Nates leathercrafting thread.

Hola fellow bass enthusiasts.

I've taken on another hobby that is unfortunately taking too much time away from by bass learning but I really enjoy it and I'm thinking of it as a retirement plan. Ha.

I just finished my 4th project. It's a dog collar. The first 3 were straps. I thought maybe it's time I'll just start a thread of its own rather then post on other topics where it may not belong.

Anyways, I'm at the starting point of a large learning curve so bear with me. .

The reason I'm posting here is this has quickly become my favourite forum and we all are passionate about the topics here so it just seems fitting to post one of my other passions that kinda crosses lines with bass.

I am working on a company name and such just cause I do appreciate good branding and not that I plan on going very far with it or anything like that.

Anyways,
Here is photos of task one.
Oh and p.s. My wife also is moving along with this so I most likely will post photos of some of her projects.

 

I learned a lot about stitching on the first strap. Still is a slow process though.

Strap number 2. The finish was kind of a fluke. Lol. I haven't been able to replicate it yet. But I really liked it.

 

Here is a sneak peak of strap #3
It's off to its new home. I accidentally made it to be a perfect match for my friends Dingwall so I had to get some photos with it.
There was a lot of firsts for me on this but I really hope to do more like this.

 

Here is project #4
A dog collar.
For a really goofy bulldog.

 

I appreciate that. Thank you. Unfortunately there are currently quite a lot of man hours that go into making one of these. Too many to the point that it's not feasible to sell for profit. I gotta still keep the green machine chuggin which means my play time is limited to a very slow production time.
All of the stitching is done by hand and that there is where I think no matter how much I speed up on other steps the 5 ish hours of stitching is always gonna be there. Lol. I could get a machine but..... that kinda takes away from the "handcrafted" theme.

Maybe one day I'll have an "economy line" lol.

All that said, of course I need a list of projects to keep me occupied and by all means if anyone is seriously interested I'd be happy to make something up for you... it just may take a while. I currently have a small list yet so pm me if you like. .

 

Here are a few more photos of strap #3.
Thanks @bebass for the opportunity to make this up for you.

 

Thank you. I'm gonna try a few more like that.

 

Thank you. The 1st strap is a dead giveaway that I hand stitched as it's pretty rough. Lol but right in the last 4" of that strap I got better. Hahahaha.
The rest of them I've just taken it pretty slow about 5-6 hours per strap. I'm using waxed cord as it's the largest thread readily available to me and I wanted the stitching to be solid looking.

It's coming along. I still need to increase my understanding of dying and staining and tooling. And. And. And.

One day I hope to get a machine for certain seams but I think most machines can't handle this cord and would have to use smaller thread to do the job. Anyways. Lots to learn and perfect. Thank you again

 

Send me a pm if you like.
Lol. I think I'll be busy til 2019 now.

 

Thank you. I do. Mostly from Tandy. This is another shop around as well but unfortunately the tanneries of the world have mostly left North America. So not too much tanning is done locally.

This summer I'm hoping to begin with some hobby tanning as in my life I see lots of hide go to waste. Deer,moose,elk,coyotes,cows,muskrats to name a few.

I don't think I'll have success to make veg tan (tooling leather) but I'm quite certain I can make the softer leathers and furs.

 

Here is a couple of photos from my wifes 1st project.

 

Here is A belt I made.