Got my motorcycle out of storage after like 3 months. Bought it around then and haven't been able to find time to ride it much. Gonna try my hand at making a new seat for it this weekend. Does anyone have an experience with leatherworking? Not gonna mess around with tooling this time around but nervous about sewing and doing an overlapping seem/marking holes correctly. Comvinced work to take my off the schedule for 3 weeks. I have been traveling m-f pretty consistently for about 6 months now and am completely burnt out on it. Im tired of trying to build hobbies in a hotel room and I'm more tired of eating like shit. Gonna look for something with at least 50/50 travel/home balance or just something at a fixed location. If i cant find anything ill be back on the road in January. Lastly, been playing with the idea of a photo series of "Hands at Work". Would be what it sounds like, hands in action earning their income. I want to to focus on people between 20-30. I cant decide if i want to focus on an entrepenuership angle or go for the more bleak angle that includes retail/fast food and other shit jobs. I'm leaning towards the later. The goal would be to try to convey an encompassing look at what people from 20-30 do and the opportunities available. Doing something like Name (maybe leave that out) Job Rate of pay Benitiets Next to the photos would help with what im getting at.
Motorcycle lover: Yes. Leather lover: Yes. Degree in Fashion Design: Yes. Making a leather motorcycle seat: Absolutely not. Leatherworking is materials science, engineering, and magic. Try just making a simple belt. From a kit. You can do that in an afternoon. Now try making a faced leather belt (a fabric-backed belt, so your nice dress pants don't get stained). It'll take you a year. Making anything out of leather is more machining than sewing. You drill holes. You use "thread" that is closer to metal wire than fabric. But the leather stretches and deforms. And seams are INCREDIBLY difficult... and that is where ALL of your weight transfers to immediately, snapping the thread holding the seam together, and opening up a hole... that instantly expands and causes the two parts to come apart. Leather is a PITA. And a good motorcycle seat is a difficult thing to nail down...
Ayy, I'm following a guide that says about the thing when it comes to working with leather. Ive made a knife sheath before. Might try some smaller projects first though like you said to get properly prepared, got like 4 more months of cold weather so theres no rush. Gonna follow this guide for the seat which is pretty begginer friendly and in depth