Greenwood Leather

11/12/2024

I often volunteer at a local repair Cafe in the village, at the last meeting I was asked if the lacing on a leather seat could be repaired. The original lace was either non-existant or falling out, so it needed replacing with new.

I used a Spanish double loop edge lacing style to complement the style of the leather embossing. Just need to check with the owner to see whether the new lacing should be dyed to the same colour as the seat or left asis.

Images show before and after.

27/08/2024

It's been a busy year of European travel and many leather projects in-between. Inspired by fellow leather workers and new ideas from visits that included the Florence School of Leather, the many offerings on the Florence market, visit to Armin Dobsetter's workshop in Germany, and other requests from previous customers.

Now it's time to get ready for the European Leather Worker and Artist Trade Show (aka ELWATS) in Arnhem. Travel plans have been booked, courses confirmed, and extra days added to our travel to visit some medieval towns in Germany.

Looking forward to learning some new techniques and taking on new projects!

20/03/2024

The Leather Crafters Journal is celebrating its 200th edition and in recognition of that, a group of leather workers from this side of the Atlantic (i.e. Europe) have contributed to a little thank you message to the magazine producers.
The video can be seen here:

The ever-growing community of leather craftsmen in Europe congratulates Leather Crafter`s Journal on its 200th issue.Thank to all who have contributed.If you...

17/03/2021

A new year project was to make one of the leather tool cases, in fact I made three and wore out my fingers in the process!!
Stitching through 12mm of leather is hard work 🙂

@ Chinnor

13/08/2020

Latest project was to cover a pair of sun visors from a Mercede sports car with leather.
The original visors were covered in plastic, which didn't complement the leather upholstery of the car. The foam padding had also hardened over the years and so the plastic covers were looking rather sad.

A smooth black leather was selected to replace the plastic and new foam inserts were made to bring the visors up to a standard befitting thd rest of the car.

09/10/2019

12/09/2019

A little key case is the latest project, must make a few more for Christmas stocking fillers!

This one is embellished with a 5 yen Japanese coin, other options are being worked on!

20/08/2019

Working on a new handbag design, still a few more "tweaks" to get it looking how I want, but it's getting there!

28/02/2019

Just finished work on a prototype simple wallet to check the sizing. All works OK, so now it's time to start on the "real" wallet.😊

13/11/2018

Lots of projects were completed during the summer months, more on those later...

For now, here's a natural product (no animal products) in a cork material wallet. Complete with RFID protection, I took a leather design and adapted for use with this cork material. Currently available in black, natural, blue or combinations of these. Other colours also can be made available if required.

I'll get the details added to my website later tonight.
😊

28/03/2018

Here's something very different from my usual ventures....

My wife is using one of my handbag patterns to put the finishing touches to a display outfit. A sparkly handbag made from thick plastic sheeting for tonight's event at Secret Cinema and the futurist film Blade Runner.

It will be interesting to see how it turns out...!

24/02/2018

It's been a while since I started this variation of the Celia handbag, but it's now finished and ready for display/sale.

I've taken the basic design of the Celia handbag and added a decorated strip of leather over the top. The decorated strip started as plain undyed leather and from that I marked up the acorn and leaves pattern then carefully embossed the sections of the leather using a number of specialised stamps. The end result is a textured finish of the original pattern marked into the leather.

At that point the leather is then hand-dyed in the black background areas - small brush and patience is required! Once that is done the strip is then coated with an antiquing dye that colours the strip in a light tan but darkens some of the embossed parts to highlight the 3-dimensional aspect of the design.

Only when the above is complete can the work on creating the main handbag commence. The main bag is constructed of 100% leather (no artificial strengtheners required!) and dyed black to match the decorative strip. The strip is then sown into place and the colour matched strap is attached.

Altogether it's about 2 weeks of evenings work to complete, but I hope you'll agree the end result is worth it.
😁

If you'd like one made similar to this, contact me and we can discuss the options. Various colour combinations can be provided and I'll make the strap length to suite you. You can also have your initials stamped onto the bag, inside or on the front flap.

Price is £110 including UK postage.

20/02/2018

Last Autumn we were visiting York -first time I'd been back since moving south some 29 years ago. When we lived in Yorkshire we had never had time to go to the Jorvik Viking Centre due to the lengthy queues and always said we'll come back when it's less busy. Of course that return visited didn't happen, we moved house and time moved on.

Eventually we made our promised visit in 2017 and whilst browsing the (inevitable) shop at the end of the visit, I found a book with a number of Viking designs taken from various stones, wooden carvings, etc. I bought the book and adapted one of the images so that it could be reproduced on leather - I'm not sure yet on how I might use it (suggestions anyone?), maybe the front panel of a messenger bag?....

Anyway, here's the sample I made up, it consists of a thick piece of leather (3.5 mm) softened with water and then stamped with various tools in order to produce the design in the surface of the leather. I then carefully dyed the background areas and polished the remainder with an antique gel that brings out the texture of the tool marks.

There's lots more designs that can be adapted and worked, just need to put a project together that suites a Viking influence.

It's quite a labour-intensive process, but the effect is worth it !
😁

14/02/2018

Today's entry describes the journey of some scrap leather into two iPad cases.

In Oxford there's a recycling / scrap centre called Orinoco who specialise in selling bits and pieces that business and individuals have left over from other projects. You can pick up fabrics, cables, bit of wood, old tools etc. - basically all sorts of stuff that can be "re-purposed". A fortnight ago I visited and found a large sheet of leather that had been left in someone's store for a while - it was quite stiff and not too flexible but it had possibilities. I purchased the leather and then set to work on rejuvenating it using various waxes and oils to get the leather back to a supple working condition.

Th end result is two iPad cases embossed with the logos of a classic British motorcycle manufacturer - Matchless and AJS. It seemed fitting that this piece of "vintage" leather should go with classic vintage motorcycles!

All hand-stitched with no metallic components to ensure your iPad screen won't be scratched. The leather is quite thick (about 2mm) and provides a good strong level of protection.

Normally I use new top grade leather for my iPad cases and with a logo embossed I sell these for £50 each. However, the leather was cheaper than I normally have to pay and so I'm selling these two for £30 each. They have a wonderful patina and the leather feels nice and soft as if it's been around for years (probably has!). If you're interested in one, let me know - there's only two of these so once they're gone anything else will have to be made from new leather and obviously I can't produce them for this lower price.

09/02/2018

Photos of previously completed work.

09/02/2018

Just finished a couple of tote bags made from soft black leather. Never mind a "bag for life", these are for your life and your children and your grandchildren! Smart enough to use in the office as well as in the supermarket.

Pictures of during stitching and a finished product.

03/02/2018

I'm currently working on a number of projects including leather bracelets, writs cuffs, and I still have two handbags to finish off!

So many new ideas and designs and so little time to work on them!