What a wonderful day. It is amazing to be in a work situation where there is so much to learn. Having the "intern" title helps a lot too, because anytime a person is working on a project that is new or interesting they pull me aside to show me how it's done. I am mostly working in the workshop side of things. Some of the tasks look really easy, but after trying them myself, I can see it takes a lot of skill and care to work quickly and accurately. I can already see that after working here all summer, I will have many of the skills I'll need to do projects on my own. I'm actually allowed to use my free time on my own projects. And I get scraps and throwaways for free or cheap. I can see my leather collection getting out of control. A few other people who work there have their own Etsy shops and most everyone works with leather in their free time. They appreciate their jobs and the people they work for and with. I couldn't think of a better place to spend the summer.
A few things I worked on and learned:
1. Setting snaps for bulk orders of bracelets. (It's camp season!) Bass Pro also ordered 20,000 bracelets to use all over the US for their kids' crafts. Snaps from China are crappy. An employee saw how hard the snaps were to get on and off and alerted the owner. He immediately took steps to fix the situation and airmailed us some better ones to use.
2. It is said that the owner is there over 70 hours a week. He is in his 60s and I can barely keep up with him. He isn't afraid of physical labor and will do anything he asks his employees to do. He was sure to ask me my goals and asked me to lunch with the manager. He helped explain his pricing method and told me how much the store grows by the year and month. The number is astronomical. His selling diversity over the internet, mail order to prisons, and brick-and-mortar store has made sure that anyone who wants his product can get it.
3. The "clicker" is a machine that presses dyes into leather to punch out shapes. Leather scraps from belts and other projects are used to cut tiny shapes such as bracelets and key fobs. The original large piece of leather has already made money by the time it gets to the clicker bin, and it makes even more after shapes are created. (Great use of a by-product.) I punched out WAAAAY to many bracelets and some other shapes. I wouldn't want to do that job all day, but using the technology is fun and new right now. There are a lot of craftsman who pay the store to make cost-effective parts of their own products. For example, one woman tried to make her own leather straps for her handmade handbags. By the time she had picked out leather, cut, dyed, and buffed the straps herself, she realized that it was worth it to pay a seemingly moderate amount for someone else to do it quicker. So the store makes her handbag straps. Another customer is a furniture store who has little tags made with their logo stamped in. Cool idea.
4. The owner and I pulled bundles of leather off of the warehouse shelves and placed them into variety bundles. He is able to get remnants from the Coach handbag factory. What a beautiful bright selection. And for the customers, it's a great deal- Italian leather at a fraction of the price it would be.
5. I began the project of making 12 checkbook covers from scratch. I used the clicker to cut out fronts and pockets. Then I glued the pockets on the edges and began sewing them on. It was my first experience with an industrial sewing machine. I am super pumped to learn how to use one this summer.