All of my leather items are made in the studio (although some things do end up being stitched on the sofa in front of the tv!).
How it's made
In the studio you will find a lot of leather tools, stains and organized mess from where I have lifted out everything to make something, it will all be needed anyway!
My leather is bought from UK suppliers. Most of my items are made from Veg Tanned Leather of varying thicknesses (or ounces). Veg tanned means the hides have been tanned in a natural way, using bark, leaves or branches. Not using harmful chemicals.
I make all of my own templates. If I was making a wallet the process is as follows:
I’d cut out the pieces of leather required (Veg tan for the front, calf or goatskin for the interiors) using my templates. The interior is also handmade, but I’ll just talk you through the front of the wallet. So, I have my piece of leather, next I’ll mark the stitching line using a stitching groover. Then I’ll go around the edges with an edge beveller tool. The leather is then ready for tooling or laser engraving. Tooling is done using a swivel knife, and then the cuts are bevel stamped for a 3d effect. I also stamp border patterns using lots of different stamps that I must hit in using a hammer. I also hit in my logo stamp at this point. If using the laser engraver I design it all on Lightburn software and the the laser gets to work! When the leather has its pattern I will stain it using antique stain or leather dyes. Now we are ready for stitching in the interior, this is done by hand using the saddle stitch method, two needles. When that’s all done I do the edges, I sand the edges first so that they are smoother. The edges are then slicked (most people’s methods are a secret, but you can use water, gum tragacanth, tokonol or beeswax). I’ll then stain the edges the same colour as the front of the wallet. Beeswax is then applied all over.
So, all of my items are hand made from start to finish.
In the studio you will find a lot of leather tools, stains and organized mess from where I have lifted out everything to make something, it will all be needed anyway!
My leather is bought from UK suppliers. Most of my items are made from Veg Tanned Leather of varying thicknesses (or ounces). Veg tanned means the hides have been tanned in a natural way, using bark, leaves or branches. Not using harmful chemicals.
I make all of my own templates. If I was making a wallet the process is as follows:
I’d cut out the pieces of leather required (Veg tan for the front, calf or goatskin for the interiors) using my templates. The interior is also handmade, but I’ll just talk you through the front of the wallet. So, I have my piece of leather, next I’ll mark the stitching line using a stitching groover. Then I’ll go around the edges with an edge beveller tool. The leather is then ready for tooling or laser engraving. Tooling is done using a swivel knife, and then the cuts are bevel stamped for a 3d effect. I also stamp border patterns using lots of different stamps that I must hit in using a hammer. I also hit in my logo stamp at this point. If using the laser engraver I design it all on Lightburn software and the the laser gets to work! When the leather has its pattern I will stain it using antique stain or leather dyes. Now we are ready for stitching in the interior, this is done by hand using the saddle stitch method, two needles. When that’s all done I do the edges, I sand the edges first so that they are smoother. The edges are then slicked (most people’s methods are a secret, but you can use water, gum tragacanth, tokonol or beeswax). I’ll then stain the edges the same colour as the front of the wallet. Beeswax is then applied all over.
So, all of my items are hand made from start to finish.
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