Valerie Schafer Franklin - Idiots Guides: Leather Crafts

Publisher: Mike Sanders

Associate Publisher: Billy Fields

Acquisitions Editor: Nathalie Mornu

Development Editor: Ann Barton

Cover and Book Designer: Becky Batchelor

Photographer: Erin Berzel

Prepress Technician: Brian Massey

Proofreader: Laura Caddell

Indexer: Johnna VanHoose Dinse

PRODUCTION, LONDON

Digital Producer: Alex Valizadeh

Senior Digital Producer: Miguel Cunha

DIGITAL OPERATIONS, DELHI

Head of Digital Operations: Manjari Hooda

Producer: Rahul Kumar

Assistant Editor: Etika Kapil

Operations Assistant: Tauhid Nasir

First American Edition, 2016
Published in the United States by DK Publishing
6081 E. 82nd Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46250

Copyright 2016 Dorling Kindersley Limited

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eISBN: 9781465450630

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 20155954783

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idiotsguides.com

No one likes a know-it-all. Most of us realize theres no such thinghow could there be? The world is far too complicated for someone to understand everything there is to know. So when you come across a know-it-all, you smile to yourself as they ramble on because you know better.

You understand that the quest for knowledge is a never-ending one, and youre okay with that. You have no desire to know everything, just the next thing. You know what you dont know, youre confident enough to admit it, and youre motivated to do something about it.

At Idiots Guides, we, too, know what we dont know, and we make it our business to find out. We find really smart people who are experts in their fields and then we roll up our sleeves and get to work, asking lots of questions and thinking long and hard about how best to pass along their knowledge to you in the easiest, most-accessible way possible.

After all, thats our promiseto make whatever you want to learn As Easy as It Gets. That means giving you a well-organized design that seamlessly and effortlessly guides you from page to page, topic to topic. It means controlling the pace youre asked to absorb new informationnot too much at once but just what you need to know right now. It means giving you a clear progression from easy to more difficult. It means giving you more instructional steps wherever necessary to really explain the details. And it means giving you fewer words and more illustrations wherever its better to show rather than tell.

So here you are, at the start of something new. The next chapter in your quest. It can be an intimidating place to be, but youve been here before and so have we. Clear your mind and turn the page. By the end of this book, you wont be a know-it-all, but your world will be a little less complicated than it was before. And well be sure your journey is as easy as it gets.

Mike Sanders
Publisher, Idiots Guides

To our parents, Michael J. Franklin and
Lindsay and Carol Anne Schafer, for teaching us that
anything is possible.

About the Authors

Geoffrey Franklin and Valerie Schafer Franklin are the husband-and-wife team behind Walnut Studiolo, a small family business making and selling original leather goods for cycling, sins, and style. With a background in art and design from the University of Oregon School of Architecture, Geoffrey is the designer and maker of Walnuts growing product line. Valerie is a freelance writer and manages the business and marketing of Walnut, drawing on her degree in anthropology from Indiana University and her professional experience in business and nonprofit management. They live in Oregon with their burly cat, Huskey. Learn more about Geoffrey and Valerie at walnutstudiolo.com.

Contents

Introduction

Until recently, leathercraft seemed to be a dying art, but these days, leather is in fashion. The old-timers have retired and given up their toolsets, and the new generation is crafting leather with a clean, modern style and a beginners eye. Few are lucky enough to find a master to learn from, so their style is completely different. Nearly all are self-taught.

Thats how we got started. In 2009, Geoff began bicycle commuting to work in Portland, Oregon. When he had ideas for bike products he couldnt find, he decided to make them for himself out of leather. Geoff chose leather because it is strong, versatile, flexible, and durable, and because the bicycle is the modern horse. He was familiar with leather from growing up with horses on the family ranch outside Pendleton, Oregon, and was inspired by bikes from the golden age of cycling, whose Italian leather bar wraps look as good now as they did in the 1920s. He had no one to teach him leathercraft, but he knew design as a graduate of the architecture school, and fabrication as an artist.