#leatherworking

[cardiffart]

A zillion hours of hammering, skiving, dyeing, and Angelus paint later, finally finished my rapier hanger.

[buzzrds]

here's my wonderful isopod child, handcrafted in leather

[ironshrikes]

check out the cowboy-wizard hat i made!

[leatherbutchblues]

I created this banner as a love letter to leatherdykes 🖤⛓️🩸

Handcrafted from a solid piece of leather, metal O-rings and chain, the banner is designed to embody the leather armour worn by these fierce guardians who strengthen and protect our communities.

If you’re interested in seeing more of my work please check out my IG @leatherbutch

[armory-rasa]

COUCH POUCH!! Free Pattern & Tutorial

...called thus because they use upholstery-weight leather for the bag body, that in my case was in fact skinned off a couch. 🤣 Turns out they are relatively quick and easy to make, so I tidied up the pattern for printing and took pictures to document the process when I made another five of them.

First off, print your pattern, 100% scale:

The bag shape was a modified version of the pattern I used for the Morpheus sandbag, but sized to fit in the roughly 11" squares that my couch skin came in. It makes a bag that sits very well on a tabletop, thanks to the flat base.

Though it turned out to not be the most efficient use of material, because that plus-shaped pattern tessellates well, if you're cutting them out of a full hide, but makes a lot of waste when you're cutting them out of squares of material. A more efficient design would have a half-rounded front and back, and a gusset between them, like so:

Ah well. It's not like I have any shortage of couch skin, though for the next round I'm going to experiment with a more efficient pattern.

First step, trace and cut out the bag body from your chrome-tan leather:

Like I said, this was upholstery leather, but anything that's flexible and ~1.5 mm thick will do.

The flap and front need to be a stiffer leather though -- I used 7 oz latigo, but veg-tan would work equally well. (And then you could ✨tool it!✨)

Cut them out, and then use the pattern to mark where your holes are going to be. Mark the holes on your bag body too:

The latigo pieces get hand-stitched to the bag body, so I used a stitching groover to carve out little channels for the thread -- it's not strictly necessary, but it makes your stitches lay a lot more neatly:

Punch the holes shown below:

I used a ~5 mm hole punch for those, and a 1.5" slot punch for the belt loops. Some of the holes on the front piece you're not punching yet, because they need to go through both layers.

I put a dab of contact cement on the pieces (circled in white) to help hold them in place when I go to punch the stitching holes:

(Make sure you're not putting glue between the belt loops)

Wait fifteen minutes for the contact cement to dry until tacky, and then line up the holes and the edges and press the pieces together:

Punch stitching holes:

Saddle-stitch both pieces in place (takes 28" of thread per):

Now you can punch these holes:

(I used a slightly smaller hole punch than for the others, but it doesn't really matter.)

Now press the right sides of the leather together and sew up the seams from the inside:

A regular sewing machine should be able to handle this, though you will need thicker thread, a heavy-duty leather-sewing needle, and a walking foot attachment. (If you don't have a walking foot attachment, it is SO WORTH getting one, even if you don't expect to sew much leather. Seriously, I use it for everything -- once you go walking foot, you don't go back. 💀) Because you can't pin leather without leaving permanent holes in it, tiny binder clips can be helpful for keeping your material lined up.

What they look like when you're finished sewing:

Cut 19" of lacing for the drawstring, and 11" of lacing for the toggle:

I use the 1/8" EcoSoft lace from Tandy, I think it's stronger than real leather would be at that thickness. The only important factor here is that you need something with a bit of texture and friction -- a silk cord isn't going to stay closed, it's going to slip open.

MANY BAGS.

For these I used a wooden toggle -- cut another 8" of lacing, looped it through the toggle twice, and then made a tight square knot on the back:

But another option is putting a concho or a large button on the flap. The bag I copied this design from, in fact, uses a concho toggle:

Thread some beads on the laces to keep the ends from getting lost, and you are DONE! 😁

Happy Bagging!

[prowlerleather]

Budget leather collars are now for sale in my shop! These are $24 including shipping. 3 different sizes and options for spikes.

You can find them here: Link

[dadrielle]

I finished my Pate tooled leather tray! I'm real proud of how he turned out. Gonna wait to upload him to my etsy til I finish a couple other leather bits and bobs I'm nearly finished with, but man I'm tempted to just hold on to him tbh...

[exhausted-eternally]

Just a little reminder that I bind books if you're looking for a more unique gift for the artist or writer in your life. C:

Feel free to check out my shop to see what I have available, or take a look at my commissions if you're looking for something custom made! (Stuck on ideas? Have a peep at my portfolio.)

[traumagician]

Armor still isn’t done done, BUT it was done enough to wear to FanX! Better pictures taken with a proper camera by a proper photographer are coming, but while I wait for him to send them, please enjoy these pictures taken with my very classy potatophone. Including EXTRA SPECIAL BONUS Sauron, @gingerkittycattwitch on the instant gram.

[silhouette-cosplay]

Loki’s first try-on!!

