A few weeks ago, a new camera joined the pack. An unexpected mirrorless one with a bit of a vintage look that reminds me a bit of the old camera from my grandmother. It came with this ugly black adjustable strap with the brand in huge white letters. Ugh!

None of my cameras have those nasty things attached to it. Some of my camera straps were gifts, some I found online, but this time I was interested in creating one myself. I had seen a master leatherworker creating beautiful straps from scratch and I considered it the perfect time to try it myself. I’ve been looking at projects for a while but there was never the urge like now 😀 😉

Of course, it’s not just the urge of a pretty object, there was no reason to assume that this project would succeed. No, it’s about learning something new, making with your hands, creating an object from rough materials. It’s the itch of curiosity that I get when I see other hands creating. The need to feel what it’s like, to hear and smell,… Creating is a 360 degrees sensation. That’s what this is all about.

My first mini-project to test the tools and stitching was a tag collar for my dog Oona (that’s what the ring was for)
Finishing those edges soon turned out to be my favourite part of the process. It’s so satisfying to run the knife past the edges to make them rounder and then working on smoothening everything.

For this strap, I wanted it to be simple and straight-forward with a bit of detail by the two tones of leather and the (hand)stitching.

This design wouldn’t be suitable for a heavy camera because the strap is rather thin (and no padding), but it’s perfect for a lightweight camera.

I ordered all my tools online. Leather was from a local shop. After watching some tutorials, I got a set for the edges, waxed garn, Tokenol for smoothening the edges and ink for the edges but I haven’t figured out how to use that properly 🙂