Go Beyond Making Simple Card Wallets and Open Up Your Build Options
As I teach more and more people, I’ve found that it’s the small details that make the biggest difference.
There was a student I had once, let’s call him Todd, who had decades of leatherworking experience. At the end of the weekend Todd said, ‘I’ve never thought about this much detail for my projects before.’
The phrase “you don’t know what you don’t know” has always been eye-opening for me when I’m learning from my own mentors and teachers. The famous adage “a frog in the well knows nothing of the great ocean” is also quite true.
When Todd started to construct his belt project with this new level of detail and technique, he finally started to see how far he could go with his leatherworking skills. His work was already great, but now, given a vision of a new plateau to strive for, he could start to make his work even better.
Simplifying the complex
These are all the pieces that go into the wallet on this page. The sheer number of pieces in just this small project can be dizzying. Even a step-by-step written tutorial can be intimidating. Sometimes it helps to have in-person guidance to lead you through the rough spots and help you avoid potential pitfalls.
With this many pieces and steps, serious practitioners look to gain both efficiency and accuracy by getting help when they need it. Every well-crafted detail adds to the whole, just like every small mistake detracts.
Dates And Locations
This is a THREE-day, all-day workshop. There is a an optional pre-course technique workshop. The sessions are as follows:
Berkeley, California
Friday, June 2nd through Sunday, June 4th
Optional extra day on Thursday, June 1st
Class is from 9 am to 5 pm each day.
Take the course in our Berkeley studio on 5th St, just south of the Fourth Street neighborhood. It’s a 5-minute ride (Uber/Lyft) from the nearby North Berkeley BART Station.
Learn the Essential Details of Building a Luxury Wallet
Introducing Refining Your Leather Wallet Projects, a course for people who are looking to improve their wallet making and add more options to their building repertoire.
Our three-day course over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday includes:
- Three eight-hour days of in-person detailed instruction
- Time to complete an entire bespoke project in one weekend
- An opportunity to learn new construction methods for wallet building
- Training in several techniques such as skiving and pocket construction
- Luxury grade leather fully supplied for your project
- A chance to try out a wide variety of our tools including the electric creaser and our newest tools
- Step-by-step written instructions to help you follow along with the in-class demos
- Several wallet project options to choose from in varying levels of difficulty that you can match according to your skills and speed
- Tips, techniques and best practices to refine the quality of your work
Plus: Upgrade the in-class materials you use to higher-end choices. You’ll build your wallet with alligator or shrunken calf leather.
Bonus: Get additional patterns to build different sizes and components inside your wallets.
Second Bonus: Add an extra day for just leatherworking technique. We’ll work on improving your skills so that you are better prepared for the main part of the course.
Practice At Your Level
One common question I get is, “how advanced is this course?” We spend a lot of time refining the project and the techniques for the course so that we can accommodate multiple levels. When someone is more advanced, we help them with a more complex project and when they are more beginner level, we help them with their fundamentals.
We will meet you where you are in your experience and tailor your project to maximize your learning. That can mean:
- focusing on the minute details of skiving leather by hand for the first time with a real knife or
- fine-tuning your sewing with thread choice, tension and stitch count or
- stepping back to improve your overall construction sequence so that your cuts and measurements stay accurate and consistent with each production piece.
Before the course even starts, we’ll get to know you and your current level of experience to make sure the course is the right balance for you. If you are unsure of your skill level or would like some help in discussing your options, feel free to email us or call us at 1-415-800-2978.
Course Options
We’re offering both a three-day and a four-day course to suit your needs. Choose the three-day course to take the complete wallet course or choose four days for additional training. Add the tool package to take home an essential bundle of items.
1. Four-Day Course and Tool Package
The four-day course and tool package includes the complete wallet session PLUS adds an additional day to refine your fundamental leatherworking skills before the main course. Learning and honing these core skills will help improve the quality and proficiency of your leather craft. We’ll cover techniques on cutting, sewing, skiving and other essential skills.
- Bundled package of twelve items. Normally this package is $738 but you’ll get to take it all home with you for 15% off. A savings of $110. This package includes:
- 10 teeth pricking, diamond or thonging iron (any available teeth spacing)
- 2 teeth pricking iron (any available spacing (any available teeth spacing)
- Doldokki upright knife. A versatile knife for cutting and skiving.
- Doldokki cutting knife of your choice; curved, right or left.
- Set of three awls sewing, round and marking.
- Set of green and black sharpening compound.
- Pack of #4 John James needles.
- 12″ combination imperial and metric ruler.
- One polyester spool in the color and weight of your choice.
- One-day technique course to refine your fundamental skills including cutting, sewing, skiving.
- Three-day course in leather wallet-making
- Additional access to try out a wider variety of tools, including different types of skivers, knives and pricking irons.
- All materials needed to complete your project, including leather, paint, glue, hardware and more.
- Course guides for each of the projects, including detailed instructions and patterns.
Join the Four-Day Refining Your Leather Wallet Construction Course with Tool Package for 3 Monthly Payments of $597
If you have any questions about the course, please feel free to call or email us
1-415-800-2978
store@fineleatherworking.com.
We’re happy to help!
2. Four-Day Course
The four-day course includes the complete wallet session, materials PLUS adds an additional day to refine your fundamental leatherworking skills before the main course. Learning and honing these core skills will help improve the quality and proficiency of your leather craft. We’ll cover techniques on cutting, sewing, skiving and other essential skills.
