Admin

I'm not ignoring you guys, I'm not at home right now. Check your browser and security system to allow cookies for this site. As far as I can tell, the problem isn't on this end, but I'll check into everything when I get home tomorrow. Thanks for letting me know! Johanna

Another quick trick for increasing/reducing text size in Internet Exlplorer or Firefox: Press the control key and use the scroll wheel on the mouse. Very handy for adjusting on the fly. Johanna

Another option you might like, Carl, is the lo-fi version. You can click on the bottom of any page where it says lo fi and toggle it. It strips the forum of all the fancy bars and icons, and just gives you the text of threads, presented in a simple file tree on white. Dial up users will notice that the pages load much faster. The forum does not load the bells and whistles with this option. Alex, I will fix the IPB Pro board for you. Let me get this profile driver error squared away first. I look at all the tech boards in soft blue and white, so I know what you mean about the colors being easier on the eyes. I liked this soft Mocha skin much better than the ultra-modern looking alternatives. Some people read these kind of boards with white text on black, and I would go blind. Johnny7- (beautiful seat and lacing, by the way!) The mocha skin messed up for you? In Internet Explorer or Firefox? I've not had anyone else tell me this- if someone else is having the same problem, please let me know! I will have an IPB tech on Fri. to chew on, and I'll bring it up. Thanks for everybody's patience and help! Johanna

Ummm..no..can't blame Invision... I've not done the modifications to the other skins that I did to the default Mocha skin. So they all have "legacy" problems, meaning the other skins don't match the main board in features and function. Maybe one day I'll get bored, have the time and feel like it? Johanna

Timothy Lee has just sent you the message below via the contact form on Leatherworker.net: PM me for contact details Johanna

Great topic.

I moved some of the older posts out of "Show Off" to the categories they "fit" because the people were saying, "Where are all the bike seats I was told about? They aren't in the Motorcycle Area!" and so on. I hope people keep posting to the show off area so their posts get maximum attention, and as the threads there age, it's no big deal to move them. As far as categories- hey, give me a break! I'm winging this. Send me an outline of how you think the board should be structured, and I'll take it up with the staff. I don't know "the best way" to structure the forum, we've only been online for a year! And the posts are so good, it's hard to know how to show them off to the best advantage. All suggestions welcome! And thank you for TELLING me what made you upset rather than just disappearing or stewing about it. It's only when we identify a problem that we can fix it. I didn't mean to tick anyone off, just tried to get a little more organized for the new folks. Thanks for your help! Johanna

Okay, we'll do it. I just need to figure out some details. In 24 days i will be able to have complete thoughts without interruption again, and I seriously hopes that helps. LOL Johanna

Congratulations, Clay! Johanna

Candyleather and I are working on a special section for historical and reference materials, and he has graciously offered to translate for us all....stay tuned... Johanna

If you are running a successful leatherworking business, what advice do you have for people who are struggling? We have been brainstorming about ways to increase the average income of leatherworkers, and your observations and experiences can help others. If you are not earning the income you would like to have, what issues are holding you back? If you don't depend on leatherwork for a living, what obstacles do you face trying to break even? What would assist leatherworkers in general to earn a better price for their products? Johanna

Well, I hope you had a marvelous birthday, with a big delicious steak and a happy gf. I'm sorry I got the date wrong, blame in on Frantique. Rock-n-roll, God bless America, party hearty and have a pleasant tomorrow, too! (Yeah, I had one in your honor tonight!) Hope you have a good weekend full of all the bananas she'll give you. Johanna

I thought this article made a lot of good points about the feasibility of online stores. Johanna

Joe & Blake- hope this helps: Save the photo to your hard drive. Download and install "Image Resizer" http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/dow...s/powertoys.asp Highlight any pic(s) you want to change, and right click. You will see an option to resize to small med and large. "Mediums" are great for this forum. (800X600) in a click or two you will have a newly sized pic with a name indicating your choice that you can change to whatever. You may also want to consider turning down the resolution on your digital camera. The human eye can only see so many pixels on even the fanciest monitor, so unless you have special reasons for taking the pictures so high, I wouldn't. I'd drop them down to between 250-500K, and then use the resizer if I liked them well enough to want to email them. Otherwise, you can upload them directly from your computer. Just save the images directly from your camera to your computer, unless you are using a 35mm. If you are obtaining your pics from the developers website, you can save the images to your own computer and monkey with them however it pleases you. An easy to use graphics program is Irfanview, and it's free. http://www.irfanview.com/ Joe, if you upload photos from another site instead of your own computer, they won't show on the forum if the other site is having problems, or you close your account. The only thing that will be backed up on my routine is a link, not the actual image. You guys do really nice work, and I am glad you are posting your pics. If anyone has a business, make sure you take the time to fill in your profile (contact and website) info located in your control panel and post your stuff- on this site we encourage bragging, and want you to find customers by displaying your talents. Johanna

