Greetings from Mississippi

Good evening from Mississippi everyone. I am a new member to the forum, Philip's classes and leather work in general. I have been an office worker my entire adult life with most of that career spent in finance and, other than dabbling in a home renovation, some engine rebuilds and small carpentry projects, this is my first foray into a craft in which I am dedicating energy with a deliberate ambition to embark upon a long term pursuit of proficiency.

I am a definite novice. I have spent about the last year fumbling around in the dark with tool/supply purchases and some really bumpy progress gleaned largely from trial and error, reading books (Valerie Michael, Ellen Valentine, Al Stohlman) and watching youtube videos (yikes!). I have managed to progress to the point where I have made a few semi-acceptable wallets and watch bands which I have used myself or given away as gifts to friends. I am slightly embarrassed to look back at the quality of what I was producing 6 months ago and yet I hope that feeling emerges every six months going forward for the rest of my life! I feel as though, right now, there is a need for significant improvement before I would ever consider selling anything crafted by these hands but, with some progress, I hope there is a commercial outlet in the future. For right now, I am interested in learning as much as I can. Just in the little bit of time that I've had access to Philip's videos, my whole perspective on the level of quality that someone like myself can achieve has been totally changed. Prior to these videos, I imagined that trial and error and youtube would take me a lifetime to stumble upon answers. I offer genuine thanks to Philip for his willingness to put the energy into creating the videos and for offering them at a reasonable price.

At any rate, I am really excited to join the community and am looking forward to engaging with everyone.