Trying to show leathercraft

[Ringel05]

It's a million and one details to finish the piece. From thinning the edges for when you eventually sew them to edging your cuts and finishing every contact surface of the leather. Leather can be expensive...so you are careful with every step so you don't waste any. The shoulder I bought that this one was made from was actually cheap...it only ran $40 but I could have made 3-4 journals from it. As it is I had to trash one as the leather shrunk too much from casing it and then dip dying. Sure the color was uniform but it was darker than what I'd like and between the casing and dying it shrank. So off to the junk pile it went. It was carved and tooled and skived. I was sick about the labor...the loss of leather wasn't too bad. But it all hurt my feelings.

Leather is one of the least expensive hobbies I've had. Much cheaper than RC Airplanes. And I get usable stuff when I'm done too.

Some leather gets to be really expensive...but others like oak tanned belly strips are like $20 for 2... you can practice cutting and tooling on them for a long time. I will tomorrow too...got to make a journal cover for the wifey. Then turn that stuff into pieces for something else.
Tandy isn't the only game around for leather... Springfield leather has some good deals...so does Weaver.

A starter set of tools and sewing stuff and dye will run around $150 including leather.
Not bad considering what other hobbies have run me. (Gaming systems, golf, woodworking, sausage making, and etc)

And then it's just a matter of careful planning. Seeing it in your head before you start. I've never been one for kits. I design my own pieces. But for other people I'm sure they work well. They keep selling them.

Check for leather on Etsy also, lots of suppliers heck even some on Amazon.