Hides, Rings, Buckles & Belts

I just received new Roo skins from the tannery and have been busy cutting strands and edge beveling. This process is all done by hand with no mechanical stranders. Systematic, painstaking patient efforts result in great leather strands that produce beautiful crafted belts.

Also managed to go to a leather wholesaler to buy buckles and rings recently. It was a great day, I was like a kid in a lolly shop! I'll have one of those, and two of those, and one of those.

I have quite a substantial collection of buckles now, including this one, an Aztec calendar.

This is an R.M.Williams longhorn buckle. I already have this buckle on a belt in my Etsy shop, but I'm happy to make a custom order with this or any of my buckles. I love using R.M.Williams buckles, the quality is outstanding.

My wife bought me these ornate buckles on her trip to Paris last year. She tells me they are from a really old buckle & button shop in the artist district, Montmartre. She's put in an order for a belt with one of these buckles already.

So what has been produced lately in the craft studio is a range of traditional plaited stockman belts, mostly with rings, some even spanish laced. This belt is American Plait and it's quite narrow.

Ring belts were worn by Jackaroos who were on horseback all day. These belts don't cut into your hips and are very comfortable.

This is a flat plait. The Jackaroos would usually do a flat plait as it's the most economical plait.

This one is the double edge plait, it is double the thickness of flat plait which means it uses twice as many strands. You can identify this plait by the natural edge the pattern creates.

This patterned double edge plaited belt has spanish laced rings. I think these laced rings complement the plaiting nicely.

I enjoy creating different patterns using two colours of leather and various plaiting patterns. This one is a double edge plait and it creates a diamond effect.

This belt is just a classic, black on black. Love it.

These belts have real character with the crocodile crown buckles. I reckon it looks gutsy!

I like to plait a ridgeback belt to go with the crocodile crown buckle as the ridge imitates the rises in the crown.

All these belts will be available in my Etsy shop soon. If you wish to order a custom made belt with any of the buckles you've seen I'd be happy to make it for you. You can email me at stockmanleathercraft { at } hotmail { dot } com

Back to the cutting board for me. Cheers Charlie.