Wild Skills Leather

I’m Steve.

Originally from Nottingham, I grew up with the Peak District as my stamping ground!

 I’ve always loved the outdoors: from hiking & camping, to sea fishing, swimming, diving and climbing. It was in the spring of 2019, that I started developing an interest in Bushcraft, which is a bit of an umbrella term for many different skills such as tree, plant & fungi ID, camp craft & traditional living skills, like willow weaving, natural cordage making, carving & Leather work.

I very quickly became fascinated by leather work, and excited by the amazing possibilities and creative options the medium of leather gives you to make some beautiful items.  I had to take the plunge and start trying to make something.

My partner, very thoughtfully bought me as a Christmas present, a beginners leather stitching kit, which was an excellent motivation but also a bit of a conundrum as, at that point, I had no idea what I was doing, or what half the tools and bits & bobs in the kit were for! That’s where books and You Tube channels became very useful.

I was reluctant to spend a lot of money on a decent piece of leather to begin with because I new there was a good chance I’d just make a mess, and besides, I had no clue what sort of leather I needed, or what I wanted to make. The different types, weights & cuts of leather available are mind boggling. So to begin with, I started by trawling the charity shops for any old leather coats, bags, skirts. . . anything, to look at how it was made, but also to canabolise, rip apart and try to fashion into something, to feel like I was making creative progress.

After destroying a few bits of leather and a few tools along the way. After cutting myself a few times with a razor blade or dyeing my fingers odd colours. After absorbing You Tube videos till I could recite them by heart, I started to get the hang of it. I began to understand the differences between leathers, and what cuts and / or weights to use for different projects. But best of all, I really started to enjoy it. I found a couple of fantastic suppliers of the leather & hardware I like to use, and also the patterns to work from. I must give credit to, and recognise the amazing work of Ian Atkinson at Leodis Leather www.ianatkinson.net/leather and Tony at Deislepunk.ro www.leather-patterns.com/

Since then, I’ve taken on many different projects, each one a bit bigger, and more complicated than the last, and have been able to make and sell some lovely items, which I can be very proud of. I really enjoy making the Steampunk style kit, and have had some lovely compliments about my work.