Crafts Suggested items for the beginner to make are belts, purses, wallets, key cases, and brief cases. Even if you do not buy a prepared kit for one of these things, you can produce it simply by cutting and stitching. If you can draw (or even trace), you can hand-tool your leather products, or burn designs in them with an electric needle.

By using a die (which you can buy at Tandy's and many hobby shops) and a hammer, you can stamp designs into leather. If you have a strong, steady hand, you can carve designs into leather by using a swivel knife, carving stamp, and mallet. Articles like handbags, brief cases, waste baskets and book covers, in particular, lend themselves both to the use of cowhide and to embellishment of the incisions and carvings for which cowhide is so suitable. The effect is luxuriant.

Even everyday things such as school notebook folders can be beautified by simple carved designs. Or you can make them appear elaborately designed by providing built-in contrast. You can achieve this contrast by judicious use of a suitable leather dye, which you can purchase in a variety of colors and in adequate quantities from most craft supply houses. You can get unique effects by combining two or more kinds of leather, or different colors, in a single article. Gold, too, can be used for elegant effect in embossed designs.




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Home > Crafts > Leather Goods

November 20, 2008