Hmmm the forum software seems to be converting the pictures okay, but it is only supposed to let you upload a pic as big as 500K, which would be reduced on the page that opens from the thumbnail. I set it high because we like to see the detail, which isn't always possible on small pics. I will see what I can do to automate the process some more. Easiest way in the world to resize pictures: MS Powertoys "Image Resizer". Click on an image or images to highlight, then right click and choose to resize. Image Resizer will give you a choice of sizes and rename your new pic for you. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/dow...s/powertoys.asp Johanna

The way the board is set now, any changes (edits) to a post must be made by the original poster or a moderator. If less than 3 minutes has passed, no "edited by..." statement will appear. A post can be edited by the original poster for 2 weeks, then a mod or admin has to do it. Here is another neat feature of this board. Say there is someone you don't ever want to see posts by. Click on their name which brings up their profile. Under options select "ignore this user". As long as you are logged in, you will never see a post from that user unless you change the setting for that user in your Control Panel. You can also add your friends to your buddy list. Johanna

I have several hundred of the other half of the big dot snaps you use for Tonneau covers on pick up trucks, if anyone wants them... Why is it that a leatherworker cannot bear to throw anything away? "There is no such thing as scrap!" is the first thing I learned. Then I attempted to learn to carve and found out how to waste perfectly good leather. Johanna

For the times that you need one or a thousand hard-to-find whatevers, and you need it yesterday, call Kevin Hopkins at Springfield Leather. http://www.springfieldleather.com/ and if he doesn't have it, he'll know where to get it. Another independent retailer is Stonehedge Leather, located in San Diego, which is Phil LeDuc (619) 223-4211 Since the "old" Tandys closed, I've bought half a dozen hides from Hidecrafters, and been satisfied. I think the key is to establish a relationship with your leather dealer. When I was a Tandy manager, I knew what my customers were doing with their leather, so picking out hides for them was easier. For example, I would put aside longer ones for people who made straps, I knew some customers liked brands (range markings!) and some people wouldn't tolerate them. If the customer gave me a little explanation, I could sometimes recommend a better deal or a better leather for the project. When you go to a leather retailer's store you can handle the hides and inspect them. If you need to buy through mail order, you need someone you can trust to "do you right". Once you find that person (or people) stick with them and tell all your friends. Johanna * I didn't vote in the poll because I haven't bought enough supplies in the last five years to justify having any opinion.

You can add pictures right from your computer. To reply to a post, click "Add Reply" so that you get the full dialog box, not the fast response. Underneath you will see a place to add attachments, and you can browse to the picture you want to share on your own computer, click upload and then submit the post. The forum software will automatically create a thumbnail of the picture and can handle a picture up to 500K. The enlarged pic in the new window that opens up when a thumbnail is clicked will not be the same size as the original pic, but it will preserve the clarity. You do not have to depend on an outside source to store photos to post on this site! Only registered members can upload attachments. Johanna

I have a couple of pages of leatherworker links on my personal website. The search engines have made that area the busiest part of my site, and I hope some of you got some work because of it! I know the customers are out there, but how can they find you? I had some ideas. What I would like to do is make a page for each member who wants one that profiles the leatherworker or business, has pictures, introductions and awards earned, contact info, website links etc to help match potential customers find the right leatherworker to contact. If Joe Blow types in "custom leather wallet" and winds up on Leatherworker.net, I want Joe to be able to review a list of people who can do that job for him. I want the casual browser to be able to see the diversity and quality of handcrafted leather vs. nylon Wal Mart accessories. I want artists and other specialty leatherworkers to have a place for an online portfolio, even if they don't have a website yet. Two years ago, one of the major leather guilds liked this idea so much that over 100 people asked me to feature them. Are you still interested? Send me a PM or email, and I'll be sending you a "questionnaire" type thing and asking you for some pictures etc, and I will build you a page. You can review it, then I will post it. Once you have a profile established, you will be given a special email address to send updates and changes, and you are encouraged to do this as much as you wish. I can usually do updates within 24 hours. There will be no charge, and you will be getting extra publicity for your store/shop/hobby. We can assemble an informative, interesting way to introduce casual browsers to the ancient art, and conveniently connect buyers to sellers. Win-Win. Why am I doing this? I had a shop before the Internet existed, and we were limited to selling in our geographical region without investing in expensive advertisng. I want you leatherworkers to be doing your thing, not selling insurance and pouring concrete. Some of you will toss me a couple of dollars now and then so I can add more features or break even, and that would be nice, but I don't expect you to. I have wanted to do this for leatherworkers for a long time because, well, I can. :Pc: I can't carve my name, but I'm a comp tech. This forum-site isn't about me, so don't expect me to post except for the admin stuff. It would be great if you would start posting- introduce yourselves to each other. I "know" most of you, others I don't. As the forum and site grow, leatherworkers will be entertained, informed and hopefully get more business, or at least ooows and ahhhhs from our peers. Hey, after a long day at the bench and a full scrap box, it's good to talk to friends who understand. And when we make a masterpiece, who appreciates it more? The customer or the rest of us who actually know what we are looking at? The point of the forum was to be able to see attachments, configure email to suit your style, selectively read topics while not drowning in unread unwanted Yahoo mail, and connect in fellowship with other leatherworkers. That brings me to Live Chat, but I'll save that for another post of its own. I hope you enjoy participating, and don't hesitate to send me suggestions for improvements. It's your community, and you leatherworkers can have it any way you want it! Johanna

