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Originally Posted On: https://daily.artisans.life/best-ways-to-customise-artisans-craft-kits/

We’ve put together four fun and easy ways through which you can put your own individual stamp on your Artisans Leathercraft project. Why stop where our instructions end if you are feeling creative and inspired? Customising leather projects is easier than you first might think, only requiring some simple to use pieces of kit which you can buy online and at craft stores. You might even have some of them already in your craft kit at home.

If you have made your project as a present, customising it is a great way to make it much more special. Like creating a handmade card, it is your distinctive style and personal knowledge of the recipient which will make your leathercraft project a truly unique and thoughtful gift.

1) Embossing: Personalise Your Gift

Embossing is the perfect technique for personalising your project, and a thoughtful and classy finishing touch to use if you are crafting the leather kit as a gift.

For this method you will require leather embossing tools.

Attach the letter stamp of your choice to the bottom of the handle. Dampen the leather surface slightly first, then place the letter where you want it to go and hammer until the stamp leaves an impression in the leather. Remember to check the direction of the stamp before placing.

This technique is known to work best on vegetable tanned leather, which all of the Artisans kits are produced from.

2) Leather Paint: Add Colours

You can have a lot of fun with leather paints. The possibilities are limitless and the veg tan leather surface is lovely to work on and takes paint really well.

All you need is some paint, brushes and something to test and mix your colours on. We chose to use Acrylic Leather Paint which is readily available in lots of colours online and in craft stores.

You can sketch out your design beforehand, or just go for it! We can’t wait to see what you paint.

3) Sun Tanning: Create Patterns 

A simple and low-effort technique with beautiful and unique results. Leaving your veg tan leather project out in the sun can darken the leather and this knowledge can be used to naturally create some interesting patterns on your leather kit.

The result will vary depending on the intensity of the sun and how long you leave it for. To see some change, the project will need to be left in the sun for at least several hours. Remember not to expose your project to other weather such as rain as this may damage the leather.

Why not play around by covering up a section of your project to create a two-toned or ombre effect?

4) Embroidery: Stitch and Create Texture

Stitching into leather? It’s not as hard as it may sound when you have a couple of simple leathercraft tools. This is a great way of creating texture and adding colour to your project. The creative options with this are really endless!

Start by planning out your design. If you are thinking of doing cross-stitching you could use grid paper to plan the pattern. Simply shade in the squares, each represents one of the crosses. From this you can count how many holes you will need to puncture.

If you want to stitch into the main body of the leather kit, it will be easier for you to embroider before you stitch the kit together as the surface will be nice and flat.

Place the leather onto a protected surface such as a cutting mat and use the leather prongs to neatly pierce the leather. Make sure to space the holes equally.

Using your chosen threads to stitch between the holes and create the pattern. Don’t forget to neatly tie the loose ends at the back when you are done to ensure your hard work stays in place!

So there you go! Four fun and easy ways that you can put a personal stamp on your Artisans Leathercraft project. Whichever of these you choose to try, we hope you enjoy working with this lovely material and create a project that you are proud of. Feel free to send us a message if you have any questions about the projects above.

As always we are always delighted to see your creations so tag us @artisans.life and use #artisanslife so we can celebrate and share your work!