Good Morning all y'all.. Welcome to KosKraft, Issue 16.
This Group is for all those creative kossack artisans, plying away at their benches. If you make things, please join, and maybe give us a look at your work.
After the orange thingy.
Not much this week. Made some wallets, holsters, and belts. Bread and butter stuff keeps the shop lights on.
I did play around with livestream and ustream to see if I could stream from the shop for you, but it seems I'm too far away, out here, from the router in the house to get good play. If anyone has a recommendation on hardware to improve that, let me know.
I did make some new friends in far away places. One was in Asia. I sent something they ordered, and they liked it a lot. The same thing in a closer to home from the NorthEast. When I get lots of emails from customers, it generally means they are very pleased. Kinda makes it all worthwhile. If you think just commissioning from artists and craftsmen is supporting them, think again. On the whole we really are sensitive people, even when our persona is that of a grumpy old curmudgeon like me...lol.
Still working on that minimalist line. Go on any fashion oriented forum, and you'll see this "naked" leather thing going on. Mostly I get depressed cause I see belts that have been stripped off of hides with no edges burnished, no oils, or top coats, etc. I see wallets and accessories being made the same way. Basically the craftsman has done little work to merit the expensive price they have put on their products. And people eat it up...sheesh. It takes me a good 45 -60 minutes to make a plain belt. Beveling, burnishing, and waxing the edges takes time and elbow grease. It's a sign the craftsperson cares. Throw in 15 minutes of hand sewing, and you have a simple belt that actually means a whole lot more.
Here's a little guitar strap I don't think I showed you.
And, just for fun, here's an old pic I found from my first years in leather smithing. Probably around 1973.
Well, that's all for now.
All Kossack Artisans are welcome to join the group, just send me a PM.
In the meantime, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the
KosKatalog. They do yeoman's work in there, and it's about as business close to supporting "local" as you can get on the inter tubes.
Another crafty place to hang around...
WAYWO
my links:
Rocky River Leather Co.
Facebook