Hello there!
For the month of December, we’ll be reviewing only local shops and products under the theme “Loco Locals”. To kickstart this month, we’re doing a review of Maketh Project, a local leather crafting atelier that offers leather workshops for crafters of all levels. In no way is this post sponsored by them. I paid for it, thoroughly enjoyed it, and decided I would write about it cause it was super fun.
You might notice that the photographs for today’s review looks less potato-ey than usual, and that’s because my boyfriend was the one who graciously and willingly snapped the photos for today’s post. His Instagram is @jakec.92 and I’ll be a willing slave to him for the next three days in exchange for the awesome photographs.
Before we begin the review, here’s a bit of a backstory of how we chose Maketh Project. Firstly, my boyfriend is an absolute klutz. And by absolute, I mean that he loses everything and anything. It’s as if he has a gremlin squatting in his pocket, just casually pulling his stuff out and dumping it on the floor. Over the course of our relationship (which, admittedly, isn’t very long, just several months), he’s lost his credit card (*edit, he’s saying that he managed to find his credit card after a few days of floundering around without it, so it doesn’t count, but… it still counts in my book), the entry pass into his home – and best of all – his Kindle. He left it on the MRT while sending my home, and I felt incredibly guilty about it.
But he’s super careless and has probably lost a lot of other stuff that I can’t – or don’t – want to remember. Worst of all is that he hates carrying wallets with him. So he’ll just have loose cash, coins and cards in his pockets (which aren’t deep ergo not that secure). All you need to know is that I’m always a hairsbreadth away from an apoplectic fit every time he sits down and whatever’s in his pockets peek out of them.
For his birthday, rather than just meander into a shop and buy him a wallet, I decided I was going to bring him to a leather crafting workshop, because I thought it would be more meaningful. The both of us are similar in the sense that we like doing handicrafts, hence why I signed us up for Maketh Project. I did a hardcase neck pouch, while he did a bi-fold wallet.
Maketh Project – Hardcase Neck Pouch
Maketh Project – Bifold Wallet
Even though both were supposed to take a different duration, Lina reassured me beforehand that I could hang around and wait for him to be done. But we fooled around so much we ended at pretty much the same time anyways.
Honestly, before we even got there, we didn’t have any clue on how it was going to go. We were complete beginners to leather craft. All we knew is that the trainer or coach we were going to have hopefully had the patience of an angel, because the both of us are chaotic as heck.
And then we met Netty.
Did she have the patience of an angel? Didn’t feel like she had it in the beginning, to be very honest with you. Forward in demeanour and straightforward in speech, the both of us were rather cowed by her intimidating presence. Probably didn’t help that we were late (their door is so inconspicuous; I was standing right in front of it and had to ping SOS to my boyfriend), and that we took a good 30 minutes trawling through the colour swatches deciding which colours we wanted for our projects.
Over time though, as conversation flowed and jokes were cracked, we warmed up to each other. She’s like that cool aunt you always wished you had as a kid – the kind that would crack open a beer for you right under your parents’ disapproving watch, much to your recalcitrant glee. She’s hilarious and her humour is right up my alley.
The first 45 minutes of the workshop flew by in a haze. Netty said to measure, we measured. Netty said to cut, and we cut. Netty said to mould, and we moulded. And then we slowly got into the swing of things and we began to register what we were doing.
At the start of the workshop, she gave me a piece of leather and told me to soak it in this fish tank-esque container. “It’s to soften the leather so you can mould it,” she explained. “Make sure it’s wet all the way through.”
So I sloshed it around the tank. In the meantime, my boyfriend got to work, cutting the leather pieces he would need to make his wallet. And then I patted the leather dry – because you want it wet, but not sopping wet.
After patting the leather dry came the difficult part of ensuring that your leather was aligned while squeezing it into the mould. Netty did most of this part – because my weak arms weren’t strong enough to squeeze the mould down.
After squeezing it into the mould, we had to dry it so that the leather would harden and keep its shape. Again, Netty did most of it because for some reason, it was difficult for me to keep the leather from bunching up awkwardly as I dried it.
We learned how to trim after we cut – in Netty’s words, not mine – the “mao-mao” of the leather (which basically means the furry, unwanted bits at the edge of the cut leather). And then we learned how to knock, which essentially means holding a knife vertically and hammering down on the top of it so it slices perfectly into the leather. We also used stitching chisels, which essentially look like forks (but are incredibly sharp and could probably be used as a stabby stabby). You just hold it vertically and hammer down on it to make holes in the leather for stitching.
Netty’s super encouraging as well, and kept praising our work, which made me so incredibly happy, because ya girl loves being praised. My boyfriend and I were competing to see how many praises we each could get from Netty… because we’re dysfunctional. In other words, we call it healthy fun.
Afterward, with all our required pieces in hand, we learned how to saddle stitch, which was the most fun part for me. You’re handed this thing called a stitching pony, which you straddle over and sew.
For the first part, I was standing up and sewing at the table – and ya girl has back injuries, thank you, Chinese dance, for all that you gave to me – and then I noticed Netty working on a belt while straddling it, and I was like “Good lord, that’s genius!” I was wearing a skirt – so not that conducive to straddling it, but heck it, the skirt was long enough to cover the important bits. So straddle I did. And boy did I feel professional doing it like her.
Also, my boyfriend sucks at saddle stitching (*edit, “I don’t suck at stitching, stop making me sound like I’m terrible at it!). All I could hear whilst working on my pouch was Netty’s exasperated (just kidding, she was really patient) sighs as she reversed his wonky stitches. It was hilarious. Which is why we kept swopping mid-way – him sanding and polishing my leather pouch, while I sewed his wallet for him.
Also, a photographer from the Singapore Tourism Board came down to snap photos because they’re probably ramping up promotions for local businesses in Singapore. Which I wholeheartedly applaud. #supportlocal, y’all. My boyfriend hates being in front of the camera – I say well deserved, now he knows how I feel in front of the camera – so he became quite twitchy and nervous.
He is also quite the stickler for perfection, but is quite the kan-chiong spider, so by the end of the workshop, he was huffing over polishing and sanding the edges of his wallet. Funniest part of the day was when he was polishing, and Netty was stitching her belt – she looked over and immediately tsked. “Messy la,” she said, coming over armed to the teeth with tissue while I was giggling at the side. “Wipe away the edges so you don’t stain it.”
To sum up the entire experience; there is something so imperceptibly different about crafting something from scratch and holding it in your hands after as compared to walking into a shop and purchasing it off the shelf. It’s a glorious experience, and I loved every minute of it. Thank you, Netty and Lina, for the awesome experience. It was amazing… and see you soon again, because my mom saw the pouch and might want to do something for herself soon.
My boyfriend and I were talking afterward and agreed that it was an awesome experience that we would want to repeat – should we have stuff we want to make, that is. He gave it a 4.5 stars out of 5 stars, because he felt a bit awkward in the beginning, but I’m giving it a 5 out of 5 stars for the entire experience and the satisfaction. Actually, if I could give more, I probably would, because both Netty and Lina are awesome people. The price is pretty worth it too – I paid S$140 in total, S$55 for mine, which took 4 hours or so to craft, and S$85 for his, which took around 5 hours or so.
Well, I would usually defer the rating to him, but I paid for the workshop so…
5 heckin’ stars out of 5 it is.
And that sums up our first post for the month of Loco Locals! Stay tuned for more, folks.
Maketh Project
Address: 68B Race Course Road, Singapore 218571 (3rd floor)
Opening hours: 12pm to 9pm (Mon to Sun)
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