Author Archives: joel

As a small, simple leather tooling project I've been trying to make myself a simple card wallet out of some lightweight tooling leather. The first attempt was an octopus - but I wasn't quite satisfied with how it came out, and the tooling got too close to the edge of the leather and I wouldn't have been able to sew it. The second attempt was a koi - which I left enough margin for sewing. I even put in the interior pockets. I used too big a punch for the holes, and too small a thread for sewing it, plus I accidentally stained the spine with something in the shop without noticing - so I'm not totally pleased with that one either. The third one is a bunch of Hawaiian flowers, borrowed from the pattern I made up for my electric uke's pickguard. The tooling came out decent for my beginner status, but I have yet to put in pockets and sew it - so a lot can still go wrong. But hopefully the third time's the charm!

I've been thinking about picking up a new 'indoor' hobby for the winter - something I haven't tried before. I decided to give leather tooling a try. As an experiment, today I tried to make a patch for my backpack. I still need to stain and seal it, but I think it came out half-decent. This winter I think I am going to try to make a few things when it is too cold to go out to the workshop - a belt, a wallet, and maybe a ukulele strap. The kids have shown some interest in giving it a try too.