Leatherworking can be intimidating at first. Seeing all the complicated leather works online might even discouraged you from starting out. What most don’t know is that starting do leather working is easy. Here are the 5 steps to get you started.
1. Pick out a project
Obviously, you have to pick a leatherworking project or something that interests you to start. Keeping the project simple will help you stay motivated once you complete it. I do not advise you to do something complicated at the start. You will just get frustrated and quit midway. A wallet or a belt is a simple enough project to get your feet wet.
2. Learn the skills
There are a few basic skills that you need to get you started in leather working like saddle stitching, cutting, and edge finishing. Try to find projects that would only need these skills for you to practice. The more advanced skills like skiving, knife sharpening, and unique stitching patterns can be learned after you have mastered the basic skills.
3. Learn to use the tools
After you have learned the basic skills to start a project, you need to learn how to use the tools needed. The basic leatherworking tools needed for most projects is the needle, thread, stitching chisel and the leather itself.
4. Purchase the materials needed
Now it’s time to start buying the materials needed for the project. There are a lot of options online on what brand or type of materials or tools that you can buy. It is best if you can buy the cheapest leather you can find to practice on and buy good quality tools so that they will last you a long time.
5. Start your first project
Finally, you can start on your first leather working project! Do not forget to have fun while doing your project. It is okay to fail so do not get frustrated if things do not go your way. I assure you that mistakes will be made on your journey. Just remember to keep practicing and you can even make your own leather armor someday.