EP17. Pricking Irons, Leathercraft Business Ideas & Making Designer Handbags

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Show Notes: it loses that it loses something there's a little bit of magic with some inconsistencies i don't know what it is uh i know it's a very personal thing but i think a lot of us can agree on the leather part at the very least we don't want something that looks the same colour all the way across or has no life to it or has no depth to it is just completely uniform almost robotic and lifeless hello and welcome to the leathercraft masterclass with me Phil and in this q a session I'm going to be going through some questions that have been submitted by you guys on Instagram now if you're not on Instagram and you want to see me go live or you want to join me for a chat at some point then go on there at leathercraftmasterclass and give me a follow and if you do enjoy this video and you gain some value or gain some new knowledge then don't forget to let me know in the comments below and also give me a thumbs up to let me know that you enjoy the video so without further ado let's go live and then start getting through these questions checking the connection you are now live hey guys how you doing people have started joining that's good to see and literally within a split second there's 38 people on here that's crazy hello hello how's it going and i have selected one two three four five six seven eight nine questions an odd number okay so let's go straight into the q and a questions uh and the first question that i've chosen is about pricking irons okay so pricking lines a common uh common tool to get questions about which pricking line what size and all that kind of thing a lot of the craft revolves around it especially if you're in hand stitching of course so re-sharpening a pricking iron so resharpening a European-style pricking iron with a dented tooth now it does happen sometimes people damage the teeth on pricking irons either from being dropped on the floor or perhaps you thought uh you would have a go at you know marking your leather on a pairing stone but you've hit it with a little bit too much gusto and uh and you've you've gone through and you've hit the granite or the marble underneath or whatever you're using and you've chipped a tooth usually if it's very hard steel chip rather than deform or you could have had something underneath your leather there's a million different reasons but it does happen from time to time so how do you deal with that outside of obviously buying a new set of pricing lines or a new pricing line what i have done in the past because you may have noticed if you guys can see i enjoy collecting vintage pricking irons it's kind of a thing of mine and many times they will come in let's just say not the best condition especially if they're near 100 years old so sometimes the teeth need a little bit of repairing and you can do this on brand new pricking irons as well modern ones what it involves is essentially grinding down all the teeth until the mark the dent whatever it is the chip has gone and it's levelled off so you would get say for example a diamond plate and you with the teeth placed down on there as if you're going to prick mark the diamond plate and you would just move it backwards and forwards say 10 times turn all the way around do 10 times again and keep going just to mitigate any bias you have on on each side just keep twisting it moving it backwards and forwards and grinding it down until you've basically got flat spots on all of them but it's a consistent flat spot then what you can do is set it up in a vise like a hobby vise at the right angle and then you can take a file okay a diamond file if it's a very hard steel and then just go backwards and forwards and you're creating a bevel on each side of the tooth okay so you have the tooth instead of going to a point like it used to it's now going to look a little bit more like this okay so it is repairable it's easier on vintage styles pricking irons because the steel is generally softer so you know that's one way of doing it it's a little bit complicated a little bit fiddly most times i would recommend actually getting a new set uh however if it's driving you that that crazy but even if you chip a tooth sometimes just double check that it actually makes a blind bit of difference to your leather work because sometimes it doesn't make any difference whatsoever or instead of prick mark you know pricking through until it hits the surface pricking through until it goes beyond the leather underneath so it kind of protrudes a little bit more so everything has gone through and you've got consistent holes in your leather so that's another way of doing it as well okay so next question moving on to the next question uh i'm going to cross that off to make sure i don't get lost easily happens which size pricking are another one for brickingham's which size pricking lines for watch straps so that's a good question um a lot of it depends on personal taste i don't think there's a particular right or wrong when it comes to selecting a size for watch straps but generally speaking it's going to be less than things like bags clutches large wallets so i tend to pursue 2.7 millimeters or below that's my personal preference can do three millimeters but that's getting a little large and do remember that generally not always generally when the spi of stitches per inch or the stitch spacing goes up your pricking iron gets thicker and thicker prongs because it's usually you're going wider so you can have thicker thread so sometimes if you're creating a very fine watch trap where you've got filler in the center and then there's only a