u/JXuKitty

Hello! Not sure if anyone's following along, but I've been on a journey to recreate this object: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGlU0QwZrv8 as a complete newbie! I had never worked with leather prior to starting part 1.

Part 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/Leathercraft/comments/1umwjfm/my_first_leather_project/

Part 2: https://www.reddit.com/r/Leathercraft/comments/1vhlj0g/first_leather_project_v20/

I started out by making a couple iterations of the keychain that HahnAtelier makes at the end, after which I felt confident enough to make the main body!

Things I acquired:

• 85 piece leather tool kit - $50 https://a.co/d/0aC2bBnt
• Fiebing's Leathercraft Cement - $9
• Shkira 2,2 lbs Genuine Brown Leather Scraps  - $9 (my interpretation of what HahnAtelier calls"split leather")
• Eva foam - $7
• 1mm PVC foam - $13
• 1000 jump rings - $11
• uniters edge primer and paint - $21.30
• small japanese planer for leather - $17 (used this to jankily skive the leather, but I'd avoid this if possible)
• Tandy Veg-Tan Single Shoulder Dark Brown $67
• Rocky mountain Plonge Protected - Luxury Lambskin Chocolate - $75 (not very happy with these people but that's a different story)
• Not super necessary:
  • beeswax - $6.50 (not sure if this was necessary, but I think it might have helped)
  • paraffin wax - $7.50
  • bick4 - $11

Things I already had:

• 3D printer - printed out the hershey's stamp and also a variety of helpful tools to assist with shaping/pricking etc.
• calipers
• small circular neodymium magnets
• awl
• random-af wood to use as a vice
• a regular printer to print out some guides
• random af cloth to use as support (?) idk

Things I wish i'd had:

• a stitching pony
• 0.7 mm thick leather (instead of arduously planing my Tandy leather)
• a boxcutter or something a little stronger than the exacto-knife to cut the leather
• a sharpening block
• bontex? support material with adhesive
• a better edge beveler (I think the one that came with the amazon kit isn't great)
• european-style pricking irons instead of the diamond chisels that came with the kit
• a sharper awl? some kind of better mechanism for making the holes go all the way through. I think I needed some kind of cork/ or pound-o-pad?
• a piece of granite to to skive on

50+9+9+11+7+6.50+7.50+13+11+21.30+17+67+75 = $304

The whole project including all parts probably only took $15 of the lambskin (I used it pretty inefficiently) and about $30 of the veg tan single shoulder

I spent a little under 2 months doing this (in my free time). Officially started June 25, 2026, maybe did a bit of studying and planning for 2 weeks prior. It did take part of my life force directly.

If people are interested I could potentially publish a more comprehensive study, but honestly I probably did many things wrong, so it's best to refer back to HahnAtelier's original youtube video, even thought it's not actually a tutorial.

But yeah, the janky amazon toolkit can get you pretty far!!!

ETA: https://limewire.com/d/cyGGY#03sA6CCxxo - link to hershey's bar stamp!

I just wanted to share an experience I had. I made the mistake of buying a final sale lambskin from Rocky Mountain Leather Supply.

The "Chocolate" color is VERY off.

 If you look closely, the pictures provided are not actually of the real product, since some of the different colors have completely identical fold and crease patterns that overlay exactly in the images, implying that the advertised images have simply been color manipulated to match the expected color. This borders on false advertising, IMO. 

Support just gaslights me by saying "leather is a natural material and the actual color can vary from hide to hide". I bet there's not a single hide that matches the fake image they use to advertise this product.

Also I think they suppress negative reviews on their website so everything looks like it's a 5* product.

Would NOT recommend.

Hello! I posted 1.0 some time back https://www.reddit.com/r/Leathercraft/comments/1umwjfm/my_first_leather_project/

and got some great advice! It helped tremendously with version 2.0, so thank you guys!

If y'all have any more of that advice it would be greatly appreciated.

2.0 went better than expected and I think I plan to try and make a whole Hershey's bar clutch.

inspo video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGlU0QwZrv8

I am using a $50 kit off amazon that came with "85 tools". They are obviously not great but honestly work better than expected.

To achieve the whole project, I've upgraded to a japanese planer for skiving the leather (janktastically), and acquired some edge paint.

what else should I get? I was wondering about maybe getting european style pricking irons? The diamond chisels I have seem kind of jank.

I waited patiently for all my pieces to come in before posting!!!! I learned about Radley shortly after my kiddo was born (late 2025) in the year of the snake!!! I was too late to snag the snake lunar new year bag, but they were still selling them on Taobao, so I managed to get one!

