YOUNG, Sask. – Elbow grease has an unusual meaning in Penny and Del Anderson’s kitchen.
Parked beside the kitchen table are two Harley Davidson motorcycles.
Before the couple married, Del kept his motorcycle in the kitchen. It was a handy place if he wanted to repair it during the winter. There didn’t seem to be much point in relegating the bike to the shed after the couple were married.
Besides, Penny wanted her own bike.
She was bored riding behind Del or in the sidecar. And after the two kids were old enough to travel, they needed two bikes for holidays.
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“It was a choice between a carpet in the living room or a motorcycle,” said Penny.
Little of the couple’s life is ordinary, from the family holidays to the tanning and leather business on their 50-acre farm just outside of Young.
The idea for the business came when the family was on a motorcycling holiday. A fellow they met mentioned he had a leather business.
“When he said his family and kids were involved, it caught my attention,” said Penny.
The couple was looking for a family business close to home. Now Del works on the oil rigs in northern Alberta.
Leather at wedding
“Our idea is to get him home to have a family-oriented business.”
But when Penny attended a wedding, the idea really took hold. One of the wedding guests was wearing a leather outfit. Penny admired the outfit but wasn’t about to pay $800 for it.
“I saved up my money and got the leather for $80 and made my own.”
After Penny made her first few items, Del thought they could save money by tanning their own leather rather than buying commercially tanned hides.
It “snowballed” from there, she said.
Using books from the library and her own motto that she can do anything, Penny has designed leather flowers, coats, saddle bags, tool pouches, gloves, moccasins, mitts, skirts, snowmobile suits, mud flaps, massage table covers, welding aprons and more.
Deer and moose hides used
The couple buys deer and moose hides from local hunters. It takes Del about two weeks to tan and dye a hide. He begins by scraping off the meat and fat. The hide is then immersed in a lime solution to take off the hair. Three or four days later, the hide is washed and fleshed again.
Once the hides are cleaned they’re put in a tanning solution and washed again. They’re later put in a rotating drum to be oiled and dyed. The hides are taken out, stretched and dried, then returned to the drum to be softened.
Like most new business owners, the couple has learned by trial and error. They were forced to change dyes after the first solutions rubbed off on clothes.
And sewing with leather isn’t the same as cloth. Every needle mark is there forever.
“With leather you have to be very careful and very creative,” said Penny.
“If I make a mistake it has to be covered up creatively.”
Penny considers the business her full-time job. She sews most of the day when their two son are in school.
A basic jacket takes about one week to make and costs $300 to $400. Heavy leather saddle bags cost about the same.
Penny said the two boys aren’t old enough to do a lot of work, but they help Del work the hides and they seem to have an artistic flair. She encourages them to paint on leather or sew their own projects.
It’s been a year and a half since the couple put up their shingle and started their business and Penny calls it a “positive experience.
“I hope it continues.”
