I stumbled upon Artisans on Instagram and liked the look of their leatherwork kits so decided to treat myself to one. They have created lots of kits to encourage people to have a go at leather craft in an easy accessible way. I really love this idea as leather is definitely a craft that seems difficult and intimidating to get into, but these kits make it easy with clear instructions and simple projects that you don’t need any specialist equipment for.
I chose the simple card holder kit as I thought I would be most likely to make use of this after completing the project. Included in the box was:
- Leather pieces x5
- Burnishing cloths x3
- Waxed thread x4 (black, brown, white, red)
- D-ring
- Key ring
- Clips x2
- Needles x2
Not only were the pieces for the card holder included, but there were also components to make a key ring as well. They also very generously provided four colours of thread so you could choose to personalise the card holder how you wanted. I actually decided to go for the brown thread so it wouldn’t stand out from the leather, but I think any of the colours would look nice. I used black for the key ring.
There were basic instructions included in the box about how to thread the needles and create a saddle stitch, finishing off and burnishing the edges. The main instructions for this specific kit were accessible via a QR code and they were very easy to follow with clear photos. The only slight problem I had was the thread was quite short at the end, which made it a bit difficult to deal with when finishing off. It would have been helpful to have started with a longer length, even if that meant a little more wastage when trimming the excess off.
The only leatherwork I’ve done before is making trainers with a SneakerKit during a workshop, so this was quite a nice introduction to using leather at home. I have another leatherwork kit waiting to be done which is a bit larger and requires some special tools which I will need to buy before I start, however I am looking forward to giving it a go now. This card holder kit cost £25, but the products on the website range from £15 – £70.