We wrote a book! 20+ DIY leather craft projects

A Black woman wearing a denim shirt is carrying a bicycle down a set of stairs in an urban environment. The bicycle has a green paint job and honey leather wrapped handlebars.

Original, unique designs to help with lifting and carrying your bicycle

Lifetime leather bar wraps in five styles for every type of handlebar and bicycle

A woman bicycling on a bright summer day over a green lawn wearing suede fringe cowgirl boots and with a 6-pack of Anchor Steam beer connected to the top tube of her bicycle with a honey leather 6-pack frame cinch

Best-selling "commuter essentials" for making the daily commute easier

A dark brown leather round, barrel-shaped saddle bag with cedar wood sides mounted to the back of a brown leather Brooks saddle on a cream-and-brown painted bicycle

Stunning handcrafted bicycle bags carry the essentials and turn heads!

Two people playing a game of travel cribbage on a wooden picnic table with a small leather and birch cribbage board

Our original best-selling Travel Cribbage Boards have fans worldwide

Two sets of travel dice on a dark brown leather table surface. Both sets show six dice coming out of a square brass tube. The dice are 7mm, smaller than standard. One has white dice and the other has black dice.

Play dice anywhere you go in a handcrafted brass keychain or necklace.

Two people playing dominoes using small, domino-sized playing cards on a walnut wood table with snacks and drinks. The domino cards are double 12 with different colors for each number and hand-drawn.

Uniquely functional for travel: hand-drawn domino playing cards (2 sizes!)

Close-up of a folding leather travel backgammon board mid-play on a weathered wood surface. A hand is reaching in and moving four game pieces (which are brass nails) between triangles, which are laser-engraved in the honey dyed leather. Accessories are visible, dice and doubling cube and peg storage

Our newest folding leather board and favorite game: Travel Backgammon!

A variety of handcrafted leather and wood handles on a sample board as seen from above and an angle

Leather handles in 8 styles, 4 leather colors, and 3 metal finishes

A white chest of drawers in a white and lilac baby nursery with three colors of leather Morrison bin pull handles, in Honey, Dark Brown, and Black

Strong yet soft, durable and sustainable, no-bumps and no-bruises

A white kitchen drawer under a gray countertop that has a natural tan colored leather handle with nickel hardware and an engraved label that says 'Silverware'

Add a label to handles and pulls for superior organization

Two cabinet doors swinging open towards each other with matching leather Lovejoy loop handles. The leather touches so the cabinets don't crash into each other, a solution for problem corners in kitchen design planning

Flexible but sturdy, creative solutions to tricky problem corners

A roll of natural leather on a white background

We wrote a free educational series about our favorite material, delivered to your inbox.

Valerie and Geoff from Walnut Studiolo are standing on a pile of driftwood between two boulders on the North Oregon Coast beach near Manzanita, with mountains and grey sky in the background

About Us

A long dark brown leather blueprint tube is shown on a long countertop being hand stitched together by Geoff, whose stitching hands are in the background

More Information

Valerie and Geoff Franklin of Walnut Studiolo standing behind their bicycles on a grassy green lawn. Geoff is doffing his hat to Valerie and she is smiling, as a gesture of service.

Customer Service

Our blog "In a Nutshell" is chock-a-block with fresh and intriguing content written by in-house humans!

by admin
June 13, 2016
3 min read
4 Comments

7/17/16 Update: Looking for the templates for Idiot's Guide: Leather Crafts? Due to technical difficulties, Walnut Studiolo is hosting them on our website here: https://walnutstudiolo.com/pages/ig-leather-crafts-templates

Curious about leather crafting? Let us teach you how to create your own gorgeous leather projects with our glossy new leathercrafting book, published by DK Publishing as the newest addition to their how-to book series, Idiot's Guide: Leather Crafts, on June 14th.

Back Story

Last fall, Walnut Studiolo owners Geoffrey and Valerie Franklin were approached by Alpha Books, a member of DK Publishing and the Penguin Group, to write a how-to guide. Over the following months, Geoff created 20 projects and 34 accompanying techniques, which Valerie wrote into step-by-step instructions. We also researched and wrote a primer to leather crafts, covering tools and material purchasing. Every step is accompanied with crisp photography by our favorite photographer, Erin Berzel. DK Publishing and the Idiot's Guide series were a perfect partner for Walnut Studiolo's leathercrafting expertise. We have always admired the quality and quantity of imagery and photography used in DK books, and the how-to book know-how of the Idiot's Guide series was a neat and clean fit for our long-time desire to write a beginner's book on leathercrafting. The editing and design team was a delight to work with, and it ensured that this book was finished professionally. We arranged the projects in order of difficulty, with beginner, intermediate, and advanced projects, such that each successive project builds on the techniques explored in the previous projects. If you like Walnut Studiolo's sense of design, you'll love poring through these pages! The 20 projects include modified versions of Walnut Studiolo favorites (including a Bicycle Mud Flap and Drink Coasters), modern hipster goods (like a Mason Jar Sleeve and Leather Valet), and outstanding bag designs, including a convertible Tote Backpack and a lush Lineman's Bag. We wrote this book, wishing we'd had it when we got started. There is very little on the market to help modern leathercrafters make clean-lined projects, and we were entirely self-taught. Using this book as a launching point, Walnut Studiolo plans to explore sharing its expertise in leathercraft with in-person classes and demos and book-related project kits. IG Leather Crafts Book Cover Image Angle square

IG Leather Crafts Book Cover Image Angle square

Official Book Summary from the Publisher

Part of the artisanal/DIY movement is about authenticity and quality, with a return to simplicity, real values, genuine materials, and careful craftsmanship. Leather is one of those authentic materials, and while it has always been used for handbags and gloves, it's enjoying a resurgence in the field of crafts. Idiot's Guides: Leather Crafts offers 20 projects (illustrated with copious step-by-step photos), ranging from beginner to advanced, each one building on the skills that have been taught in prior projects. Unlike most existing books on leathercraft, which come with a heavy whiff of the €˜70s, this one has a sleek, modern aesthetic. The projects are functional, and the minimal, elegant embellishment and natural finishes will keep them timeless. The book includes:

Tips on selecting and purchasing the right leather for your project.
A primer on tools, hardware, and other materials you'll need before you start.
Easy-to-follow lessons on cutting, punching, finishing, and stitching.
20 unique and functional projects, including a bookmark, bracelet, wine tote, backpack, and more.

Where to Buy

Idiot's Guide: Leather Crafts is available at major booksellers online and in-store and booksellers that carry the Idiot's Guide series nationwide. Copies signed by the authors are also available on Walnut Studiolo's website at the cover price of $19.95 at http://walnutstudiolo.com. ISBN #9781615648955

Resources

Idiot's Guide: Leather Crafts Book Sell Sheet The Idiot's Guide Series

4 Responses

Nathaniel S. Ramirez

July 11, 2023

Thank you for the templates and the book.

walnutstudiolo

July 11, 2023

Update! The publisher’s website is still down, but an alert reader notified us that their templates were out of scale, too. Walnut Studiolo is re-doing the templates to scale and uploading them to our site as we finish them (revised templates are marked “New!”):
https://walnutstudiolo.com/pages/ig-leather-crafts-templates

walnutstudiolo

July 11, 2023

Thanks for asking! DK/Idiot’s Guide is having problems with their website so we have posted the templates on our website here: https://walnutstudiolo.com/pages/ig-leather-crafts-templates

Trudy wells

July 11, 2023

Where do you get the templates from? Ni bought the book but am having difficulty finding the templates on your site

Country

We wrote a book! 20+ DIY leather craft projects