Leatherworking with Common Household Objects

Craft & Design

I'm a word nerd who loves to geek out on how emerging technology affects the lexicon. I was an editor on the first 40 volumes of MAKE, and I love shining light on the incredible makers in our community. In particular, covering art is my passion — after all, art is the first thing most of us ever made. When not fawning over perfect word choices, I can be found on the nearest mountain, looking for untouched powder fields and ideal alpine lakes.

Contact me at snowgoli@gmail.com or via @snowgoli.

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May 11th, 2012

Seattle-based artist Tamara Clammer began teaching herself leatherworking in 2004, and today she makes an array of imaginative masks and accessories. As she writes on her website:

It didn’t make sense to anyone that I would buy expensive tools and supplies, rent a space, and have no idea how to use any of it. But it felt right, and I dedicated a lot of time and effort to figuring it out. I’m still figuring it out. And I expect to always be, because the ways to create with leather are limitless. Now that I’ve discovered a series of steps that always yields great results, I’m dedicated to teaching these steps to others.

Next weekend at Maker Faire Bay Area, Tamara will be providing a hands-on, interactive workshop space to teach people to make their own small leather creations using found and common household objects.