Leather goods and bluegrass records

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This article was published 16/11/2015 (3672 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Nothing goes together quite as well as classic country, worn-in plaid and handmade leather products. All three can be found in the studio of Dan Russell, a local musician who spends his spare time making guitar straps, wallets, purses and leather guitar casings.

Russell — sometimes known as Cal Austin Jr. — began experimenting with leather work about five years ago. Now 23, he is becoming well known in the local music community for his skillfully crafted guitar straps. Local musicians such as Juno-nominated Little Miss Higgins have commissioned Russell to design personalized straps that range from $80 to $300.

“Pretty much as soon as I started I was making stuff for other people,” Russell said. “I really enjoy doing it. I’ve definitely made plain straps or plain belts… I can make kind of plain things but that’s not what I enjoy doing. I like spending a lot of time and making things that are super bizarre and weird and covered in elaborate details.”

Russell uses a combination of techniques in his projects. For the roses and other images on the leather, Russell uses a swivel knife and then goes back over everything with a beveler, which is a kind of hammer used to emboss the pattern into the material.

“The average belt that is made this way — it’s called hand-tooled leather — is in the midst of 10,000 hammer hits, because you go around the whole design,” Russell said.

The musician admits that it’s not a very profitable hobby, but since he’s taken it up he’s managed to break even. Russell’s passion for leatherwork comes more from his love of bluegrass and local music culture than a need for some extra cash.

“I come in here, put on a record and then kind of spend a few hours doing leather. I don’t really work on deadlines,” Russell said. “I don’t push the product at all; people will hear about it and come in.”

A guitar strap can take anywhere from eight to 40 hours to make, and items such as purses take closer to 50 or 60 hours. The most time-consuming projects, however, are the fitted leather guitar covers which are handstitched onto solid-body guitars.

“That was my first idea where I thought, this is what I want to make. That was five years ago and I just finished this yesterday,” Russell says of his first guitar cover. But he hopes to make more in the future and eventually focus solely on coverings.

“The most time-consuming thing is cutting out the shape and the holes and making sure everything lines up,” Russell said. He added that the sound isn’t affected on a solid-body guitar as long as the bridge touches the wood.

Russell said that when he started leatherwork, he was learning from designs that probably came out in the ’50s, but there are plenty more options for aspiring leatherworkers today, especially in the form of online videos.

“When I was first starting out I (followed the designs),” Russell said. “But now I think that’s the difference between traditional leatherwork and mine. I freehand all of it with the knife… a lot of this stuff could probably pass as being something in the ’60s and ’70s but it still has that modern look. I use a lot of colour in the stuff I make.”

For a look at Russell’s work online, follow @denim204 on Instagram.

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