Working Leather The Old Fashioned Way

I prefer to work with leather the old fashioned way. Starting with a nice large side of Full-Grain, Vegetable Tanned leather – which I then dye by hand. I make several passes with the dye, standing back to take a long look at the resulting color, then applying more as needed. The dye I use, I make myself…just as the earliest leatherworkers used to do. It is made entirely from vegetable matter and is non-toxic…that means I don’t need gloves and I can get my hands dirty – just the way it ought to be. Doing it all from scratch, and doing it all by hand takes longer, it’s quite a bit more work – but the results are worth it and I love every step of the way. Above I am hanging and inspecting a freshly dyed side, soon to be cut into wallets, cases and much more. Gotta love the smell of 24 square feet of leather!