Wild West Leather Colombia

 This is my fifth shop, two in Cumming, Georgia under the Leatherman and three shops in Colombia. My first was in Georgia in a small space in the back of a laundrymat. Then I moved to a bigger shop in a shopping center where I did real well. I mainly did shoe and boot repair, saddle repair and made lots of holsters and knife sheaths. Here in Colombia I'm mainly making and repairing saddles and tack. Making saddles stateside is nearly impossible unless you want to starve the first couple of years until your name gets know. Just to build a saddle will cost you about five hundred dollars in materials then you have to compete with the cheap import saddles. Pretty tough way to make a living. if you live at west it's possible, but not easy.  I can probably make a saddle in Colombia from about 60 to 100 dollars, big difference. It's a much simpler saddle then the modern western saddle. I'm mainly making Mexican saddles and McClellands. Here I'm using a Ralide type tree bec

  My new shop, I downsized a bit to bring down overhead. I think she looks good at half the rent I was paying. Mi nuevo taller, quieria bajar mi gastos y ahora pago la mitad que antes.

 

 The Colombian Cabalgata is a big horse ride where everyone comes together to ride socialize and drink. This years ride was a lot smaller than last years. The ride starts right behind my shop which is great for business and gives me a chance to check out all the saddles. The most popular saddles seem to be the terreques which have an arc instead of a horn, then the Mexican saddles with the big horn, then the chapparal which is like the western saddle. I'm mainly making terreques and Mexican style saddles because of demand.  Este es la cabalgata de Silvania, menos gente que el a~no pasado. Empieza atras de mi negocio que me ayuda alto. Las monturas mas popular son los terreques, despues los Mexicanos y chaparal.

New breast collar. Nueva pechera  

The leather quality here in Colombia is not good. After being used to Wicket and craig, and Herman Oaks leather it's like going from Ferrari to Volkswagon, but I have to use what is available. Sheep skin is hard to find so I use felts and foam rubber under the trees.  Where veg tan leather quality is poor , chrome tan leather is good here. Wood tree quality is poor, but plastic trees like Ralides  are readily available. So, I am constantly adapting and trying new things.

 I decided to make some American style chinks to see how they'd sell here in Colombia  Chamaras para dama estilo norte americano