We were home in Canada recently visiting my family and friends. Tristan had been for his first Christmas, but this was Kallista’s first time to meet my side of the family and my ‘old’ friends. We had so many adventures that it has taken me until now to catch up on things that should have been done. I’m still working late every night in my ‘night office’ as I call it, aka, the bed. Phil and Tristan came home the other night from watching a soccer match to see me buried under a pile of sticky-backed plastic and paper off-cuts and threatened to leave me there! So now that I am finally starting to see light at the end of one tunnel, I will delve once again into the blogging world and share some of our adventures and activities with you.
One of Tristan’s highlights was doing leather work with Papa. It was something he hadn’t seen before, and there was so much to learn in the process.
Seeing all the tools in the box…much different from mechanical tools.
Seeing the leather and what it looks like, feels like, and smells like. Seeing different types of leather in various textures and colours. Learning that different items are made from leather originating from different areas of the cow.
The project was to make key fobs. They were already cut out and Papa attached them to a ring. Then it was time to wet the leather and begin the creative part.
They were making a key fob for each of us. The correct letters of our names were chosen, and then they were carefully placed on the leather. Next came the fun part…taking the wooden hammer and making the impression into the leather.
Be careful…don’t hit Papa’s fingers!
Next Tristan carefully chose a design for each family member and these were impressed onto the key fob. Kallista also wanted to join in.
Then a little design was made around the edge of each piece to finish the look. It takes a lot of concentration to hit the mark.
Next it was time to put a little finish onto the pieces to give them some colour. As you can see, the more you add, the darker the colour. You should have seen the look on Papa’s face when I kept asking for mine to be darker…darker…darker…now it’s too dark! Just kidding around; it turned out fine, and was worth the humour!
Then it was time for bed and time to let the leather dry.
Two nights later it was time to put the final finish on each key fob to seal in the colour and give it some shine.
Tristan and Kallista both liked the feel of the sheep’s wool that was used for this.
Tristan loves to take photos with his camera. He was proud of the work he and Papa had done together.
Another night of patient waiting and the items were complete!
Daddy was very impressed with his key fob that he immediately put it onto his keys and has been showing it off ever since.
Although we don’t have the ‘tools’ for leather work, I do hope that we will manage to create something again in the future.
See how Tristan has continued his crafting bond with Nana over the webcam, learn about our visit to the Royal Saskatchewan Museum
