My Favorite Leatherworking Things of 2023 

Nah, I collect plants as well. Dreaming for a Thai Constellation Monstera. Then my collection will be done... unless I see another sweet bonsai or almost anything else that needs rehoming. Lol

@auroraringz there is always one that has escaped our collection 🤣

@@auroraringz if you have home depots or wall marts, look out for the new costa Farms variant of the Pink Princess - They're $20, some 2 to a pot, and it's a phenotype they chose that's almost exactly like a thai but in pink princess form - pink AND white variegation, much more speckled like a thai, very very pretty. No clue as to how stable the variegation is but I'm guessing it's a lot easier to keep variegated than the normal PPP are, I have a ton of those and I'm always clipping them back to keep them from ereverying one way or another

I am partial to the Ryobi light with the flexible arm and magnifying lens. My Ryobi habit started well before my entry into hobby leather working, when I first got the weedeater on the 18v cordless battery system. Now I use the mentioned magnifying light, the rotary tool and a small inverter so I don't have to have cords stretching over to a wall outlet, in my leatherworking. :)

Just dive in dude! What you looking to make?

Don't worry about all this stuff. This gear is just a "looks cool" list of completely non essential stuff. Just grab the tools you need and get into leatherwork. You don't need anything in this list at all.

Leodis Leather is a really good RU-vid channel for breaking down the basics of leatherwork. His channel is how I learned to saddle stitch 8 years ago. Weaver Leather has a lot of tools videos. Springfield Leather has many project videos. Carter Leather has content on techniques, business, and the art/design process. Geordie Leather is a good ‘can you build your own tool’ channel. MakeSupply Leather has videos on designing your own patterns. There’s so much content to choose from, and it can be a little overwhelming. If you’re BRAND new to the hobby/craft and are starting from zero, I recommend subscribing to Leodis Leather. Once you find a branch of leatherwork you prefer (bags, belts, wallets, tooling, laser art) you can branch out to additional channels with the basics under your belt.

second this, i never thought of colored tokonole

From what I’ve seen you have to handle it with gloves and be very careful because it has dye built in. So a lot of risk to accidentally stain your work at the end. If your process already involves edge painting and being clean, careful, and meticulous I think it’s a cool product. I’m too messy though 😂

I'll pass it on to them - it'd be like a box of fuses from the hardware store. A great idea! E

Ahhhh, that I honestly did not know. Thought Vinymo was bonded nylon the past 5 years haha!

Stick with the ritza.

I did a little digging on that, and yes, it seems that the original Seiwa business is gone, but there's some speculation that they either restructured to focus on tokonole production, or someone bought up the rights to tokonole and is going to continue producing it. All that being said, everything I've seen still seems to be in the rumormill stage, so take it with a grain of salt - though I would be absolutely crushed if tokonole went off the market. I love that stuff.

@@christraven I'm just a hoyyist, but I picked up one (little) bottlf of each.. thr white, clear and dark color Tokonole, just to have some on tap; tempted to pick up one of the large bottles, but I recall the stuff expires after a year or something. (Or expires a year after opening? Does it last a few years unopened?) ... *buys up a truck of Tokonole and toilet paper for the apocalypse*

it's just so the customer or whoever you're giving it to doesn't think the pocket is too small - breaking the glue line makes the pocket fit cards :)

@@Corter Awesome, thanks!

Such a wonderful compliment! I've actually already lost 100lbs in my life in highschool - it is true it's easier to gain back which I have. I've hit "middle age" where you realize you don't see a lot of 6'4" old people walking around, so while I don't particularly care about my size I'd like to be around a while - got a lot of videos to make :) but thank you for the compliment, basically it means I get to wear all my cool tshirts again haha!

@@Corter fyi Duluth is 40% off for the next 3 hours! I know they are our favorite durable line!! Love, your large fellow leather crafter!

@@joelesko3267 hahahhaa, literally placed my yearly duluth order last night! A weeks worth of tshirts, 2-3 button ups, and a couple pairs of pants. That's the yearly black friday pickup ;)

I can fully agree on the content shift - truth is, during covid everyone was selling anything an everything they made. Right now we're in a slight recession, so I'm doing my best to make videos about things that will help you lower your cost/production time and raise your profit margin and move work quickly. That's why I posted the series of rivet wallets - quick to make, high profit margin, food on the table. You've gotta be ready to pivot if you're doing this for a job, and if not - there's almost 300 videos you can go back and watch :) But I'll have plenty of projects coming up too!

I would just put out there that I think these videos are great too. Especially with BG having such a large catalog it great to see what a maker like Eric thinks about them. Regarding the content I just don't think it's fair to just say I think all Corter videos should be project videos. But of course we have our opinions and preferences. Even artists as prolific and as talented as Eric can't just crank out content non-stop. I think Eric is a true arteur in that his style exhibits true unique. The patterns and styles are developed through iteration and carefully thought. They don't just always pour out effortlessly. So my vote is that, Eric you are enough! I'm patiently waiting and excited for what Corter has coming out next!❤

@@CorterI picked it up a couple of months ago and these videos have been amazing for me to learn.