"Leatherizing" - What I didn't know I was looking for...

I've always been "artistic". I've drawn, painted, carved, worked with wood, and tried a few more esoteric mediums but always with only moderate success at best. I have cousins who can draw or paint things that look like they should come up off the medium and live. My mother paints in mostly oils and does the most beautiful work. I have an uncle for whom the English language molds itself around his thoughts to touch people deeper than they ever imagined. I knew "art" was in me, but it always seemed to be teasing me.

My sweet, lovely, and extremely patient wife has borne the ups and downs of my search for the creativity I knew was there, seemingly always just beyond my reach. She supported my ammo reloading, my woodworking, my knife-making; none of which really met my creativity needs. It was her encouragement in the knife-making that led me/us to discover leather work as the passion that met all our creativity needs. I had made a few knives, nothing spectacular, and found that my knives needed sheaths to make them complete. A custom knife deserves a custom sheath. We bought a few things we thought we needed to make a sheath and the immensely varied and endless world of leather work opened up to us. A vast, colorful, seemingly infinite world of creativity was right there.

I knew no one who worked with leather. There are no saddle makers in my local area. I didn't even know anyone who knew anyone who knew anyone who worked with leather. Thank goodness for YouTube. I think you can learn about anything on YouTube. Amy and I browsed for anything we could find about leather work. I could ramble on and on about the good and the bad of YouTube but let me cut to the chase and give credit where credit is due. There is a Texas saddle maker named Don Gonzalez who unknowingly fanned the flames of creativity in both Amy and me to such a degree that working with leather has become our "thing". We call it "leatherizing" for lack of a better word.

I started out making simple things like earrings. We quickly discovered that making things, and making things pretty were two entirely different things. As it turns out, my wife is more than just smart and beautiful, she's also a darn good painter with an eye for color and design. Who knew? She started putting color to my creations and suddenly they began to seem like so much more than just a piece of leather. She would have ideas for making this or that, and then more ideas for making "this or that" even better. She became the heart of our leatherizing.

A little over 9 years ago I made the incredibly brilliant decision to ask Amy to marry me. I had no idea how smart I was to make that decision, I just knew it was the right decision. As it turns out, I guess I'm a genius because it was the best decision ever. She has been beside me, encouraging me, building me up without ever letting me down through all we have been through. Now, she has made leatherizing "our thing". We have built our work area so that we sit side by side as I cut and tool while she paints and dyes. Recently she has started doing some of the sewing as well. Most impressively she has started creating and making products of her own design. Turns out, she's got a little "artist" in her as well.

This blog thing is new to us. Sharing doesn't come easily. Stick around and let's see if our leatherizing can inspire you to find what moves you.