Leather is associated with style, elegance and fashion. You can make beautiful craft works out of leather, retaining the same degree of elegance with application of simple techniques. Making bags, wallets, accessories, and then customizing them according to your own choices is a wonderful way to improvise your creative skills. Handicrafts made from leather are highly acclaimed all over the world owing to their traditional approach. Utilizing all these ideas together, you can create your own style statement by personalizing the leather accessories that you possess. Leather craft ideas are also associated with tailoring jackets, vests and hats. Knowing how to craft leather proves useful when you are utterly fond of leather goods. Sometimes kids are also assigned with the task of making simple leather crafts for their school project works. You can purchase those prepackaged kits from leather suppliers and carry out the decorative works with ease. If you are well acquainted with this art form, then you can collect the raw materials and cut the designs accordingly. Vegetable tanned tooling leather and animal skin derived leather should be moistened with water and cleaned properly before using. One side of the leather is always smooth while the other side is coarse and grainy. Both the sides should be thoroughly washed with water. Here we give you some craft ideas with leather. Bags, Wallets and Purses A handmade leather bag, clutch or a purse having ornate embellishment is probably the best gift for a loved one. A simple and elegant wallet personalized with a calligraphy looks chaste and aristocratic. So how would you make it?

• Purchase a kit that will contain the framework of the purse, bag or the wallet. The instructions for making these goods will be explained in the manual and you should follow them in a step-by-step manner. We have also provided you some leather crafting techniques in the next points.
• Start making the bag and attach the buttons, zippers and straps by following the technique provided to you. You can combine fancy straps with the leather pouch.
• You will require leather stamps and a calligraphy machine for engraving the designs. Traditional designs, borders and letters can be engraved on the bag with these tools.
• The other option is, sewing the design on the bag. You can stitch with a thick needle or use a stitching machine for carrying out the embroidery work.

Bracelets, Bands and Pendants Although, these are different types of jewelry but the basic technique of crafting is the same. You can cut the raw materials with a swivel knife according to the measurement taken by you. Then personalize the jewelry pieces as per your choice. Follow the ideas explained below to make beautiful leather jewelry.

• You will require bevelers of different sizes for creating various designs on the jewelry and a mallet for etching the design on it.
• Place the bevelers on the leather piece and strike it with a mallet. This way you will acquire the exact shape.
• Then punch holes on the ends of the bracelet or the band for passing a fancy string through the hole. Do the same thing on the pendant to wear it with a chain.
• You can also purchase a leather coloring kit for creating different tones on it. The other option is to glue laces, glitters, stones, beads and other types of decorative pieces on the jewelry.

Notebook Covers, Bookmarks and Diary Caskets Some of the best leather craft designs can be performed on notebook covers, diary holders and bookmarks. School going students are keen on doing such decorative works because their personalized notebooks, diaries and scrapbooks are their most prized possessions. Here we provide you some easy ways to craft leather for this purpose.

• Purchase a prepackaged leather kit and craft it out in the shape of diary cover, caskets or a bookmark. Stitch the ends of the cover so that your notebook is securely placed inside.
• Keep the vintage color of the leather or color it with stains. Create textures and designs on it with a leather carving machine. These arrangements should be done beforehand.
• You can carve flowers, human portraits, musical instruments or calligraph your favorite quotes or your name on it. The process is quite simple and you can do it easily with the machine.
• Fill the designs with leather stains and colors (acrylic, fabric) or leave it crude. Embellish it with silver or golden ribbons, laces and mirrors for an attractive look. You can also attach wooden or metallic buttons for enclosing the book covers or diary cases.

Some More Leather Craft Ideas Apart from these, you can knit many more ideas for giving a creative shape to the leather raw materials. Here are some more options that you can try to make.

• Belts
• Brooches
• Earrings
• Apparels
• Emblems
• Monograms
• Pouches
• Key chains

Explore your creative abilities and make some unique crafts of leather. I repeat once again, follow the instructions carefully before handling the machines and tools to avoid minor accidents or complications. You can also conceive the idea of selling your leather goods once you gain expertise in it. Till then enjoy the art of making leather crafts!