small space between the filler and the crease line you know you haven't got a lot of room so you can't really use a large pricking arm with wide prongs on there without cutting into the filler or indeed the the crease line itself so that's something to be aware of but it also depends on the watch strap that you're using if you've got something that's a little bit more formal um to pair with a watch that's say like a jlc reverso or you know a dress watch is what i'm basically saying then you don't want anything with a large chunky stitch that's going to distract from the aesthetic of the watch itself so you never want the watch strap to be louder than the watch itself ideally if you've got a very conservative watch a finely made watch high horology watch you don't want a very shouty strap that distracts attention because all it's doing is one retaining the watch on your wrist but it's also simply a frame for the watch itself okay but that's personal preference if you have a very loud shouty watch with a lot of complications and colors you can get a little bit more overt with your styling and use bigger bigger stitches something that's a little bit louder perhaps contrast stitches and things like that so uh generally speaking i like a smaller pricking line for watch straps and it's also easier to stitch with a smaller pricking iron because it just takes up less space so that would be my recommendation 2.7 and under but it also depends on your style watches that are large you know like panerai um very masculine style watches tend to have tend to favor something that is you know like a chunkier watch strap no filler larger stitches things like that so it really depends on the style okay so third question so moving away from pricking irons uh how do you set yourself apart in the world of leathercraft how do you set yourself apart in the world of leathercraft interesting question um there tends to be you know if you if you look on social media and you look online sometimes you'll see a lot of people having a very very similar style and it can be quite difficult difficult to differentiate different where's my words going it can be quite difficult to differentiate yourself sometimes especially if you look on etsy for example put in handmade watch strap or handmade card leather card holder or you know handmade wallet or something like that and you'll see a lot of very similar styles but then look at what really stands out to you is is there something that stands out from the pages and pages and pages of of people making something very similar what was it about that that stood out to you was it the color was it the photography was it the the way they advertised it was it the design was it something that you would never have thought of and perhaps make notes on what it is about that particular artisan that stood out to you and maybe learn from that but i would always say identify a strong sense of style or personal design uh an indicator that's different from everybody else what you would like to aim for would be say if you're on instagram and you're scrolling through pictures and you see a picture of someone's work and you go i know exactly who that is i don't need to look at the name i know who that is and it's not the photography style it's not the the color of the leather for example it's not that i saw their name but i know who that is instantly and you all know just like creators designers artisans who you could you just know who they are just by looking at the picture that's something you really want to emulate because when you have a very strong sense of personal style and people can identify you immediately it's going to be very difficult for people to copy your work and you're standing out quite easily for just being yourself so of course when you're starting out in the beginning you're either taking inspiration from other people's designs and you're kind of finding yourself a little bit uh or you're following tutorials like the leathercraft masterclass and you're following exactly how i teach it but eventually you want to start going through a phase of experimentation there's a great book by robert greene called mastery that talks about that of doing things by the book then you go through a phase like your adolescence of experimenting and rebelling a little bit and testing to see what works and what doesn't work and what's true and what's not true and then eventually once you discover that personal style you begin to embody the sense of mastery so i would always say try and get your personal design if you're new to the craft other ways of hacking that are making uh making use of a very of a particular color for example some people make leather goods and they are always green or they are always yellow or there's always a funky combination or there's always like a one red seam somewhere on the design a good example of that would be christian lebouton shoes if you've never heard of christian louboutin shoes most famous for heels but if i say red souls even if you don't know the name you'd probably recognize shoes stilettos being worn and the soles are red underneath now that's not really a real you know sense of finding your style and all that kind of thing it's literally just making them red it stood out they have their own design aesthetic they're very unique they're very feminine designs they're very french designs so they do stand out in there in that way but just by changing the soul to red now they stand out so sometimes it can be just changing something quite obvious about what you do so that you can stand out from the crowd and be different and get noticed which is what you want to do especially if you sell your leather work