Clockwork

I'm pretty new to leatherworking, and at this point I have no experience with dyes or stains. I'm currently working on a project that involves lightweight upholstery leather, and I was wondering if dying the leather would cause it to stiffen up, or change its behavior. I need it to stay flexible and supple, and I would hate to accidentally ruin it by trying to achieve a specific color. Thanks, I really appreciate your time.

Thanks guys for all the info. I see some that should work perfectly at the sites you recomended.

This question does not actually directly relate to leatherwork, but I thought some of you might be able to help me out from your experience buying leatherwork-related hardware. I have a riding coat (it's not leather, just heavy black fabric; kind of like a denim) that I wear to faires and so forth, and I really like it, except for its buttons. It has big plastic buttons that mess up its overall look. I want to replace them with shiny nickel buttons, but though I've searched all over the internet, and asked a LARPer friend of mine, I can't seem to find any big enough. They need to be pretty big if they're going to work with the existing button holes (not to mention that they'll look more impressive that way ) but all I've been able to find at fabric supply stores are these sad little dainty things that would look really bad on the coat. Anyway, if any of you guys has ever encountered a supplier with big nickel buttons (nickel is my preference, but pretty much any metallic buttons would be fine with me) I'd appreciate a link or something so I can help my coat achieve its full potential. Thanks guys.

I really like the rough handmade look of this. Somehow it comes across as more authentic that way. I can definitely see what you mean about the native american look, but I have no trouble imagining a norseman carrying this either.

Wow, I can't believe I overlooked that main page and the supplier ads. Thank you for taking the time to point out the obvious to an extremely unobservant individual. I'll check those out.

Hey everyone. First off, I'd like to say what an awesome resource this forum is; I've already gotten a lot of questions answered just from reading through old boards, and I can tell it will be invaluably helpful as I try to learn this craft. Thank you for providing this. I have an interest in learning leatherwork for a number of reasons, but for now, my primary interest relates to costuming. I make sets and costumes for a series of recreational microbudget folk story/fairytale film renditions that my brother and I make with a group of kids. A lot of the costumes include leather accessories like bracers, scabbards, sword frogs, gauntlets, etc. and as we have continued to make the films and more people have gotten involved, the number of leather items has increased to the point that I can't afford to buy them anymore, and I want to start making them myself. Whenever I start teaching myself a new craft, I find it most effective just to jump into it and start toying around with making practice projects. In this case the materials are fairly expensive, so before I buy anything, I'd like to get some advice from experienced artisans. So, with that lengthy preamble out of the way, here are my questions: 1. leather. I did some looking online for different types, and all i found were a variety of upholstery leathers, and that didn't seem like what I'd want for making stiff bracers, or other light armor pieces. It seems like I need something thick like 9-10oz, but I don't really know where to find it. Basically, I just want to know where you guys would get your leather if you wanted to make a simple pair of bracers. Something fairly thick and hearty, but reasonably affordable. 2. chemicals. Lots of people talk about oils, waxes, backgrounders, dyes, stiffeners...I understand to some extent what these are, and I get that different leatherworkers use different processes, but I was wondering if somebody could tell me briefly what sorts of chemical products are necessary to have before I start screwing around with simple patterns. Thanks guys, I hope this post wasn't too annoyingly long or newbish.