Want to learn how to make this leather card holder?

Space Teams Textiles
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A few folks expressed a desire to learn some leatherworking skills and I thought I’d share what I know. This isn’t a formal class, but more of a build-along where I’ll show how I made this card holder (and the mistakes I made along the way):

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Short video clip here: https://i.imgur.com/tXwfRR0.mp4

This holds about 4 cards and/or folded bills.

When: January 20th, 1-4pm.

Where: Textiles room.

Cost: $0 (and about three hours of your time)

What is covered: We’ll go over the following:

  • Working from a pattern
  • Cutting leather
  • Saddle stitching
  • Edge burnishing
  • Finishing leather

These are the foundational skills for vast majority of leatherworking projects and would set you up to make all kinds of stuff.

I’ve never tried leatherworking, do I need to prepare in some way? Nope! But if you’re bored and do want a preview, the trickiest part of this process is saddle stitching – watch this video to see how it’s done, or at least how I like stitching (using the the Stitch #2 rear casting method starting at the 10:38 mark).

Do I need to bring anything? Only if you want to, and especially so If you have a favourite cutting tool (such as an X-acto knife). But it’s not necessary – I’ll bring the materials and tools we need for this project. If you have leatherworking tools or supplies, that’s great but not required at all.

Note that I plan to bring veg-tan leather for everyone to use. It’s my favourite, I have scraps, and I find it easiest to work with, esp. when starting out. If you have chrome-tan leather you’d like to use, feel free to bring it along and we’ll learn how to work it together!

Can this be done in three hours? Pretty sure it can! But I’m happy to stick around for anyone who’d needs extra time and would like to keep going. Or we can meet again later if need be.

How do I sign up? Just reply to this post so I have an idea of how many people will show up.

Hope to see you on the 20th!

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Thank you for offering this class. I’ll be there and am looking forward to learning a new skill. I have a simple project in mind—making a holdfast sleeve to protect my projects.
Michael

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This is awesome. I plan on attending.

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That’s awesome! I added a second Skedda booking for you to block out more space and this is on the event calendar here with a note to RSVP here on Discourse. I’d like to share this on our social media as well if you don’t mind.

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@Glory2God and @SteveW – happy to hear that!

Thanks @valerie! And sure, feel free to post it elsewhere :slight_smile:

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I’ll be skiing in CO, but if you offer this sort of meet-up again, I’ll be there!

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Hey Branislav! I’ll be there! I will also bring my leather tools for an extra set! I’m looking forward to it!

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I’ll be there, no prior experience but eager to learn. Thanks for sharing your knowledge with the community!

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I actually bought one of these and have been dreaming of adding on an additional pocket haha. Starting from scratch making one might get me there. I will be there!

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@alex11 , @peter.c , @hackchip – fantastic, see you all there!

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Edit: Sorry, a family emergency came up preventing me or Diana from joining you on Saturday. Hope we can catch you another time!

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I’ll be there!

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Fantastic – we’re up to eight people! :smiley:

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Ill be there. Will bring some leather. Took the basic initial class at RR Tandy.

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I’ll be there too! New member here, can I bring my wife who’s not a member?

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Good question! She can sign a guest waiver but won’t be able to use Asmbly equipment

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Sounds fun! I’ll be there!

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@OctopusDream and @ashleyrlee, for what it’s worth, I think this can be done with just the tools I’ll bring (and not Asmbly’s).

We’re up to 12 people now! Starting to wonder if this should be split up into two sessions, mostly because there will be a need to demonstrate how to stitch and that requires getting up close to the work. I’m happy to stick with one session, just don’t want to short-change anyone.

@valerie, is there a way to use the calendar invite you set up for communicating with the folks who signed up and gauge interest in / possibility of doing this in two groups?

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We have been working on video casting in the CNC Sig meetings and have a decent setup. You could have a camera fixed over the work area, and cast that to a tv in the same room. Added plus, you could stream it on Zoom if you wanted to.

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@Branislav, not possible through the calendar invite because it doesn’t have a guest list reflective of the attendees. Probably the best way for this sort of thing to be set up in the future (and can still be done now if desired) is to create it as a Neon event. Then you would have all the info in one centralized place.

CC @mkmiller6 and @ewei in case we want to set that up for this. There’s plenty of time still so shouldn’t be a problem and we can register people who have said they’re attending so long as they already have a Neon account, so no action required from attendees to move to that solution.