Hello from the Netherlands!

Hello everyone!

I have been lurking on the forum for some time now but I have never introduced myself and my journey on the forum before.

Shame on me.........

A little bit about myself and then my leather craft journey

So my name is Ivo and I am from the Netherlands, I am currently finishing my degree in environmental engineering. In March I will be starting my graduation research (currently on holiday in Brazil, chisto helping me out with classes ;), and hopefully I will be finding enough time to improve my leather working as well :)

My leather craft journey started in June of 2019 when my other half was coming to travel 2 months in Europe with me. I wanted to give a nice gift and decided that a leather passport cover would be perfect, I research how I could go about this and called up a friend who I knew had previously worked with leather. I placed the orders for the things I needed and I got started. I loved making those covers so much that I completely fell in love with the world of leather craft and since then I have been immersing myself fully in the craft with all the free time that I can find. Since then I have made mostly small leather goods: wallets, key chains, some pencil cases, sun glass cases and even a US style messenger bag (if you want to see let me know, you can find most of it on Instagram too).

I signed up to @Leathercraft Masterclass at the end of November because I wanted to move more into the direction of luxury leather goods and this was the best place to learn by a huge margin. I have never regretted the decision to sign up and I am very happy to learn every day from all the resources available here. During my holidays I have placed orders for awl blades and hafts, pricking irons and a stitching clam, I really look forward to give traditional awl stitching a try when I get back :) Hopefully after I am settled into my graduation research and my new living space I can dedicate more time to hone my craft and practice a little bit more every day :)

I also hope to contribute some more to the forum other than bothering all of you with questions all the time ;) Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hoping to continue learning from all of you in the coming months!

Cheers, Ivo