Wow, this past year has both taken forever, yet flown by. I cannot believe that I have already been doing leatherworking for a year. I initially wanted to write more blog posts, however I have just been so busy between classes and projects. I finally have an opportunity now to sit down and write one. So... where to start? I suppose where I left off in the last blog is a fair point to pick up at.
So this past year, I have finished many projects. A good amount of them have been sample items that I have made for myself, or just to list on the site. For those of you following my progress, you may have noticed the increasing level of complexity in the items I have added. Like I mentioned in the last post, I really like getting a new challenge. The most challenging item I have made thus far was the skull bag.
WOW. That bag had so many pieces. I suppose that I did not help my situation by making the bag out of thinner leather than recommended, as well as lining and padding it. This bag has not gotten the attention I thought it would, however I personally have plans for it myself.
While the majority of this past year's projects have been for family or friends, I have indeed made some items for people I do not know. This really helped show me that I'm garnering attention to people outside my immediate circle. I've gotten a few inquiries from local businesses, but none have panned out yet. That's ok though; I'm not really in a position to output a large amount of items right now. As much as I would like to begin to transition into this being a main source of income for me, I just haven't had that big break yet. I am getting more orders slowly, however with that I need to allocate more time to work on these projects. That is not easy for me to do right now with school and my day job.
Recently, a friend of mine has expressed interest in learning leatherwork as well. We've been discussing options to potentially create a line of local tourist products as we live in that kind of area. Just today I have finalized the patterns for some keychains and magnets! We're really excited to not just start making these, but we're planning on using a new dying trend called the shaving cream method. We think that these will be a hit! If you or someone you know may be interested in these, please let us know! If we get
enough interest, I may open them up for preorder.
These items will also be the first in our "Coastal Collection". As of right now, I'm only looking to sell these within the Bristol County area near us, However if people are interested enough I will list them on the site as well.
So by this point some of you may be wondering; "But Anthony, I thought you were planning on making game gear, or working towards making cosplay items?". To that I say, absolutely! I have actually already begun to work on my first outfit. I've chosen something that I feel is certainly middle of the road when it comes to my skill level, and combining my different skill sets. Additionally, this past year I have been honing my skills in leatherworking until I felt comfortable tackling a much larger scale project like a costume. My chosen cosplay is this:
This screen shot is from a well-known MMORPG called Wizard 101. This game, while mainly marketed towards children, was actually created with family gaming in mind. Many aspects of this game have intrigued me for years. The character you see here is one of my personal characters. It dawned on me one evening while playing with my friends that this particular set matched almost perfectly with the skull bag. Furthermore, I noticed that it was not very complex and I am certainly capable of creating it.
So here we have it. the first cosplay that I have decided to create. I have already purchased the material for the tabard and hood, and rough cut the pieces themselves. Still debating on how I'm going to do the lines of thorns throughout the piece. If you have any suggestions, please let me know!
Even though I'm working on this costume in between projects, I'm hoping to get it done before the end of this year.
I think this is a good catch-up on what this past year has entailed on my experiences. If you have any recommendations for local places that sell hand-made items, Please let me know below or in a chat message. Also, if you're interested in me potentially making Youtube videos of working on projects, or something like that please let me know. If you are not sure about something you would like to purchase, but would still like to contribute towards my journey, please consider checking out my Patreon link on the home page!
Until next time,
-Anthony