Leather Horse Coasters

So my latest project consisted of making four leather horse coasters with my popular barb-wire design around the edge of the coasters. This coasters were the quickest thing for me to complete up to this point. The coasters were extremely easy to make with minimal effort required. They were also relatively inexpensive to make, only costing around $3.00 total to buy all the material needed. I currently in the process of making some more coasters with a more complicated design which I hope to have completed very soon.

To begin making the coasters, I took a large piece of vegetable tanned leather and cut out four circles. Each four circles measured about 3 to 4 inches across. Once I had the four circles cut out, I stained them with leather stain to give them the desired color. I set these pieces aside to dry. While they were drying, I cut out four more smaller circles. I took one of the smaller circles and began wetting it with a wet sponge. Wetting the vegetable tanned leather with a sponge before beginning the tooling/stamping process makes it easier to stamp/tool the leather as well as helps hold the stamp better. Wetting the leather will also help prevent a double impression which is definitely NOT wanted when it comes to stamping leather. It is a good idea to get the leather completely wet but not so wet that it is soaking and drips when picked up.

Once the leather was wet, I began using my stamping tools to stamp the horse head in the middle of the circle and stamp the barb-wire around the edge of the circle. After I had my entire design stamped/tooled, I began putting leather stain over it. The stain helps give the leather a more desirable color as well as helps to give the design a darker color and makes it stand out more. I completed this process with the other three pieces of leather and let them set aside so the leather stain was completely dried.

After the leather stain dried, I glued the smaller circles to the larger circles with cement glue. Cement glue gives a much stronger hold and doesn't run like other types of glue. Other types of glue can also mess up the color of the leather thus damaging it. I allow each coaster about 20 minutes or so for the glue to dry completely. Once the glue was dry, then my coasters were complete.

The whole process took me about 45 minutes. I had a lot of fun making these coasters and cannot wait to make more. I plan to use different types of designs, so if you have any suggestions on what I could do, feel free to let me know!

My First Knife Sheath

My first leather knife sheath I tooled was probably my favorite thing to make up to this point. It was a 4.5" knife sheath with a floral design. It was a little time consuming and a little frustrating when I made a few mistakes but overall, I really enjoyed this particular leather project. The main tools I used during this project were my swivel knife, mallet, beveling tool, and several stamping tools which gave my leather the appropriate background/texture I desired.

I started out by sketching my design on to vellum tracing paper which is a very thick paper that doesn't tear very easily. It is great when working with leather because the vellum paper holds the design and doesn't rip like regular paper when tracing the design onto the leather. Plus vellum paper is see-through so you can see where you are tracing your design at on your leather.

Once I got my design sketched onto the leather, I used my swivel knife to cut the design. I used the beveling tool to give the floral design a 3D look. I used the other stamping tools to provide my design a "background" and to give more texture to the leaves and stem of my flower on the sheath. Once the whole leather was tooled, I put leather stain and finish over the design and sewed the sheath together. It turned out really good and I was happy with what I accomplished with this particular project. I plan to make more sheaths in the future but with different designs and sizes.

New Supplies and Learning New Information

I feel like I'm stepping up a little in the world of leather-tooling/leathercrafting. Today I got new leathercrafting supplies which I've been on the hunt for. I've been wanting a marble or granite slab to do my leather-tooling on for awhile but was unable to find one. I had been using a wooden cutting board but it became warped causing me difficulty when doing my tooling. I thought about buying another wooden cutting board which wasn't warped but I found out today at Springfield Leather Co. that no matter if the board is warped or not, it will still cause the tools to sort of "bounce" when tooling the leather. This also causes unwanted marks on the leather which is something I've been dealing with here lately while doing some of my projects. I also found out that marble slabs tend to break too easily which is why most leather-crafters prefer

granite because it is stronger and doesn't break as easily. It is also "quieter" because it absorbs more sound than marble or a wooden cutting board while doing tooling. I was told that it is helpful to purchase a square rubber mat to place under the granite slab. This helps to protect the table or whatever surface you are putting the slab on as well as absorb more of the sound caused by tooling. So I guess I will be on the hunt for a rubber mat now. If you know of where I could get one for real cheap, please let me know!