question number four is what thickness of leather do you need for box making so what thickness of leather do you need for box making so leather box making actually i did a tutorial solid leather box makings essentially where you have stiff thick vegetable tan leather and you create a solid structure box with a lid okay so obviously you can't use soft chrome town leather or thin skins or anything like that except for a lining it needs to be made from very firm leather and it's the firmness that is really the most important part of that not just the thickness it just needs to be thick enough to stitch through as long as it's firm enough that's the most important thing so if you're making a very small box you can get away with um between two and three millimeters depending on how how finely you can stitch but if you're making a larger box you're going to be wanting to move into four or five or beyond and in order to do that you're going to need to laminate layers so gluing layers of leather uh two to three if necessary pretty much like plywood really and that will help to stiffen it so it really depends on the size of the box it depends uh on the firmness of the leather and uh also your spi so you know if you're gonna have a thinner leather um you need a smaller amount of stitches per inch so something that's gonna be much finer as well so yeah solid leather box making is of course on leathercraft masterclass if you're looking to learn how to do that so the next question is uh how important is digital marketing for a leather business how important is digital marketing for a leather business well i think very very important if uh if you're looking to sell online now if you're going to trade shows if you're selling through word of mouth uh if you go to markets to sell on market stalls and things like that then digital marketing if that's you know if you run on if you've got like a two year wait list and all you use is word of mouth if you're in a very lucky situation then digital marketing really isn't going to be that important for you but if you want to run a business an online business through social media through email through your website then of course digital marketing is marketing is extremely important from the photography making use of video making use of the correct platforms where you believe your customers are going to be how to get in touch with your customers how to be in front of them where their attention is going how your business can be there so a lot of people make the mistake of thinking that if you make just really good leather goods and you want to sell online all you have to do is just make really good stuff photograph it nicely and it will sell itself if only it were that simple you obviously your work has to stand out it has to be of a good quality standard to match the price point that you're charging for your customers but you really do have to do your homework on how to learn and improve and master digital marketing and marketing in general really so how important is it very important if you're looking to run an online business so i'm going to scroll down because i did see a question there oh god we're scrolling down quite a bit here all right hi Phil you mentioned a while ago that you'd be reshaping the German round knife at some point any plans of of getting to that soon no

i don't i had an idea of a great video it's just uh i will get around to it at some point uh it's just a really big job

and uh the challenge the real challenge of that is teaching it in a way where a beginner who thinks they're better than they actually are won't cut their fingers off and then blame me so it's really really difficult to uh to come up with a video that i could put out and it would be like a YouTube video uh where someone's not going to copy it and injure themselves so it's got to be idiot proof and that's not saying that people are idiots but it has to be you know so safety forward and i need some more ideas on how to do that because when you put it out into the world if anything bad happens it comes back on you so i would love to get it out but time and difficulty making it safe i know i teach how to use the round knife in a lot of my courses for example uh techniques of the trunk handle there's been so many courses handle making for the long set rolled handle on how to use it in the terrain luxury handbag the ostrich skin handbag i use the round knife and i always teach safety in that but it's within a more controlled environment it's not put out to the entire world it's students who we know are interested in leathercraft who are looking for more advanced techniques so it's a little bit easier on that platform obviously next question what's your thoughts on unstitched or minimally stitched watched wraps okay so another question about watch straps last one was about what prick 9 to use this one is about minimally stitched watch straps I'll try and find an example to show for you guys on on YouTube it's usually minimally stitched watch straps are usually where say for example someone's using shar green or stingray okay very difficult and challenging to stitch at least well um it's usually where the watch strap where the lugs are near where the lugs are there's a stitch going around there and usually a v-stitch at the very bottom the tip of the uh of the watch strap and on the other side there will be something similar in the lugs and the other end near the buckle or deploying clasp so there's no essentially there's no stitching along the sides because it's very difficult to do and it kind of ruins the aesthetic sometimes depending on the type of charging it is what do i think of it it's born out of necessity in in