Forums » Smalltalk » AMA: Professional leatherworker

Hello RPR! I am a professional artisan by trade, with a focus on tooled leather goods for historical and fantasy costumes. I have sold at many artist alleys at anime/scifi/etc. conventions as well as Renaissance and medieval faires.

You can see my work here:
http://www.athousandrasps.com

AMA anything about the craft, industry, etc, and I'll do my best to answer!

Those are lovely!

Did you spend many years doing it as a hobby before turning it into a business?

What made you decide to become a professional leatherworker, and how sustainable is it as a job?

How can someone like me who would want to try it get started without spending too much / budget friendly?

What is your most favourite piece that you've made?

Do you have other leatherworkers you look to as a role-model, muse?

You're work is gorgeous!

I work as a teacher and it's great to see other job options where we might guide our students towards different career paths. What advice would you recommend for a young person interested in becoming an artisan or craftsman working with leather?

Thanks for the kind words, folks!
Not too many--I think I first started in late 2008, and 2013 is when I quit my job to pursue it as a profession.
So, my major at university was computer science, and I worked as a software developer for only a few months before I decided to quit, after a tragedy at our workplace. I realized that I really needed to pursue art while I was still young and in a position to do so.

Sustainability is very difficult for any artist to reach, and I admit that I'm not there yet. It's thanks to my husband's income and our renters that I'm capable of pursuing this dream--this is privilege, I fully admit. However, I think 2020 would have been a huge year for me, now that I'm getting established as an artisan at the Maryland Renaissance Festival (one of the biggest in the USA). Unfortunately, the world decided it needed to kick things up several notches.
Get a starter kit from Tandy Leather Factory. They have a few options, and the middle range one is around $100 last I checked. It comes with basic tools and a couple projects to work on. If you have a Tandy store locally, they will often offer day classes (well, not right now, but in general) where you can try stuff out.

My favorite piece? It is so hard to tell, honestly! I usually feel quite ambivalent about my work once it's done. I think if I had to pick a final piece, it would be the rowan pauldron I made as a trade with my tattoo artist.


As for role models, Samuel from Prince Armory is a master pattern-crafter. His work is often extravagant and high-fantasy, a slightly different niche, but I am constantly inspired by his ability to create such unique shapes and profiles. I also have a couple friends, Griffin and Travis, who are skilled craftsmen and far better businessmen than I. They're always willing to talk shop and I appreciate their friendship.
Similar to the above, I would suggest trying a class or two or picking up a starter kit if possible. You may also be able to find a local leatherworker to apprentice with (again, in a post-corona world, if such a thing can exist). In a broader career sense, you have to have a lot of discipline to succeed as a self-employed artisan. There's no one to structure your time but yourself. This is something I struggle with constantly, and honestly I would be much more successful if I was better at it! There will always be aspects that you dislike, and you have to do them anyway--sometimes you'll even hate your entire job and wonder why you started it in the first place, and you have to make yourself work through the slump.

Thank-you so much for your answers, Heimdall and sharing your wonderful craft with us.