When our crafting group started leather work, we had no leather and no tools. We had to research and make a lot of decisions about which leathers and tools to purchase. We got a little overwhelmed with all the tutorials and new information. It took us a couple of weeks to make a decision, but eventually we placed our first order.
After realizing that we all wanted to make different kinds of projects, it was apparent that we would have to buy a selection of leather types, finishes and colors. Luckily, all of our projects were small. We all wanted to try something simple before attempting a luxury handbag or jacket. Our plans were to make standard beginner projects, things like a wallet, a tool holster, valet tray, bracelet or a drawstring pouch.
Basically, we needed a sample pack of the standard types of leather:
- Something thick and durable that could be tooled, formed and used as a structural element.
- Something a little more supple, already finished, but still thick and durable.
- Something thin, with a variety of colors to make linings, covers, and flexible pouches.
That didn't narrow it down much, but just being able to define and articulate our needs was an accomplishment. We continued to refine our needs. Read about our decision-making process below or check out what we wound up buying and get something similar.
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| This is what everyone thinks of when they imagine a leather crafting shop, rolls and rolls of full hides in all kinds of colors and finishes. Our reality was a little different. We wanted small pieces that we could store away easily and that wouldn't take up an entire table to work with.. |
WHAT WE BOUGHT
Thick veg-tan tooling leather (affiliate) 8-9oz (3.6-4.0mm) unfinished (not dyed) full grain, grade AB in 12x12 sheets. This is pretty thick leather and it's full grain. It is thick enough to tool and carve, plus it's rigid enough to mold into a sturdy tool sheath or valet tray. It might be a little too thick for most wallet designs, but great for the "biker style" or a tough non-folding card/cash pocket. We bought two sheets.
Medium weight veg-tan (affiliate) 7-8oz (3.0-3.2mm) dyed full grain. This seemed to be the most versatile weight for us beginners. You can make a wallet, tray, bag or bracelet. It can still be stamped or tooled and it holds an impression. So, we bought a few 12x12 sheets of this in both black and brown.
Thinner veg-tan (affiliate) 3-4oz (1.2-1.6mm) dyed full grain. We bought some thinner sheets to make linings, pockets and for anywhere we needed flexibility. This isn't the thinnest, but we were afraid anything thinner would be too delicate for clumsy beginners. You can still stack several layers of this and not be as thick as one sheet of the 9oz tooling leather. It's available in smaller sizes, but we bought one of the 12x24 in brown and black.
The selection of veg-tan sheets is all we really needed for our first projects. We could have built all our projects just with them. But we wanted to have other types of leather so we could physically compare them with veg-tan. We learned a lot by doing this and were even inspired to try new techniques.
QUICK TIP: Just buy one sheet of dyed, medium-weight, veg-tan and start crafting.(affiliate) See if you like it before investing a lot of money.
Medium weight oil-tanned (affiliate) (1.8-2.0mm) full grain cowhide with a pull-up finish. This is from Crazy Horse, a well-known leather supplier. This was an experiment for us, something to compare against the same thickness of veg-tan. It's thick enough to hold some shape, but thin and supple enough to make a comfortable folding wallet. It wears well and the pull-up finish. We bought a 12x12 in brown and one 12x24 in black.
Thinner chrome-tanned (affiliate) 3-4oz (1.1-1.3mm) pull-up, distressed finished. The description doesn't say chrome-tanned, but the cheaper price indicates that it is. We were worried because it doesn't say full or top grain, so it could be a cheaper finish or even a reconstituted fake. But the texture looked so nice that we decided to take a chance. Since they are only 8.5x11 inch sheets, we bought a three pack in two colors.
Pre-Cut Straps (affiliate) Everyone needs to keep some leather strapping on hand. We use it to create tool holders, hinges, belts, handles and decorative framing. It's easy to cut down into bracelets and cording. You can get it from 1/2" to 3" wide and it's usually about 72 to 100" long. You can get it in a variety of finishes and thicknesses depending on whether you want to make a belt, bracelet or harness. We got a mid-weight (2.2mm) dark brown with a 1" width.
Coaster blanks (affiliate) We wanted something inexpensive for the kids and walk-ins to play with. The pre-cut coaster blanks avoid the need to use a knife, can be carved, stamped, painted and dyed. It was an easy way for anyone to go home with a finished project. If you are comfortable with a knife, they can be cut into other shapes. You could get a couple key-fobs out of one, or wet-form the coaster into a small bowl, or even practice your decorative stitching. We got a 25x pack of 3.75" diameter round blanks. They are unfinished (un-dyed) and thick at 8-9oz (3.2-3.6mm). We've cut these coasters up and used them as padded-feet, protective bumpers and a latch strap. Reminds me of how I used some old shoe-leather around the house.
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| We mostly make small, beginner projects like wallets and valet trays. |
OUR THINKING BEHIND THE PURCHASE
Small Pieces or Large Hides?
We decided to start with small "craft-cuts" of leather instead of a whole hide or side. We chose mostly 12"x12" squares and 12"x24" rectangles. They are slightly more expensive than buying larger pieces of leather, but the smaller sizes offered us several advantages.
- We could buy a variety of types and colors for the price of one or two larger pieces.
- The smaller pieces fit in a typical 12x12 craft storage box (affiliate). We have limited storage space and work surfaces, so a size that can be easily stored and doesn't require an entire tabletop worked better for us.
- Smaller pieces are less intimidating. The large pieces of leather, the ones that still looked like an animal hide, were scary to us. Only experienced crafters used those. But we all felt comfortable using the familiar small squares of anonymous leather.
