Floral leather carving...

[LatakiaLover]

...was something I did when I was 12-13 years old. Can't remember why it appealed to me, only that I took a crafts class in Junior high school in the 7th (or 8th?) grade and leatherwork was on the menu along with metal stuff, ceramics, and etc.

Anyway, my grandmother's sister lived deep in Texas and loved old school Western stuff, so I made her a monogrammed purse for a milestone birthday. The leather is too heavy (I guess I was a durability freak, or nothing thinner was available), but otherwise it turned out OK.

It turned up a couple years ago in a stored trunk of stuff that my sister had. It apparently found its way back to my mom, and then my sister, as generations aged out.

[Ocelot55]

I used to tool leather before I got into pipes. It was a money pit. Never made a return on my investment, but it was fun.

Looks like you did a great job on this, George.

[wdteipen]

Nice work, George. Pretty cool piece there.

[JMG]

What other old hobbies have you kept hiding?

[sethile]

Nice, George!
Seems like you've been an interesting crafty fellow for some time now

[wdteipen]

Apparently George isn't a leathersmith about the same as he isn't a pipemaker.

[LatakiaLover]

True: My mom used to tell stories about how irritatingly determined I was to do stuff with my hands as a kid. Like really determined, and really early. When I was still three years old, in fact, she'd bring home 50 cent (about five bucks in today's money) reject walnut gunstock blanks from a nearby lumberyard for me to "work on" with actual tools---auger drill, saws, hammers, chisels, etc---in a corner of the garage.

Today, she'd probably get arrested for child endangerment. But she insists she could tell it wasn't an unreasonable risk because of how I approached and handled them.

What's up with that? The same way many skills like music or gymnastics seem inborn more than they are "injected" or "added"---some kids can just DO certain things---and working with your hands is on the list, I think.

Anyway, I've never NOT done it. From models of every kind to gunsmithing to jewelry, furniture, and metal fabrication, something has ALWAYS been getting made, carved, or built. Messing with pipe repair came about because my dad and grandad both smoked pipes, and handing them to me to fix was cheaper and easier than going across town or downtown to the only B&M's with a shop in the back. At first, I thought of pipes as just another thing to outsmart and make functional again.

Now, a half-century into it, I'm pretty sure that if I won the Powerball lottery tomorrow I'd still work on pipes. Equal parts pitiful and poetic, eh?

[brownleafbeardsman]

Nice work, George! Seems you were quite crafty.

[sethile]

.... The same way many skills like music or gymnastics seem inborn more than they are "injected" or "added"---some kids can just DO certain things---and working with your hands is on the list, I think. ....

My own experience and working with young people leads me think it's a mix of genetics, environment, and opportunities mixed in with the very important variables of motivation, work ethic and focus. I suspect the ratio varies greatly, but they all need to be in the equation in order to arrive at high level skill. The skills certainly come easier to some than to others. I'm aware of situations where work ethic, focus, and intensity were seemingly conveyed through genetics too. Other times where there is no apparent path for anything in the equation.

My mom tells stories about my early interest in taking things apart and putting them back together too (mostly successfully So we are both beneficiaries of supportive environments, along with whatever was born into us... Thanks for the leg up, Mom!