Prior to my mom's passing, she gave my her leather tools, (some of which had belonged to my grandfather). I recall, as a pre-adolescent, watching my mother work with leather. Oh she had many interests and was always working on some type of hobby. During her leather craze, my favorite uncle, J.T., (I can say that now since all of the other uncles have passed.) lived with us. He was 14 years of age
at the time. Mom made a belt for him, with his name on the back. He had loved that belt but over the years he had lost track of it. I held onto the leather tools, Mom had given me, out of sentiment. They were stored in a shoe box which was placed next to a change jar, in my home. Around 1998 our home burned to the ground. After the ashes cooled, I searched through the remains. What I found was a pile of melted coins, next to many, intact leather tools. I gathered what I could find. Over one hundred tools including, leather stamps, a swivel knife and some lacing punches, had survived. They went back into another shoe box, collecting rust over the years. As I approached retirement age, I began to wonder, "What am I going to do with my free time?" I had worked long hours throughout most of my career, so never had free time for a hobby or other interests. It was late spring of 2021 that I began to give some serious thought to this question and decided to "try" to put Mom and Grandpa's leather tools to use. After all, they survived a fire, when money did not! For my first project, I decided to make a leather belt for my favorite uncle, using veg-tanned leather. My granddaughter helped me with the design. I put my uncle's initials on the back of the belt, surrounded by a stamped and carved floral pattern. It turned out, "just okay" but I sent it to my uncle anyway. Since that first belt, I have slowly begun to develop a craving to create more. My retirement happened at the end of September 2021. Since that time, I have been working to make 'whatever I want' with leather! I truly believe that nothing happens by accident and, in this case, since those tools stuck with me through my lifetime, I was meant to try my hand at leather crafting. I think I like it!!