All Cowhide and Full Grain - mostly
Simple cowhide seemed like the best choice for us. We didn't need any alligator or ostrich leather. Some buckskin or buffalo might be in our future, but for us, simple cow hide was definitely the best choice to start with.
We understand, intellectually, how full-grain leather differs from top-grain leather, what split leather is, and we all know suede. But we don't really understand, in our fingers and bones, the implications and how it affects the look, feel and the way we can use it. We kept seeing that full-grain was the best, most durable type so we decided to start with that. Once we get a feel for that, we could try the more supple but less durable top-grain and other types.
At least that was our intent. When we actually started shopping, I think we might have gotten distracted by the pretty pictures and wound up with a few items that are neither full or top grain. It's not like we would really know the difference if it wasn't on the label. It's still good quality and absolutely usable, we merely have a more varied selection than we originally intended. It wasn't a critical mistake, more of a blessing really. Now we have many more types of leather to test and compare.
Veg-Tan, Oil-Tan and Chrome-Tan
Look at us, knowing the difference between types of leather tanning.
We chose veg-tan for most of our pieces. Veg-tan is often a little stiffer than the other tannings, but it loosens up over time and it wear and ages well. The thick, unfinished weights would provide pieces for tooling and molding. It would work for the tool holders, the valet trays and maybe the bracelet backs. The medium weights would be a good all-around starting place. We could use it for wallets backs and maybe even the sleeves. The thin made good lining, pockets and bags. And you can stack several layers and still sew them together.The oil-tan was still thick but not as stiff. It might be a better choice for the wallets and bracelets. And it was prettier than the unfinished veg-tan. We had read that oil-tan was actually a chrome-tan that had oils and wax added back, but the descriptions called it veg-tan,
And we needed some thinner cuts to line the wallets and backs of the bracelets. Chrome-tan is more supple and thinner. So, we could stack several layers easily. We could add several pockets into the wallets without making it an inch thick and unfoldable.
Weights and Thickness
Although you can get any tanning in any thickness, we decided to get a different thickness for each type of tanning. This was based purely on our possibly flawed thinking of how we would use each type of leather in our current projects.
For veg-tan, we opted for several pre-made thicknesses. In theory, we could just buy one thick piece and skive it (shave) down to the thickness we needed. In practice, we knew we weren't ready to shave off a millimeter of leather with a razor blade. So, we got three different pre-made thicknesses. We purchased a thick 8-9oz for tooling and wet-molding of the structural parts of tool holders. We got some medium weight 7-8oz for wallet backs and all-around use. Then we skipped a couple of sizes and went all the way down to the thin 3-4oz sheets for lining, pockets and more delicate projects. We may try some of the other medium weights later, after learning more. And we were afraid to go any thinner fearing it would be too delicate for our untrained hands to work with.
We also got a medium weight oil-tan because we heard that oil-tan is different than either veg or chrome tan. So, we wanted to try a piece to see for ourselves.
We also got some thin chrome tanned sheets for linings and pouches. We already had some thin veg-tanned, but we wanted to have some chrome-tanned to compare it with. In the future, when we're ready to splurge on some high-quality finishes that we can shave down to our desired thickness, we might order some thicker chrome-tanned.
No Scraps
We bought some straps and blanks for the kids. And we looked at the super cheap "scrap bags," but most of us had bought a bag from craft stores and been very disappointed. They were mostly uneven strings, odd triangles and curves with one or maybe two pieces large enough to make a key fob with. You could decorate your dream catcher, maybe weave a loose bracelet or hair-tie, but nothing more. So, we decided not to buy any scraps. However, some of the real leather vendors do seem to have a more usable selection in their discard packs, so we might try one of those in the future.
We also decided not to try salvaging leather from other items, despite my very entertaining story of re-using old shoe-leather,
Where We Bought From
Don't hate on us all you leather crafting experts. We made our first purchase from Amazon. Yes, it's probably more expensive, lower quality and has a smaller selection. But we were familiar and comfortable with Amazon. They had everything we needed, and we already had an account with them.
The real leather shops were simply overwhelming for us. Page after page of similar looking pictures with endless descriptions full of meaningless technical verbiage. Most of the offerings are for full hide double side bend butt bellies with steer grain full pull-up surface texture finish. Our heads were swimming after looking at just one site. After looking at five sites we got a headache and just wanted somewhere to look at a small selection filled with pretty pictures and friendly descriptions - like on Amazon.
Now that we know a little more about leather, we will almost certainly transition to the real leather vendors. Now that we have a feel for thickness and tanning, understand a little better about how it affects what we can do with it, how it works and wears and stitches, now all that confusing terminology is starting to make a little more sense. At least we can understand most of it.
At this point, we could probably use the handy search filters on the real leather shops to zero in on the type of leather we want for a particular project. It's not completely overwhelming now, merely intimidating. We'll probably still buy from Amazon occasionally. But we're beginning to see why all the experts say buy from a real leather shop.
For first timers like us, Amazon worked well. We had to learn how to use the search terms correctly, and we had to re-train the algorithm to get it to show us something besides the leather handbags and jackets that we had searched for previously. But we are really happy with the leather we purchased.
It was affordable, the friendly familiar interface helped us overcome our fear, and we actually bought something. Then we used the leather we bought to make projects. That's so much better than sitting in an endless mind-lock of indecision and self-doubt. Sometimes just getting started is more important than getting everything perfect on the first try. So, don't be afraid to go against the expert's advice and use whatever you're comfortable with to actually begin your journey.
Now, all we had to do was decide which tools we needed. But that's a whole other story.
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