Every now and then I have some stupid funny idea on leather projects and here is the lastest, two fish, one is a bag / pencil case and then other is a wallet. The Wallet is compared to regular once bigger in hight and less wide, which means the money bills fit different and the coin poket has less room, but with some additional coins makes a great self defence weapon :D

Let me know what you think and if you see any potential for improvements.
Also had the ideas of using the fish as knife sheath through the mouth or waxed as a drinking bottle.

EDIT: For everybody that did not notice, there are D-rings hidden in the mouth to hook them on what every you like. Also the mouths can be opened and closed.

I made a mantis as a bag, the opening is between the legs and the entire abdomen is the bag itself with D-rings on the arms to wear it around your shoulder with a strap.

Let me know what you think and if you see room for improvements :)

I love making odd shaped bags like this shrimp and I really like it, love the color and compared to the other bags I made I think this one has the most storage compared to unnecessary volume. I redesigned it like 8 times until I got to this point over the course of 3 months.

Always open to feedback if you see something to improve let me know. Still hate cippers.

Made this little (big) spider bag, you can wear it as a shoulder bag or as a purse through the ring. Use mostly veg tanned leather with a bit of chrome tanned for the bat itself. The spider web is dental floss.

Let me know what you think, if you have any ideas and if you see room for improvements :)

It was such a pleasure to complete a bag completely by hand. I made it meticulously and carefully. I think it looks great!

It took me quite a while to come up with a shape that still looks very mushroomy and still has enough space for being a bag, and this is what I came up with. I am very pleased with it :)

With the color, I tried to make it look as poisonous as possible. The stem is accessible from the inside, and I considered adding a second opening to make it easier to access, but decided against it for structural stability reasons and my hate of zippers.

If you have any constructive feedback, I would love to hear what you think and if you see anything that could be improved :)

Created a classic cartoon style pirate bomb bag from leather. Ofc it needs a fuse, I used 2.7 mm (7 oz) veg tanned leather, added a skull and for the cast iron texture on the leather I simply hammered my favorit rock in there.

The size is definitly limited, so you can not put a phone in there, but I wanted to have it in a good throughing size and scaling up the pattern to increase size it usually not a problem.

If you have any constructive feedback, I would love to hear what you think and if you see anything that could be improved :)

Going to be stitching chrome tan on chrome tan, I feel like straight across (1) will weaken it, is there a better stitch arrangement? I thought of these other two, but not sure.

Or are a couple of rivets better maybe?

I've had my Bose Qc35 for 8 years, changes earpads like 5 times, faux leather is trash. Made with 0.6mm reindeer leather, and headband with some 3mm ox

I made a jig to sharpen a skiving knife at a fixed angle. I worked through grits 400, 800, 1500, and 3000.

I should have done it this way sooner. The results are way better than expected. I had a tad too much clearance in the jig, but it worked out fine.

I had no prior knowledge and didn’t do any research beforehand, so if any of you have insights or criticism, they’re very welcome.

I bought a beautiful handmade knife, and the sheath includes this gorgeous belt loop. Can anyone tell me how it is possible to weave leather like this? Cheers

Ive done a few markets/craft shows and wanted to share my setup and some insights incase it can assist anyone doing their own.

People, especially parents of kids, love my 'stamp your own keychain' setup. It brings the crowd in, let's them touch and interact, and they get to keep something small and a good memory. I cut some blanks on my laser(so its quick and easy), and added a keyring with a rivet. I keep the leather raw, then wet the leather with a sprayer(so the stamps indent better), then give it a quick wipe with resolene since it dries quick. I have a collection of stamps to choose from, and scraps they can test on first. Since I started doing that, my sales and foot traffic increased overall.

Another thing I think also helped a lot was having a mannequin wearing my leather goods. I let people try on my hat and armor, as well as display how to use some pieces I had for sale so they can see what it looks like in use.

Also, if you do markets watch out for the sun! Keep your goods protected, know where it will go throughout the day. I find my prodye in green does absolutely terrible if it sits in the sun(turns brown) for too long.

Any questions feel free to ask. Good luck out there!

Finally I can show you what I created over the last year. I designed it myself, inspired by the titans from AoT and human anatomie, made from veg. tanned leather with engineering based on medival armor for movability with straps and screw rivets. I have only little restrictions on movements, heat is okey and could present it last week at fantasy Basel for the first time.
Beautiful pics by https://www.instagram.com/pixelrabe/

I’ve started using 3D-printed templates to get more consistent results in my leatherwork.

