Casing the leather is the first step in the process after cutting the leather to the templates; casing is the act of letting leather sit out after pulling it through a mix of water, antibacterial (in my case, I was using listerine), and glycerine soap. As the leather returns to its natural color, it is put into a ziploc bag and let to sit until I am ready tool the leather.

This pistol holster has been shaped, tooled, stamped, and dyed, and is just waiting to be stitched up.

I stitch all my leather by hand; I dig the stitching channels, mark the spacing for the stitches with a rolling pricking iron, and then use a diamond-shaped awl to make the holes one by one, filling in each hole with thread as I go. Saddle stitching is a type of stitching that can really only be done correctly by hand; each stitch is set with care, and the stitching pattern itself allows each stitch to act independently of one another. This means that if one stitch breaks or tears or is cut, the other stitches around it will remain locked in: taking apart these stitches would be just about as painstaking as stitching them.

These pieces have now all been deglazed and dyed, and are now drying completely; afterwards, they will be marked and stitched.