I've been working on Squares of Leather to help tanners in Scotland get more use out of their excess leather stock.
A tannery can end up with leather made for a one-off, an experiment, an unusual colour or a client order that never goes ahead.
There can be plenty of material left over, without an obvious next use for it. We're trying to get that leather into the hands of people who can make something with it.
There are smaller offcuts too, which can be useful for practising cutting and stitching or trying out an idea. You don't need a whole hide to have a go at making a card holder.
DIY leather kits
We've been putting together DIY kits for things like card holders and wallets, alongside the leather itself. It's a way to give people a project to work on with the material, rather than leaving them to figure everything out from scratch.
Here are a few of the card holders and wallets, plus some of the cutting dies used to prepare the pieces.
The Glasgow show
I set up a stall at the Creative Craft Show at the SEC in Glasgow, with leather, DIY kits and finished examples on the table.
I'm planning to do more shows as we keep working on the project.
If you fancy making something yourself, have a look at the leather card-holder kit.
You can also watch the card-holder tutorial on YouTube, which is the video included above.
