tooled scotland notepad cover

[Dreadhead]

This is my latest commission. the customer wanted a notepad cover for A5 notepads with a celtic heart and a thistle. this is what i came up with. 3-4mm veg tan leather with pigskin lining. hand tooled designs and all saddlestitched by hand. runes read 'sophie' the customers name. the notepad slides down into the cover securely. only thing im not really happy with is the tool marks left around the celtic heart but you live n learn

By wanderingpict at 2012-08-14

By wanderingpict at 2012-08-14

By wanderingpict at 2012-08-14

By wanderingpict at 2012-08-14

By wanderingpict at 2012-08-14

and a couple of WIP pictures. was so scared of messing this one up i wanted pictures pre-messed

By wanderingpict at 2012-08-14

By wanderingpict at 2012-08-14


thanks for looking
Hamish

 

[Robbi]

i like that very much ! well done mate.

 

[Dreadhead]

cheers mate that super sheen came in very handy

 

[Dreadhead]

out of curiosity how much would you fine people expect or be prepared to pay for something like this? as i am never too sure on how to price my work up and always end up practically giving it all away!

 

[Shewie]

Very nice Hamish

 

[Hugo]

Nice one Hamish, like that a lot.

 

[crosslandkelly]

Lovely work Hamish.

 

[bushwacker bob]

Thats Good. Is he French?

 

[abominable_scouse_monster]

out of curiosity how much would you fine people expect or be prepared to pay for something like this? as i am never too sure on how to price my work up and always end up practically giving it all away!

£50 easy, although as you know I like my stuff plane with no artwork on it.

 

[Dannytsg]

Nice work there.

 

[Man of Tanith]

Lovely stuff hamish

 

[CBJ]

That is cracking work mate,

very nice

atb
Craig

 

[Dreadhead]

thanks folks and french? no shes fae yorkshire strangely. but lives and works in scotland so i suppose the thistle is appropriate

 

[HillBill]

Very nice Hamish

 

[Pandabean]

Looks great and I love the tooling.

I have been meaning to make a notebook cover for sometime but can't work out what to do for a pocket moleskin pad. 3mm seems a bit thick but some goatskin I have seems ideal. Not got around to it yet, it is on the list of things I want to make though.

 

[Toadflax]

out of curiosity how much would you fine people expect or be prepared to pay for something like this? as i am never too sure on how to price my work up and always end up practically giving it all away!

Pricing is always a difficult one and, to some extent, it is what you can get away with - without being greedy. Depends also if you are trying to make a living, or just doing it as a hobby. My stuff ends up a bit like yours - you look at the work that has gone into it and think that it ought really to go for more. If I do a rough calculation of materials, plus time, I just about get a mimimum wage rate for the time I put in.

But in the end, it is what people will pay. And you can always ask yourself: would I pay that?



Geoff

 

[Dreadhead]

very true Geoff. i think its mainly because i dont want to take the P*** but leatherwork is my full time job at the moment. another problem is mixing friends with business as i always end up charging them for materials and doing the work for free half the time. im now beginning to realise just how much work i do put in and that i should be charging much more for what is all custom work

 

[Dreadhead]

Looks great and I love the tooling.

I have been meaning to make a notebook cover for sometime but can't work out what to do for a pocket moleskin pad. 3mm seems a bit thick but some goatskin I have seems ideal. Not got around to it yet, it is on the list of things I want to make though.

as this is the first one iv ever made i just used what leather i have. i think next time ill use 1-2 mm stuff. atleast this is pretty bombproof though!

 

[HillBill]

Such is the life of craftsmen these days

Its the same with knives, when you need to make a living, you need to make a living. I'd be more than happy to sell knives for quite a bit less, if i could guarantee enough work to cover the bills over the month. I don't mind grafting for a living.

 

[Dreadhead]

yeah im very lucky to have a woman thats supporting me otherwise i would be alot worse off. im only doing leatherwork fulltime as im not yet fit enough for proper work (in my line of work anyway which is countryside management) still recovering from operations n whatnot and have to seriously take it easy to pottering around with leather is about all i can do right now. but thats no excuse to charge a fortune for anything i just need to start pricing correctly for time and effort put into my work instead of giving it away for pennies