Soft Leather

If youve read my other tutorials on snake hides youve seen mostly hard leathers and epoxy here i will show you what you need for soft leathers, this is a very short tutorial but hopefully it will be of some great

Contact cement, not rubber, contact cement this is some amazing stuff and if you want to make something you 100% need this. i use barge brand it costs about 30 bucks and comes with enough glue to last you a long long time. you can find it online or at a local leather show or leather shop, you may find other brands but be sure it is contact cement and not rubber cement, both are sold in industrial sizes however rubber cement is temporary this stuff is permanent.

that being said its industrial glue that's used to put new soles on the bottom of shoes... don't breath the fumes and try to keep it off your skin its kinda nasty stuff. this glue is a "brush in can" type, it is very flexible and is the same consistency as rubber cement, there are many spray on cements i have seen people use but ive never tried them.

at a recent leather show i had the privilege to meet Jerry van amburg, look at his work its amazing

http://www.vanamburgleathers.com/

he was kind enough to give me several exotic leathers for free, here i took my regular leather wallet (1st picture) cut off the outside face (2nd picture) and replaced it with shark leather (3rd picture) the final result is obviously my last picture.

i apologize for not getting more pictures of the process but you really didn't miss much the real key is to glue everything together with the cement wherever you can, and then sew around the edges to prevent it from tearing apart. the sewing is the hardest part here and im honestly not too great at it myself. when sewing through such thick leathers, it is best to grip the needle with pliers and pre-punch ever single hole before threading the needle there is a special tool for this called an awl, but im cheap like that. thread your needle using thick waxy thread if you have it, if not get your strongest stuff and double it, you don't want it breaking.

sorry for not being of too much help the main point to this is to glue first, wherever you can, then sew the edges, on less wearable product, such as my hatband, you can just fold and glue the hide into an even band, then give a few stitches were the two ends meet.

please leave suggestions for my next topic in the comment section, and sorry for not posting in such a long time, i kind of forgot about it with how busy ive been, but on the bright side i just graduated, so ill have much more free time!