Recording God’s voice is a foundational pillar of our department.
For years, we’ve created handmade leather journals as sacred vessels to hold our prayers and honesty before God. We see our leather books as stones of remembrance (Joshua 4) as we document our stories and lives, making it possible for us to return and remember who the Lord has been for us throughout our lives.
Our Leather Makers are highly dedicated to the process of creating quality goods that will last a lifetime. We generate our products one at a time with skillful craftsmanship; working to maintain a handcrafted element married with excellence. After years of crafting beautiful books, we began creating other leather goods to serve as a reminder of God’s beauty and presence in our lives. It is our desire that you enjoy our leather goods as much as we enjoy making them!
Our Makers & Studio
Our leather goods team is made up of two managers: Rosemary and Tati, who are dedicated to overseeing and carrying out the mission of our leather department. Ike and Kyle create bags and journals. We have two interns in our leather studio this year: Nellie and Christina. Together as a team, we aspire to grow and widen our perspective of what is possible within this craft. Our studio is nestled in the foothills of North Carolina at A Place for the Heart: our 52-acre campus where we live and host discipleship schools known as the 18 Inch Journey.
“We are makers, not machines.”
Our team is dedicated to the process of creating beautiful and timeless leather goods. We are product-focused and disciplined and are also committed to the process of living from the heart. “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Prov. 4:23). Who we become while we work is just as important as what we create.
We also have a value for taking the posture of a learner and are always seeking out how to refine our skills and products. We believe in fostering an environment that is safe to learn, fail, and try again. Our mistakes, while costly, have taught us priceless lessons as artisans and as people committed to living wholeheartedly. With what we have learned over time, we believe that the journey and power of handcrafting leather, can craft something beautiful within as well.
Sourcing & Process
Our department is committed to partnering with companies that value sustainability and ethical work standards. Most of the companies we source from we’ve had relationships with for several years.
The majority of our leather is sourced from Tandy Leather where we work directly with a representative from their company who assures that our leather meets the standards of the Leather Working Group. The Leather Working Group exists to create meaningful change across the leather global supply chain by reducing waste and focusing on responsible leather production. We are proud to have this partnership and to know that the leather we use is environmentally safe and ethically made.
We partner with Buckleguy for all of our hardware needs. This company is in its 4th generation of being operated by one family that carries the values of material composition, employment standards, and environmental regulation. All of our hardware is low lead brass which meets the requirements of the European REACH standards.
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Our journal making process begins with choosing the right ounce and feel of leather. Crafting journals that will last for generations is an important goal, so we seek to find leather that is thick and durable.
For every journal we carry online we have a unique plexi-glass template designed to the exact measurements we need for cutting and marking the holes inside our leather cover. After cutting and marking the holes, our leather makers move onto prepping the paper for our journals. Every paper signature is poked with awls by hand to ensure that each piece fits the journal cover, as each one is unique.
We source our paper from a company here in the USA that upholds environmentally friendly values and practices. After our leather has been cut and the paper has been prepared, we move onto sewing the journal with high quality waxed linen.
The linen is coated with a thin layer of wax to ensure that the linen will not wear or rip over time. Once the journal is sewn, we finish the process by fastening it with a high quality brass snap and permanently marking it with our custom Cageless Birds brand by hand. We typically make journals in batches between 20-60 journals. Each batch typically takes 1-2 weeks from start to finish.
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We believe in creating quality leather goods that will last a lifetime. With carrying this vision to produce goods that will last a lifetime - we have an intentional process of creating to ensure that value.
Every collection of bags that we create usually takes our team over 120 hours for around 20 bags.
The bag making process starts with sourcing. We research and look for specific leather that carries the characteristics of being flexible and durable with a beautiful hand or feel. We will search for a hide that meets these expectations of our bag development to ensure the material can last the test of time. Once the leather is chosen, we will order sample yardage to check the quality and feel of the leather and if decided upon, we will move into the design stage.
In the design stage we focus on our customers and their needs. We create patterns centered around practicals in tandem with beauty, focusing on the functionality of the bag and how it will wear over a period of time. This process can take months or over a year depending on the development of the bag.
Relying heavily on feedback to help refine our bags, we usually have multiple people in different seasons of their lives wear our bags and give us their honest thoughts for how the bag has served them. We take into consideration all of their perspectives and experiences to revise our original design to shape and mold it into a more finished product. This part of the process gives us confidence in what we are making and accessibility for as many customers as possible.
Following the changes made with feedback, we begin the production process where two to three people invest their time into finally sewing the bag. The lead time to make a collection takes about two to three weeks until completion. Each bag design requires something different and our team has a rhythm we lock into to ensure that each part of the process is intentional and done in excellence.
The final stage to creating our bags is photography and releasing the product to the world! We have an incredible photography team that dreams into lighting that shows the reality of how the leather looks and feels. After this we write our product page that shares the description and how to care for your good. We partner with our shipping team to make sure the shipping elements are in order for our products to be sent out.