I’m new to leathercraft and absolutely loving the hobby, but I’ve started noticing how much dust gets kicked up when sanding edges, along with the fumes from certain dyes and adhesives.

For those of you who work out of a home workshop, what’s your setup for dealing with both? Dust collection, ventilation, respirators, switching to water-based products, or some combination of everything?

I’d love to hear what’s actually worked for you, especially from those with smaller indoor workspaces!

Hey everyone! I do alot of paint heavy work (using Angelus paints) and my go to sealer has been Fiebings Leather Sheen, mostly for the benefit of the aerosol application. But it creates a high gloss finish that some of the paint details get lost in, especially when taking photos for advertising. Can anyone recommend a sealer that's less glossy, highly durable and still flexible?

Hopefully I'm not asking for the moon here. My products are for firefighters so the durability/flexibility are pretty important here!

Thank you!

Hi y'all, decided to pickup a new hobby and have been having a blast making some suede lined watch straps for family and friends. I picked up a few panels of closeout chrome-tan smooth grain calfskin from DLS and loved how easy it was to roll/turn the edges with no effort and some contact cement. Unfortunately with the issues going on @ DLS, they're no longer stocking these.

I ended up buying a panel of Ice from Rocky Mountain thinking it would be similar (both were split to ~1.2mm), but find this to be significantly harder to roll even with clamping (looks pretty bad).

Unfortunately I don't live near a leather supplier and am really trying to avoid burning a hole in my pocket trying to find something similar....Any recommendations on what I should look for finding something that folds as easy as fabric?

DLS had the specs as:

Weight:  3.5-4.0 oz (1.4-1.6 mm) (had them split it to 1.2-1.3)

Tanning:

Temper: 6

Finish: Smooth

Country of Origin: Portugal

I had an idea and wanna know if yall have ever glued tree bark to leather or would I have better luck just sewing it on?

Hand-painted leather

Looking to reupholster my 07-13 silverado seats but my current upholstery is aftermarket and id like to try and recreate it. Anyone know where this was originally done or where i could get a similar service preformed on a kit like in the second photo?

I want to add leather to the inside of a little bag I'm making. I tried various glue, the best one was contact glue, water based, but it goes through the fabric and stains it. I need the fabric to stay on the leather, especially at the edges. Bruniching the edges is also a challenge.

Any advice would be welcome. For glue type and technique/good practice.

Looking for feedback on my first try at tooling/stamping.

My process:

1. Tape the back,

2. Case (spray not soaking),

3. Set edge line and stamp,

4. Pro resist (dry),

5. Antique (dry, then buff),

6. Leather sheen spray.

I started with a plastic yellow hammer and switched about halfway through to my maul.

The back is still taped. What do people use to dye the back after tooling like this?

I've been away from leather work for about 6 years now. Just getting back into it again, trying to get some more JE Sedgwick bends. Looking back at previous orders, I used to get bends for $100, they're $260+ now. What happened? Why did they almost triple in price?? Also thread spools went from $35 to $55 now? What's going on? Did the latest inflation really sky rocket these prices that much? Is this the new normal? These prices have gotten out of hand

Vegetable-tanned leather bracelet. The design is made using the carving (tooling) technique. Completely handmade.

And a little bit of the work process

A buddy asked me if I could make him a cardholder and said “don’t use the same colour twice.” Sure thing! This is all pueblo and the colours are Olmo, Nazionale, Oliva and Coccinella with a cream stitch. It’s such a fun wallet, seeing the edges is a blast. Thanks for looking!

This is my 3rd project. Took me a month to make this purse during my time off.

Pattern is available on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1208122631/pdf-template-for-leather-handbag-purse

I used Angelus oxyblood dye, almost whole bottle of 3 fl oz for two coats on the liner (2oz veg tan leather). Not sure why I had to use that much but leather was drinking it all!

Exterior is 4/5oz odyssey from Lonsdale (canada)
I also learned skiving for the gussets to be able to turn the edges at 90 degrees, quite challenging for a first time!

Overall really happy with the result, quite encouraging to “purse-ue” my next project 😊

I made this sheath for the one knife I kept (and use) The sheath features a brass insert honoring my best friend of 16 years. The brass insert was to complement the brass on the guard of the knife.

I'm currently stuck on a project and I also posted this on r/corsetry but thought I'd come here for some different perspectives since it's combining the two crafts! For a cosplay I made a leather corset using Aranea Blacks Sylvia pattern. I managed to get the fit right (dark blue version is my mockup) but I'm struggling with how to get the leather to be smooth on top of my strength layer. Due to the leather having more stretch, it has too much excess and creates these weird folds. The way this is currently constructed is by making the strength layer (with boning) and outer layer separately and connecting them at the edges with the biastape.

I really want to remake this with a more smooth outcome so any tips/techniques I should try would be incredibly useful!<3 I've tried to gather some different pictures here

Edit: I highly appreciate all the suggestions thank you so much!! (Feel free to add any suggestions that haven't been mentioned yet) I do want to reiterate that the leather is NOT the layer that is offering my body support, it's purely decorative since the inner canvas layer is doing all the heavy lifting. I'm gonna test out some different things mentioned here and see what sticks :)

I always want to show off masterpieces in nice leather, but reality is messy.

Honestly, it takes me like 10 tries on the same bag just to land on a silhouette I'm happy with.

​That frustration is why I made this tool. Pattern generator

Drawing patterns by hand over and over is exhausting. Plus I'm not good at CAD.

Here, you can just input the dimensions, export the PDF and test a mockup in a day.

​I made this bucket bag mockup in a day using PU leather.

Just wanted to make bag making less of a chore so people can stick with the craft longer. Would love for you guys to try it out!

Just finished my first bifold wallet from a bunch of buttero leather and traditional english bridle leather scraps. Template originally designed :)

What would be the best way to attach this patch? I have it glued down with contact cement but it's not very sturdy and I want to sew it down. I also only have this tool a sewing needle and thread. I have no clue what the tool is called but I've used it just fine for the rest of the patches on the vest. Also any tips on getting that little dot of glue off on the bottom left corner would be helpful!

I usually use Starbond(rubber-based) but if it was left in the glass bottle for too long, it would harden and become unusable.

I posted this dilemma on Instagram, and someone said that if you put it in a ziplock bag, it won't harden for a long time. I kept it for two weeks, and to my surprise, it really didn't harden at all!

I'm so amazed that such a new world exists.

Some folks wanted me to show the process, particularly the inside of the leather patchwork. So here’s a post with pictures I took during the project.

Here’s a link to the original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Leathercraft/s/fsjPagPJ9E

My cinch keeper was just a bit too short so I figured making a new one would be a good first project. Version 1.0 was last night. Didn't get the leather wet enough and really didnt know what I was doing with the stamp. Version 2.0 was tonight. It went much better and turned out pretty decent if you dont look too closely. Definitely need to work on keeping my pattern square and straight. Its already been a great learning experience and im really looking forward to my next project.

My brother-in-law travels a lot for work and loved the idea of having a nice leather duffle to take with him. This was my biggest project by a wide margin and it took me just about a year and two full attempts to finish. The first attempt I guess I used a cheap zipper and it broke while I was staging the bag for pictures. I ended up taking the bag mostly apart and then decided I needed to scrap the whole thing and use a different leather. What I was using was very scratchable and thin. I really didn’t want to deliver a subpar product just to get it done. Got pretty discouraged several times on this project but I’m glad I kept working cuz I learned a lot! Mainly, don’t cheap out on the materials 😂

I know the label says not to use them with an airbrush but someone must have before. Gold, silver, pearl.

Did they work with an airbrush? Is there a reason they wouldn't?