U3Aleathercraft

Even the smallest scraps of leather shavings produced when you skive leather can be put to good use.   This is also something that you can use to repair small holes or gaps in leather items. Leather-mâché produces a robust material that can be dyed, sanded smooth and even drilled. The first stage is to chop up the leather fragments as fine as possible. Ideally you want to produce something as close to dust as possible especially if you are using it to fill gaps or small holes. However I am going to see what can be done with a slightly chunkier mix. The chopped up leather is then added to PVA and stirred together until al the pieces are thoroughly coated. I am going to experiment with two different mixes - one the consistency of cream and the other more like pastry. This is the runnier version. I am hoping that this will pour easily and be good for casting items. I have bought a couple of  cheap silicone molds to experiment with. The second, drier mix proves to be easier to handle and

 Using left over leather and how to make your own ink stamps is what this week's blog is all about. I have made this tag with a  sloping end and a rounded end just to make my explanation a bit clearer. There are three important measurements.  A is the narrowest part of the tag B is the width of the tag  And the distance from the narrowest part to the rounded end is the circumference of the tag. Start by cutting a piece of leather to whatever overall length you want. This piece was 9" long by 2" wide. 4" from the rounded end I have used a rounded punch to make a narrow waist but you could just cut a V shape using a craft knife. On the Brown leather I have used an English Point end punch. Measure A  and B. Now cut a T shaped slot towards the rounded (shorter) end of the tag as shown. The top of the T must equal your measurement of A and the upright of the T needs to equal B. Now is the time to decorate your tag and I have made some stamps out of an old pencil eraser.

  Run out of rivets? Too hot to sew? Then this week's blog is just for you! A no sew glasses case - which could be enlarged to make a clutch bag or adapted to make a mobile phone case. This is the pattern which fits on an A4 sheet of paper. If you have any problems with the image then contact me and I can send you a PDF.   All you need for this project is a craft knife and a hole punch. I have used a clickers knife with a curved blade as it is great for cutting tight corners but a sharp ordinary craft knife will do - but be careful not to cut your fingers! I have chosen a black chrome tanned buffalo leather. As you will find out later you need to use a soft leather so that it is easier to pull through the holes. To make the oval shaped slots I have used my largest hole punch and punch two holes then used a craft knife to join them up. With the leather cut to shape and all the slots cut out it should look like this.  Fold the bottom section up to the middle so that the case is insi

  Just like most crafters I have a boxful of bits and pieces mostly offcuts of leather from other projects. This week I will take a look at some of the things that you can use these bits and pieces for. Turn it into these. An earbud holder, bookmark, rings and a leather feather. Starting with the earbud holder cut out a piece of thick leather 2 and a half inches by one and a half. It doesn't need to be exactly these dimensions but I wouldn't recommend going any smaller. Also if you don't have any really thick leather you can stick layers of thinner leather together using PVA glue or either side of a cardboard core. Using a large diameter hole punch cut out the three holes and then using a craft knife cut the slots to the outside edge. Finally cut out a semi circular hole in the bottom edge of the two sides to hold the cable. If you have used vegetable tanned tooling leather you can decorate it with your favourite stamps and dye it.  Corner bookmark is next. This uses two s