Along with my slab, I also got pieces of leather shaped into circles which are usually used to make coasters. I've decided to make the coasters with a design of something which is particularly important to me :) I also have some other ideas of designs I could use to make with coasters. I also bought a new stamping tool which stamps a horse's head into leather. I thought this particular stamp would give my leather projects more of the "western" style I aim for when doing my projects.

My mother wants me to make some things for her and I've even had other people inquire about possibly paying me to make something for them, so I guess you could say I am already taking in orders LOL. But as you can see, I am still very knew to the world of leathercrafting and I still have a lot to learn. I'm having a lot of fun learning new things along the way and even making a few mistakes here and there. I found out today that I can take free leathercrafting classes at one of the stores I go to, so I may check into that soon as well. It would definitely help me improve especially if I can get help from some of the "pros" of leathercrafting. So stay tuned and see what kinds of things I may make next!

My First Floral Design

My first real leather-crafting experience with my newly purchased crafting tools was this floral design in the picture. I had gotten the tools a few days earlier at Hobby Lobby as an earlier Christmas present from my mother. The tools included the swivel knife, beveling tool, as well as various other stamping tools used for background and special texture on the leather.

The tools came with a small book on how to use them along with a couple of different patterns to practice with. One of the patterns was a floral design and an leaf design with acorns. I decided on the floral design since it seemed easier. I traced the floral design on a piece of scrap leather after I damped it with a wet cloth. Damping the leather helps to hold the design into the leather until after the leather dries. Once my design was traced onto the leather, I began cutting and tooling my design. It took me around an hour to complete the design. An experience leathercrafter could probably complete this design in about half the time it took me. But it was my first time and I wanted to go slow and take my time. I made a few mistakes here and there but overall, I was pretty happy with how it turned out.

Once I had the design tooled into the leather, I stained it with some leather stain to give it an antique look. I also stained an old bi-fold leather picture frame and attached my newly tooled leather to the picture frame with cement glue. The whole process took me a little over two hours, but I learned a lot for my first time tooling with real leather tools. I wasn't sure what to do with this picture frame, but I think I will keep it as a way to remember and cherish my first real leather-tooling experience.

My First Leather Projects

Shortly before Christmas 2012, I was in a craft store browsing the different items and trying to get some "crafty" ideas. I wanted a hobby but was unsure of what I could start doing. I went down the isle that had all of the leather-crafting stuff. I had always had an interest in leather and all the different things it could be used for. I loved anything made out of leather from boots and leather jackets to saddles and belts. I even loved the smell of leather. I remember way back when I was a kid, standing in the middle of a tack shed full of saddles, briddles, reins, halters, and saddle bags. I just stood there taking in the smell of all the old, dusty leather in the tack shed. I also kept touching it. I loved the way it felt and would often think of the hard work it took to make leather items.

I was also very interested in how leather things were made and how exactly anyone could get those fancy floral designs on something so tough and durable as leather. As I was walking down the isle in that craft store, I noticed some of the leather-tooling supplies as well as some of the kits. They costed a lot of money and as tempting it was for me to buy some old scrap leather and a few tools, I walked away empty handed. I was a poor college student and did not have much money at the time. A short time later, I mentioned to my mother that I wanted to try my hand at doing some leather-tooling. I even mentioned a leather tooling kit that I saw in that craft store. But it costed around $60. I had hoped my mother would get it for me for Christmas, but she didn't.

Fast forward about six or seven months. One night out of pure boredom, I took out an old piece of leather and a screwdriver. I don't even remember where I got that piece of leather but I decided to try "tooling" it with the screwdriver. I took my hammer and began tooling a design. My design was a cowboy boot. It was small and wasn't much, but it was the very beginning of what has been my main interest and hobby over the last five months or so. A couple of weeks later, I got another piece of leather and "tooled" a horses head using a pocket knife. I knew at the time that using a screwdriver and pocket knife was NOT the way to go about tooling leather, so I decided to expand my knowledge on leather-tooling.

Over the next few months, I began researching leather-crafting. I acquired much knowledge on the subject of working with leather. I have since purchased lots of tools, leather, leather stain, and leather-crafting kits. I have since made knife sheaths, pocket knife pouches, checkbook covers, picture frames, as well as other leather designs I made just for fun. I plan to post more blogs about each of my projects and upcoming projects so stay tuned!