Crafting connections at leather bracelet making event

The Student Events Team hosted a brand new event, “Leather bracelet making” Wednesday in the Wambdi Wapaha Lounge in the CSU from 12:30-4 p.m.

Students could participate for free and design their own leather bracelets using leather stamping tools. The process was fast as they only take about 5-15 minutes to complete, depending on how much time was spent decorating. 

To craft a bracelet, participants first took strips of vegetable-tanned leather and got it wet so it absorbs the water. Next step: pick out stamps and hammer them in. 

There were hundreds of stamps available — letters, different symbols, even a stamp of the Maverick logo was available.

The event wasn’t limited to bracelet making. Some students thought outside the box and made pet collars instead.

Many students enjoyed the comfort and convenience of this kind of the event, especially given that it’s in the middle of the day and most had recently gotten out of classes. However, even if the process was quick, some students stayed for over an hour because they were having fun with friends. 

Junior student Simran Gauchan talked about why she enjoyed the event with her friends.

“I think it’s very interactive because we don’t really be around here, but today was the day all of us were here together and for a while. So it was kind of an interactive and fun get-together for us,” Gauchan said.

This is the first time the Student Events Team hosted an event like this. Events Chair Meron Fre talked about how the idea came about.

“We were thinking of simplistic events to put up as finals are coming up we wanted an event where people did not have to spend much of their time doing in between classes,” Fre said.

The Student Events Team reached out to Pageen Rozeske to get all the supplies. Rozeske is a leather/shoe maker who works as a shop lead at the Mankato Makerspace, a multipurpose workshop for leatherwork, metalwork, woodwork, ceramics, etc. She got the supplies from Makerspace, Hobby Lobby and Tandy Leather.

Rozeske has been doing leather crafting for 35 years. She talked about why students should attend events like this one at this point in the semester.

“You’re creating. It’s a release. You’re not focusing on the severe studying that you’ve been doing, you’re focusing on something creative and creating is always a release of energy,” Rozeske said.

Write to Jack Harding at jack.harding@mnsu.edu