Giving yourself adequate time is important when exploring your leathercraft style and design. People regularly practice sketching and forming roughs in other arts like drawing and sculpting. In leatherworking, we often try to make a finished product without giving ourselves time to improve our craft and explore our style.
As a busy person, I fight the instinct to ‘just go for it’ and start a project, figuring it out as I go. The reverse of this, planning every single step, can sometimes lead to inertia, so I try to capture the momentum of wanting to get started. I balance out rushing forward with doing one or more preliminary pieces before working on my final project. I learn by doing, and understanding a technique is very different from actually doing it.
This is why our online classes have sections that you can take at your own pace, as well as live sessions or Q&As. Sometimes, students who have many questions about a particular detail haven’t actually tried it. I am the same way in many things. When packing for a trip, I wonder if I need clothes for warm or cold weather, what I will wear to bed, and whether I should pack shampoo. A college friend told me to pack what I think I’ll need, then take out half and bring twice as much money. You can’t plan for every contingency, and often, you won’t know about potential challenges until they actually come up.
I give myself time to understand better leatherworking techniques and how they work on a project. The goal is that when I design a piece and make a pattern, it is closer to my original intent. I was brushing up on making leather cylinders and wanted to practice, refine my details, and noodle around a bit. I had a project in mind but wanted to build one or more practice pieces to work out the details.
I had a few questions about my build: How should the side seam be sewn? How much tension is needed? Which way to punch the stitches? How to cut the edges? I had recommendations but wanted to test them for myself and my materials.
I started with two very basic test pieces and then stepped up to a test project. The point of these pieces is to test ideas and boundaries. What if I pull the tension harder on the sides? How could I improve the joint area? Since these are test pieces, I’m only concerned with how I construct them and whether those methods work. Building just these two test pieces raised other questions that I hadn’t thought of like how much does the edge finishing show on the butt seam.
I like to document a few questions and then let my brain wander for a few days. For the final project, I wanted to put a lid on a cylinder. The item inside is really short, so I don’t need an upper lid with height. However, I wanted to register the closure in some way. I didn’t actively try to solve this detail; I just kept it in the back of my head and made another test piece. This time, I wanted to make something more substantive.
We had done a production run of coasters, and I had several rejects where I dialed in the stamp, the stitching, and the leather selection. I use the rejects in the studio for students’ beverages, and they float everywhere. Making a container was a great test piece that was also practical.
Practical Practice: Coasters
Simple items like coasters are great for test pieces. Instead of making little scraps, you can make usable test pieces. So, when experimenting with new techniques in edge finishing, stitching, leather, or other details, you have something you can use. Circles and curves are tricky to cut and these are great practice. Coasters are fast and usable, and you will benefit from having a lot of them.
When I made this coaster holder, I wanted a way to pull the coasters out more easily. So, I cut a space to put my thumb into the side. The version on the test piece was ok. It could be a little lower so I can reach more coasters.
I also found my lid registration.
Somewhere in my brain, I was working out this problem for my final project: how do I consistently place the lid on the container? When I solved one design detail, it helped to solve another. When you give yourself time to practice and play, you give your creativity space to grow. Some solutions emerge when you aren’t actively trying to solve the problem but letting it rest in your mind.
You can sometimes miss out when you don’t give yourself space to practice and make mistakes. While it may seem like you’re just ‘doodling,’ you make many small innovations, which sometimes lead to bigger ones.
very well written! kudos!
Thanks, Stephen! We appreciate that.
I really like the idea of trying new techniques on smaller simpler projects, like coasters. For example I’ve been aware that I need to practice the cutting techniques from the course but I would be worried to practice on a project that I really care about but also don’t want to just cut and waste leather. I probably could have figured out that I would practice cutting on smaller projects but your suggestion is the little lightbulb that I needed to gain the momentum and really start practicing. I eagerly await your Friday email/post because I’m always strategizing my next move from your suggestions. Thanks for the helpful content and the excellent course.
Really happy that we could help/inspire, William. We always appreciate your feedback and the time you spend to read our posts each week. Thank you.
Sometimes I get in a hurry to get started and then get finished and it never works out well. So thanks for reining me in.
Glad we could help, Jim! I appreciate you taking the time to read and respond.