I wanted to share my experience of a 3-day course with www.half-goat-leatherwork.co.uk in case its of help to anyone looking for instruction - I was unsure where to go when I started looking. I hope its ok to post this here and the photo-heavy format is allowed.
I had previously enjoyed a 2-day intro elsewhere which had filled me with enthusiasm but I didn't feel ready to start making things at home. With this in mind Hamish put together a bespoke course which accommodated making items of my choice alongside introducing me to a variety of techniques and tools.
This included those I used to make the pieces I had chosen, as well as others such as more advanced dying techniques and decorating with modern and ancient tools. While I love plain leather, looking at the items in person I was struck by how much photographs do not do justice to the work of the man himself!
We covered a great deal, but it flowed naturally as we progressed each item from planning and pattern-making, to cutting and dyeing, preparing for and stitching, and finally finishing. Making several pieces was helpful since the repetition allowed each step to sink in and a little muscle-memory to develop.
Thrown in at no extra cost was an encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of leatherwork and ancient cultures of Britain. Along with guest appearances by Angus there were no dull moments!
Despite the novelty I was soon wielding sharp pointy things with confidence.
At the end of the 3 days I was totally delighted to have made a belt with keeper hand-stitched in to place, a phone case with card pocket each for me and him indoors, and a cutlery-roll to ensure fine-dining regardless of location. In addition to the completed items I had also tried a number of techniques as we went along using other pieces of leather.
A written guide to tools - what to get and where to source them - along with an invitation to call or email for assistance when needed means that you leave feeling ready to make progress. Most useful of all was that by the end my perspective had totally changed. Instead of wondering where I could get templates in order to make items I felt confident that I could plan and execute projects myself.
All in all the course was excellent value for money and very rewarding.
I had previously enjoyed a 2-day intro elsewhere which had filled me with enthusiasm but I didn't feel ready to start making things at home. With this in mind Hamish put together a bespoke course which accommodated making items of my choice alongside introducing me to a variety of techniques and tools.
This included those I used to make the pieces I had chosen, as well as others such as more advanced dying techniques and decorating with modern and ancient tools. While I love plain leather, looking at the items in person I was struck by how much photographs do not do justice to the work of the man himself!
We covered a great deal, but it flowed naturally as we progressed each item from planning and pattern-making, to cutting and dyeing, preparing for and stitching, and finally finishing. Making several pieces was helpful since the repetition allowed each step to sink in and a little muscle-memory to develop.
Thrown in at no extra cost was an encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of leatherwork and ancient cultures of Britain. Along with guest appearances by Angus there were no dull moments!
Despite the novelty I was soon wielding sharp pointy things with confidence.
At the end of the 3 days I was totally delighted to have made a belt with keeper hand-stitched in to place, a phone case with card pocket each for me and him indoors, and a cutlery-roll to ensure fine-dining regardless of location. In addition to the completed items I had also tried a number of techniques as we went along using other pieces of leather.
A written guide to tools - what to get and where to source them - along with an invitation to call or email for assistance when needed means that you leave feeling ready to make progress. Most useful of all was that by the end my perspective had totally changed. Instead of wondering where I could get templates in order to make items I felt confident that I could plan and execute projects myself.
All in all the course was excellent value for money and very rewarding.
