Layland Leathercraft
About Me
I left school at 16 with fairly good grades and went on to study Electronics, Computers, and Communications at college both at OND, and HND levels. I left college and found a job as a computer technician at a computer assembly factory.
The opportunity came to become a Motorway Maintenance Engineer (Signals, Telephones, Cameras) and I started out on a career that lasted the best part of ten years. My time was spent installing and maintaining various pieces of motorway equipment up and down the country, although I was normally North West based.
I started to become ill in 2004, first with some 'bruises' that would not go away, then becoming exhausted and sleeping for most of the time I wasn't working (and some of the time I was). I was diagnosed with Sarcoidosis on 25th April 2005 and my career ended approximately four months later when I wasn't improving.
For the next two or three years I spent most of my time bored - even though my body was ill my mind was still very much active, so to keep it occupied I set about learning HTML. I had to do this around my illness as there were days when I was unable to even get out of bed. With HTML sorted I started to look for other things I could do and started to research my family history (which I still 'dip into' every now and again).
One night early in 2010 we were watching a program on TV called Mastercrafts in which Monty Don, in which he went around the country looking at different crafts. My father said he was very interested in blacksmithing (he's a welder by trade) and I said I wouldn't mind having a go at leathercraft. It was a hobby I could do a little at a time and go back to when I was feeling better without having to complete the item all in one go.
The items you see on here are some of the things I have made since starting with leathercraft. I give many of the items as gifts to relatives and freinds and they all seem pleased with their items (mum is especially pleased as she used to go through a couple of handbags per year due to the weight she carried in them - the handles used to snap regularly).
