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December 6, 2025
1:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Join us for a hands-on leatherworking experience rooted in tradition and craft. In this half-day session, students complete two small projects or one medium project.
You’ll choose your project or projects when you arrive, working from pre-cut patterns and bringing your project to life through the traditional saddle stitch method of hand sewing. Students will mark, punch, and stitch their projects by hand, with guidance at every step. Along the way, you’ll also make design choices - selecting your leather colors, choosing thread, and adding minor tweaks that make your project uniquely yours.
Small goods include options like wallets, sunglass cases, keychains, luggage tags, and pencil cases - perfect quick makes that balance creativity and utility. Medium projects, such as clutches, wristlets, passport covers, or field note covers, provide more time to refine your skills while producing a lasting leather good. Students who want to do more may purchase additional projects at a discount to work on during class or take home to finish.
No previous experience is required, and all tools and materials are provided. Whether you’re exploring leatherwork for the first time or deepening your craft, you’ll leave with a finished good (or more!) and the satisfaction of working with your hands.
Tuition: $60
Materials: $35
This course is for students 18+, or students 12+ with accompanying adults.
Your Instructor
DAN HORAN
(he/him)
Dan Horan is the craftsman behind Merchant Leather, a self-taught maker who found in leather the perfect balance of creativity, function, and timeless craft. Based in Minnesota, he builds each piece entirely by hand, emphasizing simplicity, durability, and the honest beauty of traditional techniques.
Teaching is central to Dan’s work. He has shared leatherworking with more than 1,500 students—from children to adults—in settings ranging from folk schools to galleries to the American Craft Council. His classes are designed to be approachable for anyone picking up leather for the first time, while also structured to help students steadily build higher-level skills, confidence, and creativity with each project.