So it begins . .

Welcome to Nate Dawg's Leather Craft.

I have been trying to start a blog for about a year now and nothing really got off of the ground.  But this might just work as I am really interested in there being a place on the internet for someone to look up and learn a little about leather craft without having to buy anything!

You see, if you look "leather craft" up on any search engine the first page is full of sites that are tied to Tandy Leather, eLeather Supply, another supplier of leather crafting items, or the items themselves being sold by some store or another.  Tandy has an excellent video how-to series on there store site that covers the majority of the basics.  This is a good starting point but from here you seem to only have two options: 1) Go on the new "Leather Library" site that Tandy has just put up and pay to get more detailed information.  This is a great resource for patterns and ideas but the video subscription seems a little high priced in my opinion.  OR 2) Find a local expert to teach you.  This can be hard as a local Tandy store, where you can find experts and classes fairly easily, is not located in every city.  The closest one to me is an hour away.  Many of you will be purchasing the supplies online specifically because you do not have a local store to shop in and really have no way of finding a local teacher.  (There is the third option of digging through the links and finding old how-to sites that look like they were hosted on Geocities circa 1998.  Leathercrafters are not known for their computer savvy.  This is where I come in.)

I wanted to create a site where you can come and learn a little bit about leather crafting.  I will go over the basics but I also plan on doing higher level projects that will get into advanced techniques.  Most importantly I want this to be a place where you don't have to be worried I'm going to try and sell you something.  I watched a majority of the Tandy Leather video series on their store site and I found myself asking the question, "Do I really need to do that step or are they just trying to get me to buy something else?"  What troubled me was that I found myself asking that question with almost half of the videos and most often the answer was, "No, they are trying to get me to buy something."  So here we are.  In the coming months more posts will appear that cover some leather craft basics.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me at: theslackjaw@gmail.com

Couple more things before I let you go.  First I wanted to let you know that I have been doing leather craft for over 15 years.  While I know a lot of the basics and some very advanced techniques I'm by no means Al Stohlman.  I will be learning along with you.  I plan on making items I want to make, with occasional input from my audience, and I hope by the end we will all have become better at this craft.

A final note.  These items I am creating are for my Etsy store, Nate Dawg and Bethyl Bug's.  Before you call foul saying I'm trying to sell you something I want to be clear, you can go there if you want or can ignore it.  Doesn't matter to me at all.  Everything I show you how to do on this site will probably go up on that store.  But the beauty is, I just showed you how to do it so you don't have to buy it from me.  Just go make it yourself!  But, if you are so inclined you are more than welcome to head over there and see what you like.  We have more than just leather stuff.  We do jewelry, cross stitch, photography, and leather.  We're probably going to add some more in the coming months.  So check it out if you are so inclined:

Nate Dawgs and Bethyl Bug's        

Thanks again and happy crafting!