something like shagreen because it's difficult when it comes to regular leather leaving it unstitched and relying solely on the mercy of the glue that you're using it can work if you're using uh a watch brand like younguns uh or another brand like i don't know mundane uh you know something very simple in design something very uh Nordic and aesthetic think deta rams brawn that kind of thing that kind of look it kind of works really really well and i don't look at what straps as you know something like no one ever gets handed down a watchstrap from their great great grandfather you know here's your watchdog from a great grandpa is it's just never gonna happen right it's a consumable item unless they never used it the next generation didn't use it and this generation doesn't use it it's a semi-consumable item uh due to the wear and tear that it goes through wallets very similar uh due to the wear and tear that they go through so it's not an everlasting item it's not like an attaché case that can be over 100 years old and still useful and repairable so is it absolutely necessary to have a stitch not really it adds the aesthetic definitely adds the durability because it can come apart if you're using the wrong glues for example so if you guys have watched techniques of adhesion on the leathercraft masterclass you know all about that but edge paint is definitely something i would probably have on the side as well because at least it covers the seams so they can't get as much wear to start coming apart and it has a little mild effect of holding everything together so i definitely use edge paint if i was not using a stitch along the sides so watch your glue technique and use edge paint as well

okay copperhead soft goods says what lever or thickness do you recommend for nato straps so what leather or thickness do you recommend for nato straps so Instagram live question there first of all you'll need to get your your watch your donor watch and you'll need some uh some callipers there dial callipers and then just measure the distance between the case of the watch and the spring bar okay so that's your that's your absolute maximum and you might have like 1.5 millimetres let's say for argument's sake that's the thickest strip of leather that could fit through there but it also has to bend um and if it's too tight it doesn't want to bend very well and you'll have it bowing at the top so you might want to switch to like 1.2 so it depends on the strap if you've got a little bit more room you can go thicker especially if it's a larger watch a more rugged looking watch a more masculine watch then you can use a thicker leather as far as what type of leather i mean your world your oyster usually i would go for something like a vegetable tan leather maybe re-tanned but more vegetable town leather and you want to cut the strip uh in line up the back ideally of uh of the hide and make sure that there's no stretch in it because if you cut it with ways or from a shoulder for example where the grain is looser the person will put it on at a certain point and within a few days or weeks of wearing it they're having to go up to the next one and the next one until until it eventually settles down that's sometimes why if i'm creating a nato strap out of leather for say a 20 millimetre lug width i'll make it at 21 and then i will stretch it on the table at least overnight so i'm taking some of the stretch out of it and then when it relaxes it hardly relaxes at all and it's taking a new length and makes it more stretch resistant and then you measure it and it's nearer 20 millimetres which is what you need so you make it oversized pre-stretch it you can wet it if you want to do that as well that's another way of doing it so a little technique there what can i use for inner supports to give a specific form in a bag straps in bag straps what can i use for inner supports not 100 i understand the question before i go down that route unfortunately what's the best technique for creasing a turned edge is the next question so this was submitted on Instagram stories the best technique for creasing a turned edge i think they were also specifically talking about a screw crease or adjustable creaser but it's the same for both typically you don't okay typically you don't crease a folded edge so a turned edge or folded edge for those who don't know instead of having two pieces of leather put together and then you stitch it along the top on a cut edge which you can burnish or edge paint a turned edge is where you thin the edge on one side and you can fold it over and then stitch across that fold to hold it in place so the leather the grain never ends okay so the the edge is the grain as well so a turned edge my favourite technique for edges typically you don't because it's a crease is more associated with a cut edge and if you want to differentiate your turned edge which requires more technique and skill to do you don't want to make it look like a cut edge because originally in saddlery it was designed for practical reasons as well as decoration where you'd use that line and the compression of the crease to compress the leather reduces the amount of moisture absorbed from the side from the from the edge but it also helps prevent fraying as it were and the leather becoming more fibrous through wear so you can press it down especially with wax finishing on the edge and it gives a more durable edge but when it comes to turned edge you typically don't do that i have done in the past i think i've done that in the course probably at some point but generally i don't but if i do a crease line on a turned edge i don't do it between the thread and the turned edge i do it on the opposite side