About
It was the fall of 2010, I found myself at a Tandy leather store. They had on sale a Deluxe Carving Leather Set, regular price $120.00 on sale for $49.99. I thought- “this is going to cost me a lot of money”.
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I had worked in a leather repair shop in high school and remembered that I enjoyed working with leather. My dad grew up in Missouri and farmed with horses and mules. He moved to Kansas City after his discharge from the Army. “You can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy”. He bought our first horse when I was in 5th grade. I joined 4-H and a local saddle club in Liberty, MO. Learning to ride and show horses was a great experience. We sold our horses when I was 16. I always knew I would find my way back to owning horses. In 1989, my wife and I bought a 4 acre horse property. I bought my first reining horse at the National Western Stock show sale, a 3 year old “Diamonds an Babes”. I seem to do everything the hard way. Experts say “Don’t put a green rider on a green horse”. That led me to meet Terry Wegener, my brother from another Mother! We’ve had a great friendship and he’s been the best trail boss ever.
I had turned a new chapter after 30 years in industrial sales and began a new career in real estate sales in 2008. The country was in the middle of the Great Recession. I had a lot of free time on my hands. I needed something to keep me busy. Buying the starter kit was like buying a horse. The horse is the cheapest part of the deal. I bought the kit and began my new journey to becoming a leather crafter. This has been an incredible learning experience and the opportunity to meet some great teachers. Chris Andre, Slick Bald Leather, was the first to take me under his wing and begin my education. Colorado Saddle Maker Association and the Rocky Mountain Leather show in Sheridan, Wyoming were all instrumental in my education. I started working on the kit projects with very novice results. Chris really helped me get started. I would bang out tooling and take it over for his advice. He was always kind and showed me a better way to make the project.
Cheryl Kilker of “Show Me Twice” was the first vendor to take a chance and offer my items for sale. She was in need of a new supplier for show chaps and helped me create chap patterns and how to fit chaps (I think we have sold over a 125 pair of Show Me Chaps). Ken Amen spent a day with me and showed me the secret of installing zippers. Klint Kuyper let me use his patch master machine to sew my first attempts to make chaps.
The joy of leather crafting for me is that you are always making something different. I have to think- “How do I make this, what order do you have to sew this, How to get the right color dye and edge?”. I’ve made everything from show chaps, chinks, rifle scabbards, knife sheaths, holsters, hundreds of spur straps, headstalls, breast collars, cell phone cases, pad folios, etc.
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Amanda Stinemetze, Flat Hat Rags has designed several unique handbags and that has been a great collaboration. She combines her artistic embroidery designs to hand bags and totes. We call them Mad Flats Handbags. It’s rewarding to make items that are truly one of a kind and when ladies see it they say- “I have to have it!”.
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I don’t know what you are looking for, but I’m always looking for new projects and new folks to use my leather work. Shoot me an email, or contact one of my fantastic retailers.
Happy Trails,
Mad Dog
