Fur and leatherwork

While flipping through the latest Tandy Leather mailer, I thought about Moonshade. Given a stone or a mallet, and at least a few odd pieces of metal, couldn't Moonshade create tooled or punched patterns in leather?

Easily, but that doesn't seem to be her style. It can be done with sharpened bone, stone, or glass, too. She, at least, must do punched suede/leather for her seams, if nothing else.

If I had an Elf friend, I think it would be Moonshade, just so we could shop for craft materials together.

Maybe it would be her style but maybe the time isn't there. The life of a wolfrider seem to be tough, so maybe there is just enough time to tan and sew the clothes. I mean, hunting, watching out for humans, howling and caring for Dart/Chitter seems more than enough.

Tooled leather is usually unsplit cowhide. Moonshade might try tooling if she ever has access to smooth skins from an animal that size.

If you have enough time to tan a hide, you have way more than enough time to tool or punch it in any way you wish. Skinning, scraping, and tanning hides is a time-consuming, labor-intensive, and smelly process. It generally involves things like wood ash, urine, feces, dead flesh, and brains. Which are allowed to percolate in a hot, covered pit for DAYS.

For societies who have domesticated cattle herds. Tooling can be done on nearly any properly prepared hide, including snakeskin. Strongbow's decorated quiver strap is almost certainly tooled hide. (Couldn't imagine Moonshade taking the time to do inlays.) If Abode has an analog to bison or buffalo, Moonshade and the tribe could surely bag a large enough hide or two every once in a while to suffice. Early Native Americans did it without domesticating herds.

Thank you! I will have to look up some examples.

Moonshade has made punched patterns! Look at her own clothes in Final Quest.

Or, Palace crystal-cut. I'm sure they're better than Ginsu knives...