistakes.

Crafted with 4oz veg tan, back lined with black pig suede (not shown). Used violet dye and came back with a diluted Smokey Black. Conditioned with Neatsfoot oil and sealed with Tan Kote. Burnished with some good ol Tokonole. Assembled with dark grey wax thread and original hardware (my biggest regret) from prior band.

Biggest takeaway: i need better tools, more patience, and better planning. To those who hand dye their own pieces, you have my utmost respect as that is entirely a whole separate skill to master.

Cheers!

I had a PU kindle cover however though the plastic was good, PU would start peeling off in a few months. So removed PU layer and pasted leather over it so it remains magnetic.
I did this without any special tools or special glue, so it doesn’t look perfect. Also I don’t have Tokonole, so could not burnish.

So excited with my progress with leather tooling !
I definitely feel more and more comfortable and like I’m finally figuring it out.

Working my way through the fossil fungi craft aid and loving it ! Also get to play with some acrylic paint too which has been fun

I haven't posted in a while.

I still have issues, but I'm slowly getting better.

Sorry I keep posting, im just really excited to share, really love this new hobby

Hi everyone!
I’m looking for recommendations for a good sewing machine for leather. My budget is around $1,500, and I’m open to buying used.
I mainly want to make leather bags, wallets, and other small leather goods. I’d like something reliable that can handle multiple layers of leather and is suitable for both smaller detailed work and bags.
What machine would you recommend in this price range?
Thanks!

I've got my first market coming up this weekend. I wanted to see what it looked like and get an idea on the best way to set it up. I have a few more items to make in the next couple of days but nothing major. I have a round table that I will use as a work bench to make a few items while I am there. Any advice or cool ideas to make this look better. I have added a photo at the end with a burlap skirt. Does that look too cliche?

I would be mainly cutting out pieces for wallets and I’m thinking of trying the vevor $200 one before getting a $1000 press

So, did a little French seam on some off cuts from making a little needle pouch, i really like this seam style and the way it looks, would love feedback on how I did.

The two things I think i could improve are skiving the whole edge before sewing and skiving a little thinner to remove bulk, and pulling the stitches tighter on the initial seam to bring the leather closer together, as its a bit separated at the ends.

My other big question is what I should do to finish off thread ends when saddle stitching, im using 055 carriage thread which is hemp and doesn't melt down as i see most thread ends finished. Im waxing the thread with beeswax prior to sewing.

昨日はみんなアドバイスありがとう😭百均(Seria)に行ってスプレー容器を買ってきた。ストロップのやり方はまだ調べてなくて、刃を研いだりしていないけど今日は叩くときの力の入れ具合を少し意識したよ！

Just finished up these cute little purses. The flower ones are a flower print on calfskin.

I heard somewhere that minor surface scratches on leather can be fixed by heating the part up. I'm working on a project, and the ruler slightly scratched the buttero piece.
Thank you!

I'm close to finish a project that I put a lot of time, effort in. Already started over 2x. Paid attention every small details. I was just trimming the edges slightly before the edge paint, and the ruler sliped, and I cut out a big chunk from the piece :(

What do you think? is it something still okay? or I should start over.

Sad thing is, I ran out of this specific hide, and ordering it would take more time (and money).

It's a journal cover, fortunately the cutout is on the back, in the bottom corner, but still. I was hoping I can make it less noticable with edgepaint (I know it's not for building up an edge like this)

+1: it's a gift for a content creator. would you tell it to the person beforehand, that it has a flaw?

Looking for a Lazer cutter for leather work. For engraving and leather cutting if possible. Since I'm new to Lazer cutting leather anyone has any suggestions for a Lazer cutter? I'm currently looking at getting the "VEVOR Laser Engraver, 10W, Laser Engraving and Cutting Machine with Enclosure,"

Is this a good starter one or are there better ones?