of the thread so it really frames the stitches well but it allows the turned edge to still say hey guys i'm a turned edge ain't no cut edge so it's a little bit more of a flex in that sense because it's not easy to do a turned edge requires more skill so don't make it look like something that requires less skill but that's personal preference so historically it wasn't such a thing to crease a turned edge but if you do here's a tip keep your eye on the guide because when it's rounded much like if you've edge beveled leather and then gone to crease it it's you know a 90 degree cut edge is the easiest one to crease when it's rounded it's very easy for that guy to actually start coming onto the leather and then you've marked it and there's not much you can do after that so uh if you do like the aesthetic of it and you want to do that that's absolutely fine but just be aware of that that guide on the side accidentally coming on especially with the hot creases very little that you are going to do about that

okay so one of my favourites one of my favourites um that I'm going to answer here i really love this question is there space for inconsistencies and imperfections in fine leather handcrafting okay so when we do our craft in fine leather craft we are trying to elevate our skills and create something truly beautiful that showcases craftsmanship history heritage and and luxury okay so within that realm is there space for inconsistency and imperfection yes and no okay so let me explain a little bit by what i mean when it comes to materials that we use okay so if you if you think of the most common materials that we use such as leather and thread uh most often or not you will choose or we as crafters love working with leather where you can see a little bit of variation where you can see a little bit of inconsistency where you can see where the leather is maybe there's growth rings on the leather for the shoulder on a hide for example or you can see that the leather is dyed in some places a little bit darker and a little bit lighter and there's some variation there and then some depth mother nature gives us these inconsistencies and we kind of applaud her for it we we celebrate the inconsistencies of leather much like you know this table that i'm working on is made of mdf okay uh it's practically all wood it's made of wood fibers pressed compressed together under pressure with resins and adhesives to create something that's that's quite durable and useful it looks like wood it's got the same color as wood it's like a dark brownish but it's not beautiful is it but if you look at the wood behind me on this beam here's 300 years old okay it's got inconsistencies it's got cracks in there there's knots from where there was branches uh there's all sorts of imperfections going along it's as wood goes if i went to a lumber yard to pick up a piece and i saw that i'd laugh but when people come in and they look at all the woodwork in here that's 300 years old and they go oh my god look at that the natural grain is all this traditional you know if i painted over that I'd probably be arrested actually but if i painted over that it wouldn't be as beautiful because we like the inconsistencies so when it comes to things like uh thread even like there are more consistent threads than finishing one which is what I use a French linen thread it's very old traditional machines that they use 200 years old some of them made in France I actually don't mind a little bit of variation a little bit mind you but you know because sometimes when you use a really consistent thread especially synthetic threads it loses that it loses something there's a little bit of magic with some inconsistencies I don't know what it is uh I know it's a very personal thing but I think a lot of us can agree on the leather part at the very least we don't want something that looks the same colour all the way across or has no life to it or has no depth to it is just completely uniform almost robotic and lifeless so when it comes to materials yes there is place for inconsistencies and imperfections it's not like I'm you know I still avoid marks in the leather and you know where the animal was scratched or something or a bite mark I still go around those ones I still choose the nice parts but I celebrate the inconsistencies so that we've got that beautiful richness of something that's truly natural when it comes to the personal side of the craft and the question was asked about me do I think there's space for inconsistencies in my work and imperfections in my work I always strive for perfection with the absolute knowledge that I will never retain it because I am from nature I am imperfect which means I cannot possibly create absolute perfection it's not possible for me but it's the pursuit of it of constantly getting better and better and better and better and always looking for little tiny things I could have done better or could have changed or adapted or done something different to improve upon next time that's something I'm always striving for and that really comes down to standards because if somebody has you know average standards they'll create average work and go that's good enough that's perfect for me I'm happy with that and if people are happy with that that's fine then you might have someone who has a slightly higher standard and they hold themselves to a higher degree of work and then you might have someone who's an absolute master of the craft in your in your estimation and that person may have no reachable standard whatsoever in fact every year upon year upon year they're constantly improving constantly getting better because they are always able to find these little