TexasLady

Quoting- Windy Posted 29 January 2009 - 04:28 PM I understand your frustration. After looking at your web site I would suggest that you heed your own words. Go and change all those "I made" into the truth of "my company made". Talk about misleading as one can get. When I read "I made" I take to mean you made it personally,when in all reality your team made it. Of course this is alright since you admit to not taking the high road all the time. Regarding saying "I made" something versus saying "my team made" something, I thought of an ancient example of the one responsible being credited with the resultant work, even though others were employed. When you read this verse, it says-"But Phar′aohs daughter came up from the City of David to her own house that he had built for her; then he built the Mound." - 1 Kings 9:24. But if you read what's written above and below that verse, it's obvious that Solomon didn't do all that building all by himself. http://www.jw.org/en/publications/bible/nwt/books/1-kings/9/#v11009024

That's beautiful work, DR80. I would trust it to hold my watch any time.

Good for you! I'm happy for your success.

That's a good question. The ones that I tanned (salmon and the one shown, of which I've forgotten the name) came out rather stiff, almost like plastic. But when I did research, I found online a description of a 'salmon skin tanning class' where a woman said she loved how soft the tanned salmon skins were. Apparently this softness (or lack of it) depends on the tanning solution that is used. I also found online where an Australian fish skin processing company gave some examples of tanning solutions and their results. (I can't find this one right now.) I used the standard Tandy offering,... the same as what you'd use on cowhide. http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2013/08/05/3818592.htm This site implies that the softening is done 'after' the tanning. "...then they are tanned, died, dried, sanded, trimmed, softened and then glazed to give a nice smooth finish." But this other site gives a slightly different version. http://www.sealeatherwear.com/mobile_fish-leather-tanning.php "The special tanning process prevents the fish leather from becoming stiff, once the oils are taken out."

Sounds right. Here's my prototype little purse beside its Fossil inspiration. (Yes, this indicates delusions of grandeur.) I'm wondering if I ever took pictures of the "do-over". It wasn't that it looked so bad. It was that I could barely get it to unzip around the tight little corners.

If we were talking about prototypes in general, I would have a different opinion from talking about a gun holster. I think you did the right thing in calling it a lost cause, thinkley, considering the importance of functionality of a gun holster. There was no photo, but just using my imagination, it's probably like the prose that says, "A rose by any other name is still a rose." Well, "A gun holster by any other name is still a gun holster." When I botched a small salmon skin purse, I finished it, took pictures of it (to document the mistake) and then took it apart and restructured it. I'd tanned the skins myself and couldn't bear to throw them in the trash can.

Love it! Thanks for showing us how to make something "authentic" and useful.

Along the idea of chrij, a pinch of ascorbic acid keeps mold from growing in Black Walnut Hull Tincture. I don't know what it will do to leather, but yes, lemon or ascorbic acid solution should be mold deterrents.

I'm glad egyptian picked up the scent on this thread and renewed interest in it. Winter Bear had so many interesting things to tell us! Forgive me, but as I read it I was thinking, "This man is really smart." And then I choked when I saw that Winter Bear is female. Eh. "That lady is really smart." I love to carve things, like erasers, into stamps. I've even used a dremel to carve onyx into a seal. These were Chinese name seals for stamping watercolor paintings. They were my own original artwork and I sought out local Chinese people to help me with the 'translation'. The dremel drill was pretty much eaten up in the process, so "cost effective" it was NOT. But it was a beautiful seal. I kept samples of print from it, but sadly did not take a picture of it, and I gave it away to a fellow artist several years ago. I "hear you" Winter Bear about using stamps made by other people and their companies. I would like to improve my technique and materials a little and then begin offering my services to make stamps and stencils for other leatherworkers. I would research how to make a fair profit for my work, and then give the client full ownership over his stamps and stencils. The only thing I would want would be to be able to show examples of the work I've done to future clients, in person or online. So, for this purpose, I would keep my original work. ...something like this should be possible to work out. I just really love carving stamps.

I'm so grateful for the input from everyone on this Thread. When I do make my Makers Mark, I will have the advantage of getting to weigh the pros and cons from your collective experience.

Beautiful work. That's the kind of product we all want as our legacy. ...Oh, okay. Finding your makers mark makes sense now. I hope the fellow will think of something else he can order from you. I'm paraplegic. Got this way last year. I'll keep your info on hand in case anyone is willing to pay for a quality leather item. Some people actually have money for things like what you make,...things that give pleasure to have and use for years to come. I would hope whoever orders something would send you the cheapie version of what they want you to make an improved version of. (I just got through slaughtering the English language in that last sentence. Foreign language speakers Beware!)

Wow, chriscraft. That sounds like your makers mark really saved the day. It protected your reputation. I have a question, and I'm sorry if it sounds 'picky'. How did the man find your makers mark that was "under each seat hidden away from view when mounted on his motorized builds"? Did they remove the leather from the seat in order to search for a makers mark?

Here's another copyright free image. "The king of Cambay (in present day Gujarat), painted by Ludovico di Varthema between 1502 and 1508 CE Source." http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/the-travels-of-ludovico-di-varthema-1863/

Your English is great, Mark. I didn't notice any glitches at all. Those designs are lovely,...completely charming. There's just one little problem though; both links are the same. Please come back and give us the other one. The closest I'd seen to those designs were on the blouse of my Russian piano teacher. And, actually, her mother was Polish, so her blouse might have been Polish rather than Russian. Thank you so much.

Found more free-to-copy images on that same site. These were listed under Paintings. http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/page/2/?medium=image&style=paintings

Beautifully done. Thanks for explaining it to me. I hope you won't mind if I do something similar someday. I'll use a different pattern when I appropiate your idea. (Okay?)

Very pretty. Sorry that I don't understand. Is leather glued on top of a wooden letter?

Do you think the Plasticine would last longer than cow bone? Also, I have a dremel set. I've made Chinese seals in onyx, reverse image, using my dremel, but that was for stamping with red ink, not for pressure stamping as on leather. So, I know how to do the 'art' part. It would just be the matter of using a material that's sufficiently hard enough and durable enough to make a nice deep impression on veg tan.

This question of mine should probably go somewhere else other than on this Thread, but here is where I started thinking about it, so I'll ask it here,... Would a logo carved out of cow bone be strong enough to stamp onto leather with a mallet? Or would it just shatter or disentegrate when hammered? Is there any material other than metal that might hold up to reusing it, say, 20 times?

Hi onlyoblivion, I understood the questions, and they were riveting. But I don't have the experience to answer. I'll be hanging around to see what others tell you, and now, giving your Thread a bump.

I think that's a good idea, Lumpen. It would save putting the extra buckle.

Manypawz, did you follow a design that was already made? I'm wanting to draw my own birds, but the quality of my tooling doesn't quite match yours yet.

Thanks, DS. I will.

That sounds like a great idea. (Everybody please back up to the previous page and read DoubleC's post.)

I'm posting, two years 'later', because this Thread came up when I searched the words 'continuing education'. I live in an area abundant in community colleges. I would like to teach a continuing education class in leatherworking. Braiding sounds good. I'll be contacting others on this Thread for suggestions. The colleges want a list of materials that the students must buy, what materials or tools the instructor will provide, and the curriculum. The college I talked to didn't pay much, but I'd still like to do it. I need to practice first myself.