When somebody matches my humour and general outlook on life, typical british style with a dose of self deprecation and sarcasm on otherwise serious topics.

I mean, a lot of damage was done pretty much all over the town, Croydon was on fire and was recorded. I think that might be a step to far for me to believe.

I do get it but I also did find it really sad and upsetting when in the aftermath I saw a little independent sewing machine shop in Croydon that had their frontage smashed and all their stuff stolen or destroyed.

Was at a customer site all day yesterday desperately trying to find out why the analyser was sending garbled data to our system to keep our go live date on track. Very much the blind leading the blind, randomly swapping cables, adapters and magic boxes but we got the thing working at the last possible second!

Ive started using Microsoft todo so it combines with this approach

This is the saddle stitching tutorial I was talking about - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIGT_RXi8ZM - there are plenty of tutorials that do it the more “traditional” style with a stitching pony, a stitching awl and pricking irons, that really isn’t necessary for beginners.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/317041430785 is the kind of mallet I’m referring to, perfectly decent for the job and the price is more than acceptable.

For a decent tool quality-price balance for beginner stuff the “Wuta” branded stuff from China seems pretty decent - available on aliexpress or ebay - recommended for stuff like stitching chisels. Otherwise you roll the dice and get unbranded and unknown soft stuff that are instant paperweights or you are looking on the expensive professional side of things.

There are normally plenty of stores online that can help with a starter kit, you do tend to get quite a markup on it, most of the tools I realised were in my kit were just that - the mallet I linked above is less than £5 online but sold for £18 by the place I did the workshop at.

It looks like it is indeed dead…

Sorry im bad at lemmying still, !sidehustles@leminal.space does that work? Maybe the community already died and i can only see it through my local one?

I enjoyed Code Vein and that has a rifle as a weapon option.

Maar is de cuckstoel nog vrij?

https://leminal.space/c/Sidehustle. I seem to be the only one who joined after seeing it in new communities. I don’t have much to contribute to it just yet as sonebody who wants to have a side hustle but isnt ready to start planning but i was hoping it might kick off with some discussions and info i could start absorbing from in the meantime.

That’s me! Thank you, im actually quite proud of that one! I actually attended a taster course which was about 4 hours at a local leatherworking supply place where we made a card holder. If you can find one I’d recommend it, it is very hand holdy and you get a nice item at the end of it.

They supplied the tools and after gave us a big deal on buying the stuff we used, which i used for quite a few little projects before looking into other tools and hardware like rivets and fasteners.

So what I would suggest as a mimimum:

• Stitching chisels for making holes - I like the slanted french style but diamond is also good
• Craft knife or scalpel and plenty of spare blades
• Metal ruler
• Scratch awl - for marking on the leather directly
• Leather needles - i.e blunt tipped
• Thread - 0.6-1mm waxed polyester, cheap chinese ones on aliexpress or ebay is all I use
• Mallet for hitting the chisels - i use a nylon round headed one with a short handle but any is good so long as it isnt metal
• Self healing cutting mat
• Poundo board - a thick rubber mat that wont damage your chisels
• Edge burnisher
• Glue - you can get some fancy stuff but I started with a big tin of standard contact adhesive from my local diy store
• Fine grit sandpaper
• Card - for tracing patterns onto, stuff from a parcel will do
• A pattern - i found a load on ‘Makesupply’ such as this simple card holder - https://projects.makesupply.co/templates/make-a-folded-leather-card-holder-free-template-build-along-video-tutorial/

You dont need to spend much money at all, most can be found super cheap. The chisels should be a bit more, avoid the mega cheap chinese cast things and get a set around the £15-20 ($20-25) mark and they will do a good job.

As for the leather, look around for suppliers that do offcut boxes (even better if you can visit in person). All of my stuff so far has been made exclusively from offcuts.

On my phone atm but i can send a few links later. I would recommend watching corter leather on youtube as his stuff is easy to follow and isnt on the full old style cordwaining and saddlers type work which, as a beginner, is too much. His saddle stitch tutorial is particularly good.

Thank you! I’ve always kind of been interested in making stuff but really struggled to find the right one for me - one where I could do the actual activity but also get my own creativity involved rather than only following patterns or other designs and I feel ive really found it.

I’m ok, just stress from work and life in general… Hot water died, house needs sorting out etc, just boring life things piling up in existing insecurities and stresses.

Im still scarred by my english teacher enthusiastically reading certain scenes of Equus to the class.

Monster hunter world, by a long way

Honestly I’m still in a rough place and I know I’m being a bit one-dimensonal with what I keep posting about but my relatively new found hobby in leatherworking is really making me happy. Its not just the fun and fulfillment of designing and making something but I’ve had so many nice comments on my work from so many people, family, friends, internet strangers and even from professionals who have praised me on the designs and execution to the point where they expressed interest to work with me and my patterns. I even made a new friend from it, an older lady whom I keep in frequent contact with over email about things we are making.

It has been my dream for a while now to have a side hustle with this and this feels like a good first potential step into that world.

I think generally if somebody does this genuinely they are politely told the rules but then some feel hard done by and start whining about it.

Ohh, right, I’m British, didn’t think of the American use of the word. i.e. I would call what you are referring to, a handbag - a purse wouldn’t have straps, typically “purse” just means what women tend to carry money and cards in, regardless of exact style, compared to what men use which is a wallet. You would find that one would often carry a purse within their handbag.

No? I’ve made a wallet once as well but typically they fold and are flat.

I don’t really go in on proper perfume much but I do enjoy a quick body mist spritz, I normally have a small bottle in my bag if I want to refresh it. I do find some body mists can be a bit aggressively fruity like walking into Claire’s Accessories circa 2004, I mostly like stuff thats a bit vanilla mixed with some floral notes. At the moment I’m using Impulse’s Purple Petals + Smoky Sky, which is a fairly heavy floral one which they claim is “jasmine and white gardenia blended with a hint of fresh nectarine”, I found it in Sainsburys. Thankfully they are super affordable compared to perfume so whilst there might not be a tester it doesn’t hurt the bank if you don’t like it.