Stone For Gold: Learn The Art Of Leather Crafting & Make Your Very Own Small Leather Goods At Jalan Besar

What started as an obsessive passion for leathercraft and a keen taste in fashion, eventually led to the founding of Stone For Gold in 2008. Ask any craftsmen about their work and you’d see a gleam deep within their eyes; at least that was what we noticed when we approached one of Stone For Gold’s craftsmen, Jeffrey.

Drawing inspiration from the trendiest fashion, haute couture and Native American designs, Stone For Gold is advancing into a lifestyle name, with promises of creating the finest and most exquisite handcrafted leather and silver products.

That’s not all, Stone For Gold has even started conducting regular workshops with the hopes of educating the public and garnering greater interests.

Stone For Gold: Leather Stitching (Travel Series)

At $89, the leather stitching workshop provides participants the opportunity to craft their very own passport holder as well as a mini luggage tag. You need not have any prior experience, and all the tools will be provided.

The art of leather crafting requires three things: a pair of hands, tools and patience — the last bit is probably the most challenging, and I’d have you know that leather crafting isn’t as easy as it seems.

The two and a half hours workshop began with Jeffrey, giving us a detailed introduction to Leather as a material and its characteristics.

Here’s a fun fact: The average human wears about four different leather products at a given time.

The leather we were using was a pull-up leather, which has a natural appearance but will lighten in colour when stretched.

Each piece has been traced with a silver marker that acted as guiding lines for us to follow cutting. For us, the best way to do so was to repeatedly scour over its surface until it comes apart.

After cutting away the unnecessary portions, we started “hole-punching” certain parts of the leather.

We did a little hammering to flatten the flap and hold the fold inwards.

Then, with the help of a spreader, we used contact cement to glue to flaps together. It is crucial to pay close attention to the instructor’s advice here; a slapdash of glueing will cause in the leather to tear in its later stages.

After which, we used a clamp to further flatten and stick the flaps together.

Here’s Jeffrey making a thorough inspection of our craft.

Creating the holes for stitching is one of the easiest procedures out of the entire session; all you needed to do was to punch the holes within the leather. Yet, as simple as it may seem, a hasty action will easily distort and destroy your masterpiece.

Jeffrey’s advice, “Be meticulous.”

We were taught the saddle stitching technique. This is probably the most laborious activity throughout the workshop.

After stitching the four different sides, we melted the end of the thread with a lighter.

There is a sense of fulfilment when taking a piece of raw material and breathing life into it, especially in our day and age when everything is conveniently made available to us. Perhaps, it is the thrill I get from touching something organic.

It’s a feeling hard to describe until you experience the magic yourself.

Meanwhile, sign up for a workshop Online and enjoy 10% off using the promo code: “SFGOF10“.

Prices: $79 (Basic Leather Crafting),  $89 (Stitching Leather), $169 (Bucket Bag)

Stone For Gold Pte Ltd: 141 Jalan Besar, #02-01 Singapore 208859 | Tel: +65 9007 5998 | Website | Facebook