I was devastated to hear that Radley was shutting down, so I spent like $800 over the last 2 months or so grabbing what I could 🤪🤪🤪

- Love you lots cross-body - not going to lie, my head was spinning when I opened this bag, it was so cute
- midnight wanderer long wallet
- lunar new year 2025 bag
- love you lots medium wallet
- spring blooms tote
- small Golborne
- lunar new year wallet (2025, snagged off depop)
- to the moon small flapover
- 4 unopened wallets that I plan to gift people (haha slightly regret these)

LOVE:
- LNY 2025 bag and wallet - I might go crazy and try and find the whole set.
- Love you Lots cross body - honestly thinking of getting another

Like a lot!
- midnight wanderer long wallet
- to the moon small flapover

Could have passed:
- small golborne - bought it for the unique shape but it isn't quite my style. I should have just saved up for the coach empire 21 that I wanted.
- love you lots wallet - the bag is way cutuer.
- spring blooms - love the details, but it's a bit blocky and square

STILL IN CART:
- midnight wanderer crossbody (I'm crazy, I know I know, but I call my husband my turtle, so it seemed super perfect)
- July 4th tote (will probably pass since I didn't like the spring blooms tote and it's the same shape)

SUPER sad that I only discovered this brand as they were closing out/rebranding!!

My previous post was deleted for some reason, but I've been looking into this issue I've run into where my jing andiamo is pretty but clearly not real leather!

Here are two additional posts where the bag depicted or discussed suggests that jing andiamos are not real leather!

- I found another redditor's post which shows the same regular fiber pattern from a Baobao/jing factory andiamo, so I guess they're all like this? https://www.reddit.com/r/LuxeLife/comments/1kxz3os/andiamo_review/

- here's another redditor claiming their Jing bag is not leather https://www.reddit.com/r/RealRepLadies/comments/1v1s215/thoughts_after_seeing_authentic_bottega_loewe_and/

I have an extremely odd error error in my prints where it appears that the bottom 2.5 mm of each print is randomly stretched in the X dimension. It stretches 2 mm too far to the right of the print but it's symmetric and the left side of the print is perfectly aligned. It spontaneously and immediately resolves after the first 2.5 mm.

the red arrow points to the bottom/errored dimension, and I circled the spot I assume this error happens at. The top half of the print is perfect. Also note the left side of the print is also perfect.

This error doesn't occur when I print a calibration cube (sliced at medium quality). 

What could be causing this? Did I mess up some print quality setting I don't know about?

I was inspired by a YouTube video I saw by Hahn Atelier. Honestly, I would be completely broke if he sold the pieces that he made. But I really really had to have this one so I took matters into my own hands…….

I have literally no other leather crafting experience, but I do have a 3-D printer in my house. I did a test run on a leather sample from Rocky Mountain just to make sure I would be able to imprint the Hershey’s onto the leather using the 3-D printed mold. and then for the rest of it, I just purchased the $40 Chinese garbage tool set off Amazon and did my best to make it work.

What do you guys think? Any recommendations for how I could improve?

Sorry if this photo isn’t clear enough, this tick was like the size of a grain of salt. I walk through some grass and got like 10 of them on my foot crawling around

Any idea what species it is?

I live in central NJ.

This guy always ends up in my room. I let him out like once a week.

I saw one of these guys last summer, and he didn’t show up all winter but now it seems like he or one of his buddies is back.

Should I be worried about a nest in my walls???

I live in central NJ!

Seller: Nina (9172) - I didn't tell her I was writing a review, and probably won't so I can give my honest opinion.

Factory: Qiu

Cost for both: $340 = $210 + $95 + $35 shipping

Timeline:

• (5/21) Requested info on several potential purchases. Took a couple back-and-forths to figure out what was in stock and how much shipping would be
• (5/23) paid
• (5/31) I requested an update. She responded same day saying she'd send later
• (6/1) PSPs sent, GL same day
• (6/4) requested tracking
• (6/5) tracking sent
• (6/14) bag received!

The good:

• ALJLS DFKLSDK FLKDSJLKF DSF THEY ARE SO CUTE AND SOFT!!!!
• I have a medium puzzle, super cheap, and I thought I just didn't like puzzles, but the handfeel makes a lot of difference!
• I have no idea what tier these are, but the details are all there!
• I was dying when I opened them!!

The bad (EXTREMELY nitpicky. Overall I loooooveee these :<<<<< <3)

• This bag smells pretty bad. My dad says that's just the way some leather smells but ugh. I hope it wears off soon.
• I'm just slightly concerned about how well the tiny feet on the wallet will hold up.
• the leather flap kinda tilts upwards a bit more than expected
• Some of the leather inlay on the wallet separates a bit. I'll make a 1 yr update on this if I remember!
• The zipper end loewe engraving looks hella sus.

The seller:

• I contacted both Nina and Aline (8005). Aline was cheaper (by $17 on the puzzle and supposedly $8 on the wallet, but when I went to pay she said the wallet wasn't in stock). However, when I asked she did not clearly outline her seizure policy, so I decided against going with her. She also did not have the wallet, which was the must-have item for me.
• Nina was pretty curt. She did respond quickly after I paid though! If I hadn't seen several reviews of her, I probably wouldn't have gone with her. She got the job done and I would definitely recommend her!

I loooooveee these pieces!!!! I'm so grateful to the community for helping me get them without needing to blow a years' spending money.

The mini size is sooo cute but I may need to get another in small hahahahahaha <3

I'm somewhat new to this and my last PSP check was really useful <3

Do these PSPs look good??

Thanks!!!

I'm somewhat new to this and my last PSP check was really useful <3

Do these PSPs look good??

Thanks!!!