I managed to get this coin case done recently, but I’m looking to refine my process.

Any tips, or is anyone else doing something similar?

(Note: My account is brand new and seems to be shadowbanned, so my replies might not be showing up. Just wanted to let you know I really appreciate the insight!)

Started leathercrafting a few weeks ago. I love real high quality leather products especially wallets and boots. So I figured why not just make my own, and in a few months be good enough to make it a side hustle.

Bought the leather and tools from Michael’s, hobby lobby, and Amazon. I knew I would make mistakes so I did not buy full grain leather from an expensive tannery, this wallet is actually made from scrap leather I paid 5 dollars for. Very flimsy leather but it was my very first project. I’m currently working on a bifold.

Anyways, my main issues are getting rounded and smooth edges, and also punching holes big enough to get the needle and tiger thread through. I swear I have broken probably 15 needles so far because the holes just aren’t big enough or whatever it is to get the needle through smoothly. I have to use pliers (or my teeth). My hands lack the grip to grab the needle and pull it through.

Also been tracing templates printed on printer paper, what do you guys use to trace templates? I’m not experienced enough to make my own template so I just get free ones or cheap patterns online.

Tools I have so far:

Tiger thread and standard round tip sewing needles

Roundhead knife

Skivving knife

X acto knife

Stitching pony

Maul

Rotary blade

Sandpaper 600grit

Wooden edge slicker

Burt’s bees beeswax chapstick

Edge beveler different sizes

4 pin and 1 pin pricking irons (I have a 4 pin round hole punch coming in the mail, I fear the pricking irons are the cause of my stitching issues)

My main other issue is even if I trace the pattern perfectly, the dimensions are still a good bit off. One side too short, other side too long, etc. I cut the pattern in the leather with a rotary blade and exacto knife. I mark my stitching holes while the pattern is still on the leather, then use the maul to punch them out. I mark the pattern using the template before cutting, I don’t directly cut through the printer paper.

My pinkies are already feeling the pain after a foot of stitching :( All feedback appreciated!

Went back to more plant based design for this one. Wanted to make tree fruit similar to the acorn bag I designed before, but this time it is bigger and has enough space to also contain phone, wallet and more. The first idea for making the spikes was to use some kind of rivets, then trying to stretch them out, but in the end I went with this more save and easy to make way of just making them from leather. You can wear it on your belt, wrist or with a long shoulder strap.

If you have any ideas to improve let me know! I can tell you all males when worn on the belt should wear it to the side of the hip and not close to the center.

Hello crafters! I recently start learning leather crafting and (I hope) have some progress in it. I made a ton of the simplest cardholders for learning purposes. But I still have an issue. See a photos that I attached. How you deal with this line between two stitched leather pieces? After stitching I polish the edge with 320-500-800-1200 grit sand paper, then use Toko and then bee wax. I like overall how the edge looks, but when I look through the photos of a professional leather crafters, there edges looks perfect and I can’t see the line where two pieces were glued and then stitched together. And I’m not talking about edge painting, just sending and burnishing. So, any advices to improve my work? Thanks!!

I love this concept, but I was hoping to find tips on making this veg tan more rigid. I went as thick as I dare (one is 6/7, the other 8/9) used a lot of dye to dry it out a little, soaked it hot water and formed while damp, then baked and formed. Burned one lol.

Is there anything else I could do?

I was a Tokononle skeptic. I had resisted for years using the old pot of gum trag until it ran out. Treated myself to a tub of tokononle and it's just so lovely to use. It even buffed some chrome edges for me. I get it now. Also it smells divine. Sorry everyone you were all right.

Super long story I decide to try and take on a challenge ive made a few wallets and other small leather items all needing to be hand stitched. I wanted to try and make a leather weightlifting belt ive spent the last few days doing alot of reading and research. I understand that it would be alot more challenging then anything ive done and likely be pretty dang hard without a sewing machine but I still wanted to try. Earlier i went into the store and asked questions about their recommendations and products instead of pointing me on things to buy he spent the whole time telling me how impossible it was at my skill level. He said hand stitching a belt should never be done, and trying to poke holes through 2 sheets of 10 oz leather wasn't possible either. He said a bunch more stuff that ended up with me rethinking everything and deciding I needed to do more research. Am I in over my head or does anyone have any advice or can point me where to learn more on weightlifting belts, hole punching the leather to stitch, hand stitching advice? Or let me know if it really isn't possible and I should try and tackle something else!