Hello All, I have been making deerskin handbags, pouches and baby moccasins (not Native American Style) for almost 30 years. There have been many changes in this business the hardest of which to deal with is finding new suppliers when tanneries close. My current delemma is trying to find a supplier for gold deerskin that is sueded on the back in 2.5-2.75 ounce. I require the gold which is almost yellow-orange in a very good quality. Can't count how many samples I've sent off and no luck so far. I usually buy around 100 square feet at a time. Thanks.Peace,MarieLeather Treasures

If you have been using deerskin that long you know that deer are wild and so they get scratched up and each one has at least one bullet hole in it. Tannerys or finishing companies can put a finish on it to cover up a lot of blemishes but if you want that naked yellow deerskin color you are going to have to deal with a lot of scuffs and scars. To me Deerskin means Gloversville NY... however just about everyone there is out of business now. There is a tannery there but I don't remember the name. Try asking Bob at www.thehitchinpost.com I asked around and I also came up with Law Tanning in Milwaukee 414 645 7500

Another Question:

I never add to the group but I have a question now. I do all of my own sewing, designing, patternmaking, selling, website developing, the whole kit and caboodle. I am ready to hand off the sewing. How can I find either good sewers who are experienced in working with leather? Is there a network or organizations you can recommend? Terina McKinney, Owner/DesignerJypsea~Eclectic Hand crafted Leathergoodswww.jypsea.com

Wouldn't it be great if we could just hand it off... I don't think that people who can sew leather are groupies. I used to advertize for them in the paper. The title is "Sewing Machine Operator". There were a bunch of shoe factories around and a lot of women did that. My experience was that they were incompitent. They couldn't start sewing...they ran a piece of scrap into the machine when they stopped so it wouldn't jam up when they started the next time. They could only "sew in a string", part after part, same operation. I found that if I put the material on their machine facing the other way they would sew it backwards instead of turning the work around. That is only the start of it. Then you have the government to deal with... and insurance...

I told more about that to the guy in India in the post before this one. What you want is someone who can do it as a subcontractor. The way I am doing it now is to train someone and set them up as self employed. You need to read the book the e myth revisited that I recommended before.

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