Safety is very important in doing our hobbies and leatherworking is no exception. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced leather worker these 4 tips will still be useful to you.
Wear Protective Clothing
As leather workers we use tools and materials that may unexpectedly cause accidents. Wearing protective googles, thick apron, and steel-toed boots can protect you from any stray material. These are very basic protective gear that will protect you from sharp materials when accidents happen.
Cut & Use Tools With Care
We deal with sharp tools in leather working. These sharp tools will not only let us cut leather easily, it can also injure us. Always cut away from your body and be careful when using knives, shears or other sharp tools. Finally, never use broken tools as these have a higher chance of accidents happening.
Ventilate
Keep your work area well ventilated. In leather working we sometimes use chemicals such as varnish for our work. Open the windows or doors when handling these materials to let fresh air circulate. Inhaling the fumes of chemicals is a hazard to our health.
Clean Up
Finally, clean up after finishing your project. Put all your tools and excess materials away to prevent accidents from happening. Misplaced tools or materials may injure you or any unsuspecting person that will enter your work area. Especially if you have children living with you, they may mistake your tools for toys and they can hurt themselves.
Do you have any more safety tips? Leave a comment below.
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.
Are you curious to know how to make leather armor? Armor protects you when batting mobs, which makes them extremely important when it comes to surviving Minecraft. While leather armor is the weakest type of armor, it is a more excellent starting point for amateurs.
Whether you want to make your next renaissance costume, leather LARP armor, or medieval cosplay, leather does it perfectly. You can craft fantasy cosplay armor and attend your next DragonCon, ComicCon, and Renaissance Festivals in style.
From physical attacks and projectiles to explosions, cacti, fire, lightning, and falling anvils, armor protects you from just about everything in a battle. That’s why you need to craft one before your next to maximize defense points.
In this article, I will help you become a custom leather armor maker. Before you start crafting, you might want to look at our leather armor patterns to better your crafting adventure and unlock the secrets of leather crafting.
Leather Working Supplies & Tools
Leather
When planning to craft leather armor, the very first thing you need is leather. Although the recommended thickness is 12 oz or more, you can choose any thickness for a start. A complete set of armor requires 24 pieces, and so does the leather armor. Tandy is one of the largest leather distributors.
Tools
Leathercraft doesn’t need to be expensive. That said, you need a few tools to get started, including a maker, crafting knife, rubber mallet, a bucket, hole punch, and leather scissors. Interestingly, you can find most of these tools in your local craft store.
Making leather armor
Leatherwork can be a serious adventure, so you need to be careful. Remember that you will be working with sharp tools, probably toxic dye, and other tools that, if mishandled, can cause injuries. That said, let’s craft leather armor.
Choose your pattern
There are numerous patterns that you can decide to use. Prince Armory Academy provides downloadable leather armor patterns for armor templates are a great point to get started. While most of these patterns are standard, you may need to resize them to fit your body. In either case, you’re sure to craft a unique custom armor.
Making the scales
After getting a pattern, you can start crafting the scales—this time, you need to be careful and go slowly not to make mistakes. Unless you want to do a shoddy job, which I know you don’t wish to, it is obvious that you won’t do the cutting job in one day. For each of our patterns, we have created easy leatherworking tutorials to help do it correctly.
Harden the leather
Also known as boiling, this is merely making your leather ready for the battle. After soaking your leather, you can harden it by placing the leather on a cookie sheet in an oven. You can set another cookie sheet on the top side to keep the leather flat.
Dyeing the leather
Pattern provided by Prince Armory Academy
In this step, you can use your preferred variant of leather staining. A dye stain on human skin can take weeks to come off, so remember to put on your runner gloves when dyeing. In this step, you will need at least two sponges, one for application and another for removing the excess dye. Again don’t rush; there is no pressure. The shade can take up to 10 hours to dry completely.
Finishing your leather
How do you want your leather armor to look? You now have the chance to give it that look you desire. That said, leather armor with a slightly matte finish looks more professional. In this stage, you can apply rot-resistant and waterproof products to make your armor last longer.
Putting your armor together
We’re almost there. You can now assemble your leather parts and start riveting. Before permanently locking the armor, you need to test if it fits you. For this reason, it is advisable you use snap rivets because they can be locked temporarily. Upon ensuring your leather armor fits you, you can now rivet it permanently.
Congratulations! You have made your very own custom leather armor. You can now proceed to the battle and remember to keep the leather in a dry place when not in use.
Conclusion
With your craftsmanship skills, you can make adorable leather armor. With our customizable patterns, you will get a starting point to craft your desired cosplay armor.
There are numerous patterns that you can decide to use. 