I’m offering some craft courses from home next year. Three different courses over nine different dates.
You can come along and learn to make a phone case, a book cover or a belt. I’ll provide the leather, cake and lunch, you bring your book, phone and trousers!
You can book on now (for you or someone else) by filling in my booking form. Head over to my website and click the Courses link.
This would also make a great Christmas or Birthday gift for someone!
More details on my website: https://morganleather.co.uk/leather-craft-courses/
Hi all, I’ve just launched a new pricing structure where you decide on what to pay me! Sounds mad? Well, maybe, yes, but I’m putting my faith in you, and everyone else I make things for. You’re all really nice people and I’m confident you’ll do what’s right!
I’m also doing this as a trial for just one product to start with. If it works then I’ll slowly roll it out for all my products.
So, I decided to try it with my billhook sheaths first. Here’s how it works…
Basically, I want to be fair to you and me, and offer different amounts that you can pay me. You decide how much! I appreciate that some people have more spare money than others, especially in the world of billhook users! And I find that most of these folk are really lovely people, so I can trust that you and them will choose the price that suits best.
Price 1 – The Lowest Price – If a customer doesn’t have much disposable income then they can choose this price. This covers material costs for me, plus enough for postage and my lunch! I get nothing for the hours spent cutting out, dying, sewing, etc. But that’s ok because I’m confident that someone else will help out by choosing a higher price!
Price 2 – A bit more
Price 3 – The Middle Price – This is the ideal price I’d like to sell my sheaths at. I think it’s fair and puts me and my customer as roughly equal-earners, based on material costs and the time it takes me to hand-make the item.
Price 4 – A bit more
Price 5 – The Highest Price – If I’m paid this amount I would be very grateful, as would those people who can only afford to pay the lowest price. The extra allows me to offer the lower price to, for example, hard-working coppice workers who earn very little for the good they are doing for woodland habitats! Thank you! It also helps me out a little more too. A bit like giving me a tip!
So, there you have it. What do you think? Makes sense? Still think I’m mad? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.
My billhook sheaths come in 4 different flavours. Here’s a link to them (and the new prices) in my Etsy store. I’d really appreciate you passing this on to anyone that may be interested.
Earlier this year I treated myself to a new letter stamp set!
I’ve been wanting one of these sets for a while now and finally decided to go for it. The letters are 7mm high and very clear. Cut from solid brass and amazing quality. Here’s a few examples:
So, if you’re looking to personalise a leather item with your name, initials or a quote, then I now have the means to do this neatly! Drop me a line if you’re interested.
It’s been a while since I last updated you. In fact I think it was January! The year continued to be really busy, helped by people locked-down and enjoying some online retail therapy! Orders finally quietened down around July, when shops began to open and people became more adventurous, leaving their houses to go on holiday. So Kath and I took the opportunity to switch my Etsy shop off, switch on the out-of-office auto-reply emails, pack up the van and head to the Scottish hills and lochs!
We found an amazing beach on the north coast of Scotland with hardly anyone about. Beautiful weather and blue seas. Absolute paradise and a well earned rest for both of us.
Enjoying views across to Skye and the Outer Hebrides in my newly refurbished deck chair, covered in leather, of course!
It didn’t take me long before I had to get some leather out though! Here I am stitching a patchwork notebook.
I finished making this patchwork notebook by a river in the Cairngorms. Such a beautiful and inspiring location!An amazing array of pebbles on a beach on the East coast.
Van life – we love it!
Can’t wait for our next trip…! I hope you all managed to get away somewhere nice this year.
And I’ll try my best to keep you more up-to-date with leather work, up-coming exhibitions, etc. Feel free to give me a kick if you’ve not heard anything from me in a while!
Whilst up in the Highlands of Scotland, north of Inverness, I met a man who manages 100 square kilometers of rugged mountains, forests, rivers and lochs. His name is Innes Macneill. A very knowledgeable and proud man of nature.
He saw my leather work and so sent his assistant to fetch his Spyglass. The challenge he had for me was to make a new case for it.
Both telescope and original case had lasted him 20 years but the case was starting to fall apart.
I love bespoke work so I was completely on board, even though there were a few unknowns I had yet to work out. The first challenge was working out how to mould the end pieces of leather to fit inside the tube.
Luckily he allowed me to take the old case and his spyglass away so I could make a new one to fit perfectly. This was a great honour, especially as he trusted me to take care of his precious instrument.
Innes uses his spyglass for sighting deer when stalking. The deer numbers need to be culled as there are no predators other than humans.
It is telescopic, with three sections sliding out, the last section allowing you to focus, giving a crystal clear view.
The second challenge was to learn how to line the inside with felt. I’ve never lined any of my work before so off to YouTube to find out how other people do it!
Once I’d worked out how I made a test piece, which I decided could be a dice cup (anyone want it?!)
Pleased with the result I started making the case from oak bark tanned British cow leather – a very traditional and rugged leather that will last for many years to come.
It took me two full days but I got there in the end. And what a pleasurable experience it was. I molded the ends by wetting circular pieces of leather and pushing them into the right-sized cup with a slightly smaller plastic bottle! Worked a treat!
Here’s the end result:
I made a short video to show you how it all fits together…
So, do you like what you see? Do you have an unusual leather need? Something you can’t just buy from the high street or Amazon? Drop me a line and I’d be happy to chat. Or maybe you also have a Gray & Company spyglass that needs a new case!
For the past 10 years I’ve been juggling my leather work with my office job in Preston. But finally all my hard work of building my leather skills and my leather work business has paid off, so I handed in my notice in July! Hooray!! I’m having to work my 3 months notice, so October 4th 2019 is my final day of working for the “man”! Can’t wait!
So, here’s where you come in. In order to make sure I can continue to feed my family I need my orders to continue to come in thick and fast. Please let people know about my work. Not only do I sell ready-made leather products but I also:
work with customers on bespoke items,
carry out repair work,
run courses on leather work, and
sell small pieces of leather for you to work with.
Here’s to a future of creating and making, rather than sitting in front of a computer screen all day long!