Click "add reply" or "new topic" to bring up the screen to compose a post. Underneath where you type your message, you will see "file attachment" Click "browse" to navigate to the file on your computer. Attachments can have almost any picture extensions, i.e. jpg, png, gif, bmp etc or be files like txt, pdf, doc etc. After you have located the attachment you wish to post click "add this attachment" and you will see your attachment in a white box. If you click remove, it is removed. If you click "add into" it will allow you to place it wherever in the post you desire. I set permissions very high. You don't need to bother reducing a size as long as the size is under 500K. The software will automatically generate a thumbnail version that people can click on if they wish to view an attachment, and it will open for them in a separate window. This saves page loading time, and reduces the wait for those with slow internet connections. If you want to delete an attachment from your own post you can do it with the "edit" feature, or in your user control panel. If anyone is worried about space, don't be. The board will be a permanent online storage, and if it gets "full", I'll bump up permissions again. We have unlimited webspace. There has been some concern about adult material possibly being posted. I created an "adult only" area that is hidden from people who haven't requested access. Only people registered to that forum will get search results from that forum. If you would like to be able to see the biker art and other adult items, please PM me, and I will reset your permissions. The idea is to keep the main board "family friendly", but still have a place where consenting adults can display their work and discuss their business. If you have any questions or problems, please let me know, and I will do my best to help. Johanna

There is a lot of crossover between leatherworking and woodwork, smithing, knife-making, etc. I hope everyone invites any groups or individuals that they think might be interested in leatherwork. http://www.leatherworker.net/forum I can configure things just about any which way, so let me know what changes you would like to see, or how I could make things easier to use. Did I miss a topic you are interested in? TIA Johanna

Encyclopedia of Rawhide and Leather Braiding by Bruce Grant has been an invaluable resource for me. What do you recommend?

Wow. I want one in black, with fringe, and an inside pocket. Anything we can barter with, Dave? Or will you accept a payment plan for the next 50 years or so? The guy should go on a diet rather than not get to wear that vest! Johanna

So you caught the snake? Another snake and exotic reptile skin expert- Marion Kelton and her husband: Something Uneek TANNING THE SKINS Forget everything you ever heard about anti-freeze. Skin snake out from the belly. Lay the skin flat flesh side up on a very flat even surface with a kitchen spoon, scrape the flesh from the skin an inch at a time till the skin is clean. Then prepare a solution of 1 cup salt to 1 gallon of water. Layer the skin into the solution making sure that there are no air bubbles. Leave the skin in the solution for three days at room temperature. This step is the same as salting the skin and the process is better for the skin. After three days remove the skin from salt solution and wash throroughly with cool water. Mixing 1/2 cup salt and 4oz of alum powder (can be purchased at your local pharmacy but has to be ordered)to a little less then a gallon of water which leaves enough room for the skin. A gallon pickle jar (well cleaned) works best. Make sure that the salt and alum are mixed throughly and solution is clear. Layer skin into solution making sure skin does not trap any bubbles. Let soak for 10 days. Remove skin and wash. NEVER USE HOT WATER, ALWAYS COLD. Roll skin up with towels to soak excess water. Let skin hang until it starts to turn blue, then with your fingers gently stretch skin till it turns white. The more you work the skin, the softer it will become. You MUST work it till its completely dry. Last step is to use leather conditioner to soften skin more. (I use Lexol leather conditioner purchased at Tandy)This is a professional leather tan and the skins will last forever. ~~The Keltons Where have you been getting your snake skins? Johanna