I won’t be able to make it anymore, unfortunately. Hope the class goes well!
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I’m really looking forward to this. Even found childcare so my wife can come along and participate. We both have been talking about getting into leatherworking and she bought me a cheap kit off Amazon for Xmas.
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The pressure! 
Kidding – should be a good time! I’m leaning towards having folks in two groups, mostly to allow everyone to see the stitching process in detail. The idea is to use a TV (probably borrow the one from the multipurpose room) and cast video to it from my phone as I stitch and go through the process.
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The chrome cast to the tv was working really well the other day when @michleon100 was testing it for the Laser SIG!
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As one would expect, Bran has already tested casting to the display. I’m excited to learn me some leather working skills!!!
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I plan on attending the awesome experience.
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We’re almost there – looking forward to seeing you all!
Because we’ll have a decent crowd, I’ll do my best to rotate tools and supplies so that nobody sits around waiting. If you have a sharp cutting tool that you like using, such as an X-acto style knife or anything else that can handle corners, please bring it along. Similarly, if you have a wood/plastic/resin mallet (basically anything except metal) that might come in handy as well. If you don’t, no worries – we’ll figure out a way to share 
And as I mentioned above: I’m happy to stay past 4pm and/or have a follow-up on some other day for anyone who would need to continue working on this project.
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Branislav did an amazing job teaching this class today! He was very organized, articulated his thoughts clearly in an easy to understand manner, monitored the pace of learning allowing ample time for us to complete out tasks, and continuously asked if needed clarification or had questions which he answered well. Also a huge thank you to Alex (sorry if I’m spelling your name incorrectly) who shared her tools and experience with us. Alex and Branislav worked in perfect harmony together!
I believe there were 10 of us attending and it was a brilliant group—it was so much fun! Thank you all for for the great afternoon and I look forward to seeing y’all again.
I truly hope this can become a regular class/group where we can learn together, share our struggles, successes, projects and just enjoy making things.
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Thank you for coming today Michael! Some of us from today’s class will be at the Sew Social this Wednesday (at 7pm) if you’re interested in working on stitching! Hope to see you then!
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Thank you for the kind words @Glory2God and to everyone who attended. I appreciate your help in both setting and cleaning up, and I hope you had as good of a time as I did
We didn’t get to finish after all, but the upcoming Sew Social would be a great time to come along and stitch together. If you can’t make that but would still like some guidance, I’m happy to meet either as a group or 1-on-1. I’m most likely going to be at the shop Monday (after 5ish) and Wednesday (Sew Social), with other times TBD. If you know of a specific time you’ll be around and want to meet up, drop me a line.
Finally: huge thanks to @alex11 for backing me up and helping everyone with her own tools and advice!
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Thank you @Branislav for the awesome class, and @alex11 for all the help!
The session was structured, well-paced, and had lots of great info! 10/10 
People would enjoy it.
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Late to Discourse, but just another comment on how great this session was. My wife and I both really enjoyed it. Branislav’s passion and patience were amazing as he shared lessons learned, design considerations, commentary on tools, etc. And without Alex right next to me helping me out I would have been even further behind. This should definitely be turned into an intro to leatherworking class at Asmbly!
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And because I had the session marked in my Google calendar, YouTube surfaced two leather working videos to me early yesterday morning that I found interesting and thought worthwhile to share.
The first is Diresta being Diresta and cutting leather with the tablesaw, track saw and using wood hand planes to pair thick leather with walnut and make a case for holding a 6 pack of wine bottles. A great project to watch. He has a sponsorship with Weaver Leather and does a bunch of fun projects pairing wood and leather.
The second was using the wet molds made by Buckle Guy to make two-tone valet trays. My inner-CNC curiosity has been peaked as I’ve started thinking now about designing and building my own version of these molds in fun shapes. Seems like it would just take an 1/8" bit and a roundover. Maybe some integral dowels to help with alignment.
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Just want to point to this moment in the DiResta video where he mentions the order of operations – really glad Jimmy talks about it, because it makes me look less like a lunatic when I warn others about it
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Your warning definitely did not make you look like a lunatic Branislav. Unfortunately, it’s something that as a beginner I expect I’ll experience because I don’t have the fore-knowledge or experience of looking at the steps down the line. Your warning will help me be cognizant to try and anticipate what comes next before I actually get there. I’m already planning my first solo project! Thank you again for the excellent introduction—I’ve been seriously bitten by the leather bug 
but please don’t tell my wife I’m looking for new tools 
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@here, if you want to work on / finish your stitching, I’ll be at the Sew Social tonight to help out.
@Glory2God: my lips are sealed!
But speaking of tools: if anyone would like to borrow and test out any of the tools I demo’d during our session, just let me know. It’s by far the easiest way to make sure you actually want/need/like something before dropping $$$ on it. I usually plan my leatherwork projects well in advance, so it shouldn’t be a problem for us to coordinate and share.
Not sure if you’re able to open this marketplace link but a full leather kit for sale Redirecting...
ah sold
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Wanted to drop some photos from the class here for future reference.
I also have a video of @Branislav demonstrating the stitching process, let me know if anyone wants that.
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