I have a few things to tweak in terms of fitting and making sure everything is secured, and a couple belt hardware things to still make, but mostly he is ready for a shoot next weekend!! 👀

[so-i-did-this-thing]

hey nick!

i'm interested in getting into leather working, and i was wondering if you could recommend any resources that are particularly worth checking out?

any suggestions or direction is greatly appreciated! 💕

Heya! My favorite pattern maker for bags is Tony See. He does great tutorial videos for each of his patterns, plus has some fundamentals (like saddle stitching) in his YouTube as well. I recommend buying one of his simpler patterns and starting with that:

https://www.leather-patterns.com/

Do note that he is the typical non-handbag leatherworker, meaning he doesn't line anything with fabric, when a liner really would be more appropriate. But if you are a sewist, you should be able to do that.

If you want to make mostly armor, I recommend Black Raven Academy. Alex takes you through the entire process, including inspiration and design, and is also thorough on his technique overview. His site unfortunately feels very clickbaity, but the content is good.

https://www.blackravenacademy.com/

And finally, if you have a Tandy Leather (all their stuff is mid tier, but good for a beginner - you will grow out of them quickly) near you, I recommend taking a course or two from them, especially if you want to learn tooling.

Have fun! And my biggest advice: do not buy loads of tools or start a stash while you are learning! Only buy what you need for your current project, otherwise you will end up with a ton of junk. Ask me how I know. 😅

[drasilfaemir]

SUN'S OUT TONGUE'S OUT

My entry for the Unsounded Fanworks Contest and tribute to the bestest girl Pantoffel! If you like it please give it a vote!

Edit: Holy shit you guys! I won?! Thanks to all who voted and hope you enjoyed it!

In the meantime, here are some detail photos and a breakdown of the work that went into making it under the cut, featuring the bestest boi and model, my pupper Sharky. Scroll to the end for a special treat!

The saddle is real leatherwork at a tiny scale. Everything patterned, wet-shaped, dyed, finished, and assembled by yours truly. The saddle blanket is custom-made to match as well. The seat of the saddle is stitched to the base just at the front and back to allow the pieces to move in relation to each other for a more comfortable fit.

The pommel and backrest are both modeled and 3D printed by yours truly as well, with sports tape for the fabric on the pommel. Both are attached using rivet backings set through hollow points in the prints.

From the back more detail can be seen for the backrest. It is wet-shaped and stretched over the base, and then flathead pins were cut short and turned into the tiniest nails to nail it in place. No glue was used at all in it's construction.

The collar was constructed so that it fit around Sharky's head and then the tension in the straps under his legs pulled it tight. Those straps are attached to loops placed in the stitching with lobster clasps. Much of the construction is hidden in his majestic chest fluff, but a good chunk of it can be seen here.

And now on to his co-star, Captain Emil Toma!

This was a Finn action figure that I did heavy modifications to. Original details were mostly sanded off for a vaguely person-shaped base thar I then sculpted details back onto with epoxy-putty. Even his face recieved a bit of shaping to change the underlying bone structure to match Emil better. All of the original joints still move save for his left wrist, which needed to be sealed in place lest his hand fall off. The gun the figure was holding was replaced by his sword. I decided to stick to mostly early/mid-comic designs, picturing this as a toy a Crescean kid might play with before the events of the comic take place.

From the back we can see the leather pouch which was hand-stitched together and attached with a rivet back. It's fully functional and can store approximately 4 quarters in it. The scabbard was 3D printed with a peg for attachment purposes and the parts that 'hold' it to the sash are clothing tags.

The sash itself is fabric and held in place with fashion tape. Edges were melted to seal them and then folded under to allow me more control over how they wrinkle. The badge is hand-sculpted from the same epoxy-putty used to modify the body. It's about as tall as my thumbnail and I have never wished for a resin printer more ardently than when I was sculpting it with a straight pin.

Proportionally the two of them are nearly perfect together! But, regrettably, the figure was too heavy to sit in the saddle on his own. Especially on a dog that can out-run a dalmatian! Hence why they were photoshopped together for the final image.

I hope you enjoyed this tour of the utter insanity that has been my free time for the last few months. I actually started this before the contest was announced...and through some setbacks and bad timing of life events still didn't get done until the last minute. As promised, here is your special treat!

[polycraftory]

My brain has only two craft settings:

CRAFT NO: Watch as your WIPs languish for weeks to months because you haven't made any time or space for them in your incredibly busy schedule.

CRAFT YES: Welcome to hyperfocus o'clock! It's been 13 hours and you've gotten The Most Done. You have only eaten meals and drank water through years of practice while hyperfocusing (and also because your loved one occasionally remind you that you have a Physical Form that needs tending to)

[rowansender]

I finished my ren faire outfit this morning. The finishing touch was the hat. I’m super proud of how it turned out.

[armory-rasa]

Replica of a 12th/13th century leather pouch made in Afghanistan or eastern Iran. The original is currently housed at the David Collection in Copenhagen:

(Khorasan pouch, available from Armory Rasa)

[prowlerleather]

Black stitching on black leather is a beautiful combination ✨