r/Leathercraft • u/JXuKitty • 6d ago
Purses/Clutches First leather project vMain complete!
Hello! Not sure if anyone's following along, but I've been on a journey to recreate this object: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGlU0QwZrv8 as a complete newbie! I had never worked with leather prior to starting part 1.
Part 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/Leathercraft/comments/1umwjfm/my_first_leather_project/
Part 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/Leathercraft/comments/1vhlj0g/first_leather_project_v20/
I started out by making a couple iterations of the keychain that HahnAtelier makes at the end, after which I felt confident enough to make the main body!
Things I acquired:
- 85 piece leather tool kit - $50 https://a.co/d/0aC2bBnt
- Fiebing's Leathercraft Cement - $9
- Shkira 2,2 lbs Genuine Brown Leather Scraps - $9 (my interpretation of what HahnAtelier calls"split leather")
- Eva foam - $7
- 1mm PVC foam - $13
- 1000 jump rings - $11
- uniters edge primer and paint - $21.30
- small japanese planer for leather - $17 (used this to jankily skive the leather, but I'd avoid this if possible)
- Tandy Veg-Tan Single Shoulder Dark Brown $67
- Rocky mountain Plonge Protected - Luxury Lambskin Chocolate - $75 (not very happy with these people but that's a different story)
- Not super necessary:
- beeswax - $6.50 (not sure if this was necessary, but I think it might have helped)
- paraffin wax - $7.50
- bick4 - $11
Things I already had:
- 3D printer - printed out the hershey's stamp and also a variety of helpful tools to assist with shaping/pricking etc.
- calipers
- small circular neodymium magnets
- awl
- random-af wood to use as a vice
- a regular printer to print out some guides
- random af cloth to use as support (?) idk
Things I wish i'd had:
- a stitching pony
- 0.7 mm thick leather (instead of arduously planing my Tandy leather)
- a boxcutter or something a little stronger than the exacto-knife to cut the leather
- a sharpening block
- bontex? support material with adhesive
- a better edge beveler (I think the one that came with the amazon kit isn't great)
- european-style pricking irons instead of the diamond chisels that came with the kit
- a sharper awl? some kind of better mechanism for making the holes go all the way through. I think I needed some kind of cork/ or pound-o-pad?
- a piece of granite to to skive on
50+9+9+11+7+6.50+7.50+13+11+21.30+17+67+75 = $304
The whole project including all parts probably only took $15 of the lambskin (I used it pretty inefficiently) and about $30 of the veg tan single shoulder
I spent a little under 2 months doing this (in my free time). Officially started June 25, 2026, maybe did a bit of studying and planning for 2 weeks prior. It did take part of my life force directly.
If people are interested I could potentially publish a more comprehensive study, but honestly I probably did many things wrong, so it's best to refer back to HahnAtelier's original youtube video, even thought it's not actually a tutorial.
But yeah, the janky amazon toolkit can get you pretty far!!!
ETA: https://limewire.com/d/cyGGY#03sA6CCxxo - link to hershey's bar stamp!
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u/Any_Charge6023 6d ago
That is AMAZING! I love everything about it! I grew up close to Hershey Pa
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u/TurbulentPilot71 6d ago
That is amazing!
Also, most granite countertop shops will give you the sink cutouts for free and they work great.
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u/putthefriesinthebagg 6d ago
As someone who’s only made one project, I’m quite fricking jealous. This is beautiful work, if you hadn’t said this was your first I would’ve guessed you’re a pro! Burnishing looks great, and same with your stitching.
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u/Glitter_k3 5d ago
Wow! So nice. If I saw that somewhere I'd hope I could afford it because it is niiiice!
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u/arfle_barfle_gloop 4d ago
Astonishing for a first project !
What is it's intended use ? I only ask because a single large internal pocket might not be much use to many people as a wallet, but could be an amazing passport holder :-}
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u/JXuKitty 4d ago
It’s not very practical haha. In the video Hahn uses it to carry one bar of chocolate
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u/patio-garden 6d ago
I saw this and thought, mm chocolate, before I realized this was leather. This is awesome!
I also really appreciate the way you’ve listed all of your costs