Two Simple Leathercraft Projects for Beginners

If you're new to leathercrafting, here are two simple leathercraft projects that are great for beginners! In this video, Chuck goes over how to make a simple keychain and a stylish double wrap cuff. These are quick and easy projects that don't require a lot of different tools, and you can customize them with your choice of leather, hardware and more.
For a full list of supplies used in this video, visit: www.weaverleat...
0:47 One of the best things about leathercraft, in my opinion, whether we're working on a simple keychain or a briefcase, let's make it our own. Let's go with the hardware color we want, let's go with the shape, width, length, leather, so many possibilities. But let's go with just a simple keychain get a start. We're going to learn a couple of things on this. So on our pattern, I want to make a pattern for every project for two reasons. Well first off, let's make more of these and I hope we will, but secondly, if something on my project isn't just right, I know exactly what I did. I can come back to my pattern and correct that.
1:20 Now this is just simple poster board, makes a great pattern material. We'll talk about that in just a second, but let's start right here. So width wise, go any width you want. We're going to go with a three-quarter inch or about 1.9 centimeters lengthwise, and this will make sense, we're going five and a half inches or about 14 centimeters. Okay, on this end we're going to come in one half of an inch. Therefore my rivet isn't too close to the end, is going to be a good secure closure. Okay, so let's come in one half of an inch, about 1.27 centimeters. Right here we're going to have to loop around a split ring, so let's give that one and a half inches or about 3.8 centimeters. Well we've got that measurement, let's do the same thing again. One and a half down on this end, exactly the same thing as the other. Let's come in half of an inch and then one and a half inches. So all told, super easy pattern. Well hardware wise, so many options. What leather do we have in our shop and what would work best on that? Right there, the antique copper, that'd be gorgeous on say something along a burgundy or brown. We've got all kinds of gorgeous suedes that would be a beautiful combination. My favorite, antique nickel, but notice too we've got the matching rivets so we can tie this whole thing together. Or how about a clip? Let's do a split ring on one end and a clip on the other. Again, there's so many possibilities in leatherwork but let's keep it where it is.
2:50 Let's take our pattern, jump over to our main table, cut some leather. There are all kinds of ways we can cut and mark our leather. I'm going to go with a simple box knife. Blades are cheap, easy to replace and very sharp. I would say let's go with the new blade on every project. To mark we could use a pen, absolutely, or a pencil but a pen is going to be a mess. Let's go with simple, all that's going to mark our edges and our rivet holes. So right here, this is our Lexi Top Grain. Great thing about Weaver, we absolutely sell full sides and hides, but we also sell a number of our leathers in smaller panels. Makes it very affordable for us crafters. So let's start right here, let's make sure we've got a good square edge there, and with my square I'm going to come in three quarters of an inch and I'm just going to make a mark. Easy to see but that's very accurate compared to say, a pen. Okay, down here five and a half inches, let's make a mark and down here again, let's come in three quarters of an inch and make a mark right there. Okay, let's cut here. Notice how easy that leather cuts with new blade. Okay let's come down here and let's just cut right across. Well there we go. That's easy enough. Right, let's take our pattern and let's mark our rivet holes, and we can absolutely see that. Okay, let's jump over to our punch table, knock this together.
4:32 We're gonna go with a double cap rivet. It's the only rivet I use. We've got these in multiple sizes, multiple finishes, basically we've just got a cap and a post. But notice on our post, we've got a cap on the back so even the backside of our project looks very finished. That's what we're looking for. Now, the reason I bring this up now with our revolving punch, we've got one of the best punches in the business. Here's where we're going with this. So I want to use a smaller tube, here's why. So if we go with the largest tube on our revolving, what's going to happen is we've got a lot of play in that rivet. Well that's a pattern problem, things aren't going to line up for us. But the bigger issue, that's just not durable. It's not going to last. So let's go with a much smaller hole on a revolving punch. In fact, I'd like to go with either the smallest or the second smallest. So let's punch our holes. Well that's easy enough.