Understand the Basics of Leather Working

Series Summary

Don't have a cow, just work some leather. Leather working, whether it is for work or just for fun, is an exciting craft that can be useful and beautiful. Leather can be used for things like tool belts, book covers, place mats, drink coasters, guitar straps, and belts. Leather is tough so it is very durable and with the proper tools can be manipulated into designs that last for a long time.

In this free video series, watch as Manda Claire teaches how to use different techniques and tools to manipulate and design leather goods. Learn how to angle, different approaches to leather, how to punch holes through leather, how to do lettering on leather straps, how to stain and paint leather, and how to polish leather. Leather crafts is a Southwestern art form that can be manifest in many different outlets and the experts at ExpertVillage want to help you explore those options.

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Manda, talking to you from Austin, Texas for Expert Village. And today I'm going to show you a little bit about classic traditional leather carving which is really a kind of fun thing you can get into and you can spend many of years developing your skill at it. This is an art that kind of comes from both Mexico and the kind of American west, it's used a lot in making things like saddles, belts, things like wallets and gun holsters. There's really ornate tooled leather and we'll learn that there's a couple of techniques and many different tools that you can use to really come up with really beautiful pieces of work. So the first thing I want to start out with is to kind of talk about the difference between leather tooling and leather carving."