Bundled package of twelve items. Normally this package is $738 but you’ll get to take it all home with you for 15% off. A savings of $110. This package includes:10 teeth pricking, diamond or thonging iron (any available teeth spacing)2 teeth pricking iron (any available spacing (any available teeth spacing)Doldokki upright knife. A versatile knife for cutting and skiving.Doldokki cutting knife of your choice; curved, right or left.Set of three awls sewing, round and marking.Set of green and black sharpening compound.Pack of #4 John James needles.12″ combination imperial and metric ruler.One linen thread or polyester spool in the color and weight of your choice.- One-day technique course to refine your fundamental skills including cutting, sewing, and skiving.
- Three-day course in leather wallet-making
- Additional access to try out a wider variety of tools, including different types of skivers, knives and pricking irons.
- All materials needed to complete your project, including leather, paint, glue, hardware and more.
- Course guides for each of the projects, including detailed instructions and patterns.
Join the Four-Day Refining Your Leather Wallet Construction Course for 3 Monthly Payments of $379
If you have any questions about the course, please feel free to call or email us
1-415-800-2978
store@fineleatherworking.com.
We’re happy to help!
3. Three-Day Course
The three-day course includes the complete wallet session, project materials and everything you need to learn to build better wallets.
Bundled package of twelve items. Normally this package is $738 but you’ll get to take it all home with you for 15% off. A savings of $110. This package includes:10 teeth pricking, diamond or thonging iron (any available teeth spacing)2 teeth pricking iron (any available spacing (any available teeth spacing)Doldokki upright knife. A versatile knife for cutting and skiving.Doldokki cutting knife of your choice; curved, right or left.Set of three awls sewing, round and marking.Set of green and black sharpening compound.Pack of #4 John James needles.12″ combination imperial and metric ruler.One linen thread or polyester spool in the color and weight of your choice.One-day technique course to refine your fundamental skills including cutting, sewing, and skiving.- Three-day course in leather wallet-making
- Additional access to try out a wider variety of tools, including different types of skivers, knives and pricking irons.
- All materials needed to complete your project, including leather, paint, glue, hardware and more.
- Course guides for each of the projects, including detailed instructions and patterns.
Join the Three-Day Refining Your Leather Wallet Construction Course for 3 Monthly Payments of $309
If you have any questions about the course, please feel free to call or email us
1-415-800-2978
store@fineleatherworking.com.
We’re happy to help!
COVID Safety
We take your safety and well-being seriously. Please know that we will be complying with all state and county safety protocols for the duration of the bag-making class.
We are keeping a close watch on directives from state and local authorities regarding the most current guidelines and restrictions for business operations. Currently, we ask that you please join us in abiding by the following safety and cleanliness protocols:
Safety and Guidelines:
- Please wash your hands and/or use sanitizer upon arrival.
- Everyone should wear a mask, even if you’ve been vaccinated.
- Keep the table-tops and work areas clean.
- Popular, frequently touched items may be sanitized as needed.
- Hand sanitizer and tissues will be available.
We are keeping the class size small, both for safety and so that we can give each student more personal attention. We will be limiting sign-ups to four or five people.
Please note that proof of vaccination is currently required to attend Fine Leatherworking courses.
Please let me know if you have any questions, concerns or hesitations. We want you to feel comfortable and at home while in class.
Tailoring our classes for where you are in your level and location
More time in class, access to a specialized space and tools. These are just a few of the benefits we provide to better help you learn leatherworking. We also travel around the country to make these classes more accessible for you to take.
Who this workshop is for
As with every offering at Fine Leatherworking, we want to make sure we’re matching the right people with the right solution for them. You should NOT join this workshop if you are:
- ‘Grazing’ on techniques. We don’t offer a scattershot of information and hope something sticks. In this workshop, we’re going to dive really deep on a few aspects of leatherworking in order to improve your craft.
- Looking for a short spring. This is a long workshop and, I’ll be honest, last time we did it a few people started to fade toward the end. We aim to accomplish a lot over the course of two days. I will be there to support you all the way, but it’s going to require a bit of focus and stamina.
- Wanting just the executive summary. If you’re looking for a quick-fix, this workshop may not be for you. I don’t do high-level bullet points and we our cover a lot of detailed materials and techniques. Creating world-class leather goods requires another level of practice that can be challenging.
About the Course Instructor
Sean Aquino has been making leather goods for ten years. He runs the blog and website FineLeatherworking.com, which has been the go-to resource for advanced tools, materials and luxury leather craft inspiration since 2012.
We’ve Got Your Back Until the End
Each workshop day ends at 5 pm, but we will help ensure that you can master these techniques by giving you extra time each day. If you are struggling but have the endurance to keep going, I will stay and coach you, 1:1 if necessary, until you feel confident. During one past session, our students did 9 hours on the first day and 10 hours on the second day. It was a marathon, but they had some amazing work to show for it.
Explore the Bay Area and Stay Near the Workshop
There are several hotel and AirBNB options in the East Bay. We can help you find one that is close to the workshop and fitting of your needs.
If you have extra time, there are also many other leatherworking-related places to check out in the area as well as the variety of attractions like Napa Valley and San Francisco.
Benefits of a Live Fine Leatherworking Course
Our instruction is more than just watch and learn. We approach teaching as a give and take between the course objectives and what each student needs. For instance, we’ll provide a simpler or a more challenging version of a project so that a student can improve from their current level rather than over-extending or breezing through instruction.
A Blend of Traditional and Modern Techniques
Fine Leatherworking courses provide expert instruction that is founded on traditional techniques and improved with modern updates. We take into account the wider range of tools, improved materials and different starting point of our students. Traditionally, an aspiring leatherworker would start an apprenticeship at a young age and have years to improve their work before embarking on a professional career. Today, few people have the opportunity to do this kind of approach.
Time and experience are still required investments to improve in this craft. We develop our techniques to maximize that time so that you have the potential to learn in weeks and months rather than years and decades.
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