inconsistencies and little imperfections and go ha I wonder how i could get around that I wonder how I could have improved that and done something a little bit different and that's what kind of like if you can enjoy that if you can kind of hold on to that and understand that it's part of the process and it's the journey towards perfection that is perfection you know so that's the way i look at it and I enjoy looking at things objectively and going if i can still see a problem there I can still find a solution and it's those little solutions and adaptations that I can then employ next time that gives me true joy so that's the way I look at it so is there space for inconsistencies and imperfections yes in the materials we use but no not in the mindset but no one's perfect but it's the pursuit of perfection which I really enjoy okay so that's my favourite question this one's a fun one how hard would it be for you to make a lady Dior handbag so how hard would it be to make a lady do your handbag the lady Dior handbag is a famous design iconic design I believe it was probably made most famous by when the f I think was the first lady of France gifted one to lady lady Diana I think it was called something different before but it's now the lady Dior uh how difficult would it be difficulty wise I don't think it would be overly difficult but it will be time consuming more than anything because if you think about the amount of stitching that goes into the quilting and it's not just like diamond stitching like you see with chanel it's uh stitching that's supposedly trying to emulate like a wicket the back of a wicker chair if you look closely you'll probably recognize the design like those straw chairs as wicked chairs and it's that a volume of quilting going on if you were to try and hand stitch that at the very least it would take a long time not to mention the amount of turned edges on there so i don't believe there's any raw edges on the bag itself and it's made around a wooden form so the amount of time that would be consumed trying to make it i mean you'd end up putting 120 hours in it after prototyping after creating forms after testing and after all that stitching and you'd still end up with a fake lady to your back if that's if that's something you don't mind then go for it but um yeah it'd be it'll be quite challenging at the very least okay so um a couple questions here mason mason anderson says uh

a refer cable thread versus flat braided which poly cable thread do you think is the best

which is the best be there I mean a lot the top brands they're all kind of very similar um I know there's some by my side uh that I've tried they're about the same as Wuta Leather I fractionally and it's probably just all in my head artisan soul don't know why it's not particularly expensive but I've never had uh any problems with it uh I know on my side I know on uh water leather in stitching I do get sometimes when one of the little threads breaks you get this twisting and unravelling going along and you have to change your thread I've never had that with artisan sole

but i don't really use uh polyester that often it really is a if it's a necessity for example uh if I'm making something that's going to see high wear or something for the outdoors then I will possibly switch to polyester thread but it's not my preferred with regards I think your question might also be asking cabled versus flat braided I don't use flat braided thread like tiger thread don't really use that in my work I don't like the aesthetic of it but if I was making something for myself that required extreme toughness then I'd at least consider it uh Jeremy says when lining leather in a folded position how do you accurately trim to final size uh well what i would do is I would I would get the lining leather and make it oversized okay or at least longer or sometimes shorter depending on which way you're bending it um but just oversize and then you can bend and glue in the right position and then you trim up afterwards it might be a little awkward to trim it especially if it's in a very curved position so you might need to find something like a wooden form that's curved and then you can cut it over it so that's one way of doing that all right uh so that was the last question guys don't forget right now leathercraftmasterclass.com you can get a free tool guide and a free leather guide so make sure you get onto the link below if you're on Instagram it's going to be the link in bio so all you have to do is put your email in and you'll get an instant link to a toolbar's guide 20 page article which is going to give you all the information you need to know which tools to buy which tools probably a waste of money depending on what point in your craft you're at and of course the leather selection video which has helped so many people identify good quality leather from poor quality leather which is one of the essential skills in embarking on your journey in leathercraft especially finder the craft when you know what good quality is you can identify it and you know what tests to do on samples then you know exactly what you need to buy before even spending a dime so that is the idea behind it so it's a time saver and a money saver as well alright guys thank you for joining me on Instagram uh if you do have any questions don't forget to comment below on YouTube or shoot me a dm on Instagram that's another way to contact me if you want to have a conversation or you have questions about leathercraft or you're interested in the courses and you want to know more information but until next time I'll see you in the next video thanks for watching guys.

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