I decided to get into leathercraft a few months ago, and after much turmoil I finally finished (one piece) of my first ever project! XL ankle cuff made from a Tandy vegtan economy dyed belly (not the best for straps and belts I know as it stretches but I would like to test my skills before I go and ruin an entire double shoulder of leather)

I'm not entirely happy with how it turned out but I think it's an OK start.

I tried casing the leather on the strap portion before stamping, but I don't think I let it dry long enough as some of my tester pieces seemed to turn out better with just a quick brush of water. Side note: stamping already dyed leather? From what I've seen, people only stamp and tool natural leather before dyeing.

Biggest issues I had was cutting the straps and trying to get the thickness down. I ordered online and ended up with a belly about 12oz at the widest part and had to use a hand planer for wood to skive down to the desired thickness. Staps were cut with a pull guage I got cheap off amazon and ended up horribly uneven even after squaring up the edge of my leather. Should I invest in a splitter and maybe one of the enclosed type wooden strap cutters?

Ide also like to try lining the back but my expirements with fur and suede weren't great succes as I couldn't for the life of me get either to cut in a straight line without stretching :/

Thoughts?