New skill embossing leather (in progress)

Things you need:

-Vegetable tanned leather or what is called tooling leather to make embossed leather- This type of leather is softer and easy to work with. Most briefcases, saddlebags and leather items are also vegetable tanned leather.

-Embossing tools homemade or bought or chisels

-wooden mallet

-leather sealer e.g. Super Shene, Satin Shene or Carnauba Creme

Optional:

- Leather Dye or Leather Paint

Process:

-First wet the leather to make it soft. Do this by soaking it with wet rags, or use a steam iron and steam the leather carefully. Like good old Walt would tell you, It will be soft just like butter.

-Lay the leather over a sturdy workbench or table. You’re going to be pounding the leather so don't use your fancy kitchen table!

-Mark the area on the leather where you want your designs, initials or whatever with a pencil. Tracing where you want the embossing to be is much better than guessing. For names or initials use a ruler and draw a straight line where the bottom of the letters should be.

-Place your design or letter die tool straight up on the leather where you want it on the side of the leather you want it to show. Taking a wooden or rubber mallet hit the top end of the die tool sharply. It does not have to be too hard, just solid sharp taps.

-Tipping the leather embossing die tool slightly all the way around as you tap it will make sure the edges of the design are impressed in the leather well. Once done go to the next spot and use the next leather embossing die tool.

-To use a leather embossing wheel make sure the leather cannot move. Place the wheel where you want to start, press down firmly and roll it along the leather. Follow the leather edge to make a pretty border, or follow a pencil path on the leather to make loops and shapes.

Dying and painting your embossed leather

-Once you have your embossed leather designs, initials or patterns in your leather item, let it dry overnight.

-Then if you want you can add colour to your embossed leather designs. Use leather dye or leather paint to fill in your embossed work. Most leather briefcases and other fine leather items that have initials embossed into it have them coloured a nice gold or silver.

-Once that is dry finish it with a leather sealer to protect it from dirt and make it water resistant.

So that is how to do leather embossing! It's fun and can make a plain leather briefcase, belt or wallet look much better with embossed leather designs or initials.

FYI:- embossing leather doesn’t involve cutting into the leather. Cutting into the leather is called tooling leather.

Happiness is only real when shared

A few prominent words from one of Chris McCandless's books

Meaningful crafts

Madame Fortuna's Relic crafts is one example of how crafted objects can be valued for the work and skill that is put into them by creating an emotional connection with the buyer.










http://www.madamefortuna.com/relic_victorian.php

All the Relics are delicate hand-blown glass globes that contain a meaningful object - a Victorian die-cut, a petit-point rose, a scoop of red soil or yellow coral, or my favorite, an exquisite little feather from a robin, peacock, or cardinal. The prefab pieces are seriously breathtaking, but







Madame Fortuna will also custom-make a Relic from the tiny object of your choice-Hair from a loved one, dried petal from a bridal bouquet, soil or sand from a sacred place?



Madame Fortuna puts an elegant new spin on the time capsule.




Could leather objects be made incorporating some special object to the owner- a stone from the river where they used to play as a child, a piece of wood from the forest they grew up next to or soil from the land they grew up on.

How much is that?

The real question that seems to come up is how much are things worth? Crafts and the skills to make them are very much undervalued, but how do you change this when people want things to be as cheap as possible?

Curious?

- Unusual, not necessarily practical but acts as a talking piece or nostalgia














Story telling?

- Paying for not just the object but the stories and history behind it
-Memories for the buyer










Experience reminder?

-paying for an object to remind them of something they did or visited e.g. post cards or stamped coins at the gift shop













One of a kind/ Individuality?

- says something about the buyer of the object, exclusive, makes others want it














Fad/popluar?

-Everyone who is cool seems to have one














Customisation/Personalisation?

-allows the buyer to pay for extra service for a specific detail or allows them to be a part of the making process and creates attachment to them












There is nothing like getting a hand stamped letter

Engraving personal journey

I have always thought it would be great to record personal stories on your clothing after watching that scene in into the wild where Chris engraves the trip he has taken into his belt after meeting Walt.
I think it would be great if we could say more about ourselves and share our stories with others if we made our own clothing and customised it.
That satisfaction of when you make something and can say to someone "I made that" , is such an amazing experience.

After scouring the internet I found this painting based on the famous story belt by Chris.



"The joy of life comes from our encounters with new
experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an
endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new

and different sun."~Christopher McCandless

http://heatherhortonartwork.blogspot.com/

Heather has really captured the belt perfectly in this painting and really expresses how creative a person Chris was and manifests his inward vision out into the world. He didn't allow himself to be restricted he expressed his inner thoughts in the way he lived.

Which I think is what is great about learning skills, It gives you the chance to bring your dreams and inner thoughts into much more vividly using a wide range of media. Learning old crafts and skills gives you such a big pallet of media to paint your ideas much more vividly and bring them into the physical world, to share with others.

Learning old crafts and skills really open your eyes, mind and for a second allows you to think and feel like the people of the past as you try to solve the same challenges.

I've found it can be a real challenge finding the resources such as the right leather and also the old skills to undertake such a task but it really adds to the feeling of success once it's finished.

new skill: Insulating lofts

This weeks new skill was learning how to insulate a house, it was a rather dingy day outside so a good little project to be inside for.




After 5 hours of moving glass insulation(nasty stuff) around, a big bowl of carrot, honey and ginger soup and a lot of hammering the job was completed.

Origins

I was born In Aberdeen Hospital at 1am on the 20th of March 1989




Here is a photo of me in the hospital with rather spiky hair ( I think its a good look)









Apparently when I was little I didn't sleep very much as there was so much to see and do, sorry Mum and Dad
( still rocking the spiked hair do)










My childhood was very happy and I spent allot of it outdoors







whether it be smelling Roses with my Grandad











Out playing with my best friend Richard













Climbing Trees











Or out surveying the land with my dad










From a young age Ive always liked to make and build things, here I am out with my dad helping
( or more likely playing with the sand) my dad build a log cabin. This love of making and mending has lead me to projects in my adult life.

















Ive always had an adventurous side and loved going on little adventures with my dad when I was young which eventually lead me to travel around the world


















I loved playing in the garden at a young age and loved growing plants with my Mum even though I didn't realise how much I was learning at the time, I saw it as just having fun.








As you can see my parents tried to make me aware of the planet from an early age and taught me to care for it and many other valuable morals.
Here I am at a fancy dress party while others were dressed as farmers and Bees ( my best friend Richard)
I went as Save the Planet,I thought it was a great costume but I dont think the other kids really understood.




Here me and my best friend Richard are at the falconry Center with my home made binoculars (a little bit of ingenuity)





Here I am looking rather thoughtful as I contemplate over my parents choice in music




Here I am practicing car sharing



Although I think I prefer bikes




Its amazing how much childhood shapes the way you grow up and the smallest seeds of interest lead you to opportunities as you become an adult. I can safely say I had a wonderful childhood and look back on it with very fond memory's.




Thanks Mum and Dad