Introduction
Leathercrafting is a rewarding activity that combines working with your hands, engaging your mind, and using your creativity. This book will show you how to take a smooth, flat, unadorned piece of cowhide and transform it into a decorated three-dimensional piece of practical art.
Begin by familiarizing yourself with the tools of the trade. The first chapter provides a starting point for assembling what you need to complete your first project. You’ll find that many tools are specific to leathercrafting and available in varying degrees of quality and price. When it comes to tools, buy the best you can afford. The best tools will truly produce the best results. The techniques chapter will guide you through every procedure that goes into constructing leather goods—from selecting leather to applying a final finish. You’ll learn the fundamentals of tooling: selecting and preparing the leather, transferring a design, carving the leather with a swivel knife, embellishing the design by making impressions in the leather with stamps, coloring the leather, and using finishing techniques to impart a professional look.
These techniques are put to use in the final chapter, which covers making a belt and card case. The same skills and techniques used to make these items may be used to complete a variety of other projects, such as guitar straps, dog collars and leashes, gun belts, tool belts, and equestrian tack. Make the card case, and then you can move on to wallets, checkbook covers, media player and CD cases, notebook covers, and much more.
As you work with leather, you’ll quickly discover that practice leads to perfection and experimentation results in excellence. If you carve and stamp regularly, your leatherworking technique will improve, and so will the final product. Develop your own style, try new ways of working your projects, and invent tooling designs that are different from what you see in the marketplace.
Your handmade leather goods will be greatly appreciated gifts. And, because they will last for decades if well cared for, they often become treasured family heirlooms. Each piece of smooth, flat, unadorned leather is a blank canvas ready for you to create a one-ofa-kind masterpiece. Enjoy the experience!