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Grey Drakkon

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Everything posted by Grey Drakkon

  1. Grey Drakkon
    I think it was this kind: http://www.tandyleather.com/en-usd/home/1299-01.aspx
  2. Grey Drakkon
    I've used one for my cat's collar, and I can tell you it holds really well. Much like a snap, I have to grab it at just the right angle to pop it apart.
  3. Grey Drakkon
    Even if the braid ends up way shorter than you want, that's no reason to toss it. Kids wear bracelets too and it would probably fit them.
  4. Grey Drakkon
    How funny, I always leave the snaps for last because I like to braid really tight and squeezing the snaps through would be a pain. I always leave about 3/4 to an inch of space at the ends.
  5. Grey Drakkon
    It depends on how tight you braid, sometimes you can squeeze in one more row and that shortens the overall length a bit. I'm working through the same thing though, just need to remember to write down starting length, how many strands, and if it's a tight/loose braid and see what the final size comes to. Oh and don't forget the snaps! You can tweak the length a bit by moving those forward/back on the ends if you left yourself some space to work with.
  6. Grey Drakkon
    Huh, I was worried that if it had some "give" that it would eventually be able to pry at the post and wiggle loose over time, especially since as a bracelet to undo it you have to pry at it with one hand. I'll try setting some a bit looser, thanks. Interesting, I think I have a type of segma snap but they're super weenie, but on a tandy video I just watched they looked a fair bit more sturdy. Maybe I'll give those a shot too, just for variety if nothing else.
  7. Grey Drakkon
    Nice! Very clever to have everything portable like that.
  8. Grey Drakkon
    I never buy anything from Hobby Lobby for many reasons, but I'm sure that tool is available elsewhere.
  9. Grey Drakkon
    So I've been making bracelets and putting snaps on them. First I used line 24 which had too long a shaft, so I was sawing it down but I found that the cap was getting dented out of shape even with it being cradled in the proper shaped hole in the setter. I figured that's because the stem was too thick at that length so it was putting more pressure on it than it was supposed to. I just got some line 20 snaps, and I'm having the same problem! The line 20's are a nice size, but I suspect the stem is a bit too long and that's why I'm getting the dents. Or is that not it? I'm doing a gentle tapping, and the stem is flaring out great, the hardware is firmly stuck to the leather but I'm getting a square shaped dent on the cap every time. Also they're really hard to snap/pry apart, which isn't the greatest thing when pressing against your wrist. What's strange is I had run to the local Joanne Fabrics store with a 50% off coupon a while ago and got some anorak snaps, and they work PERFECTLY. Exactly the right size, height, and not a pain to pry apart/snap together. Maybe I should just stick to that kind of snap for bracelets or something...Anyway, if anyone has input on how to keep the cap from denting or what I'm doing wrong, please enlighten me.
  10. Grey Drakkon
    You had a good balance of showing the general things needed and having good close ups to fill in the blanks (like what the thickness of the button should be). Great little instructional.
  11. Grey Drakkon
    It took my brain a bit to figure it out because it fit in so well. Just say it's an M.C. Escher influence.
  12. Grey Drakkon
    Absolutely gorgeous work on both of them! The only discordant note is on the center strap in the top section, there seems to be an extra strand that's throwing off the over/under pattern. I severely doubt too many people would pick on that though.
  13. Grey Drakkon
    As always, fabulous work. I love the shape of the bag, the roundels on the end are very eye-catching. Do you have feet on the bottom of the bag to keep it from rolling over?
  14. Grey Drakkon
    My friend was foolish enough to leave her airbrush kit with me so I've been playing with it a bit. Liked the gradients I made, but didn't like the fuzzy partially dyed edges so I took some lumiere acrylic paints to them (gold on the red/purple and black on the other two) and heat set them, then brushed on some diluted resolene to since I noticed the dye run a bit when it got water splashed on one of the bracelets. Alas, I'm out of snaps and my shipment is sitting in Germany (so says the online tracking)
  15. Grey Drakkon
    That style of bird suits the branches perfectly. Only thing I'd change is shoving the decoration to the left a tad so it's not covered by the strap.
  16. Grey Drakkon
    My straps on this one were very uneven so I decided to experiment with spraying dye. No big loss if it looks bad, right? I was thinking of how you tie-dye t-shirts by bundling them up/knotting them, so I braided it really tight, sprayed from one side purple, the other side green, then undid the braid and redid it with a different starting strap and braided it looser then sprayed red on top. It ended up more like a coral snake than a tie-dye shirt, and makes it look pretty neat even with wobbly straps! I'm really wanting to get a real airbrush system now.
  17. Grey Drakkon
    Ah yes, the Logan isn't exactly a top-grade mat cutter and the type you got is a pretty bare bones version, although it having a wobble isn't normal for it either. You might have a bad cutter, but seems you've found a workaround.
  18. Grey Drakkon
    That is actually pretty funny, because my day job is a picture framer and I use a mat cutter every day. You got a bad result from cutting a straight edge using the original groove because you're supposed to put a thin barrier underneath the thing you're cutting (like a long strip of at board) to support the item you're cutting. The groove is just there to make sure the blade doesn't get its tip dulled after it cuts through the thing you're cutting and the mat board barrier. A lot of beginners either don't use a scrap mat or make the mistake of cutting the same section of the scrap mat over and over and that results (at least when cutting mat board windows) fuzzy edges and wobbling. Your solution of making a smaller cutting groove might solve that problem, but I would try putting a piece of scrap mat underneath it, adjust your blade so it's just barely poking past the leather when you're cutting it, and see if it makes a difference. Excellent thinking outside the box there! Even using my mat cutter every day I didn't think to try using it with leather. Likely because I mostly use mine with the beveled edge cutter instead of the straight cutter.
  19. Grey Drakkon
    Great job! It has a ton of character, which is one of the great things about leatherworking.
  20. Grey Drakkon
    Thanks, Dave! Northstar, you did a great job in the video, it's visually very clear and voicing a rhythm to the pattern makes it much easier for me to remember. Every issue I had while making the 5 strand was user error.
  21. Grey Drakkon
    5-Strand bracelet: challenge accepted. Made a beefy 1 1/2 wide bracelet, the vudeo was invaluable for figuring out what I was doing wrong at every step. In any case, my guy is pleased with it, even with a couple of wobbles in the straps. (Really need to get my hands on a strap cutter)
  22. Grey Drakkon
    Camping is another recreation that uses eyelets (for tents) I saw an eyelet repair kit at the local outdoor store the other day, although the price for it was probably much higher than you would find elsewhere. As for alternatives, you could reinforce the holes with leather disks and stitch them into place, but they'll of course get worn faster than metal.
  23. Grey Drakkon
    Fair use/copyright came up recently in regards to patterns for leatherworking, I found http://library.dts.edu/Pages/RM/Helps/copyright.shtml as a pretty clear-cut explanation on what is fair use now.
  24. Grey Drakkon
    That...Is a joke. The whole article is a joke.
  25. Grey Drakkon
    Ok this is one of those things that I wonder if everyone already knew, or if there's a better way of doing it, but it seemed like sheer brilliance last night. I made a bracelet out of very soft veg tan, the kind that starts off with a fuzzy back and only gets worse the more you try to fix it. Using a straight edge with a blade just gives it the opportunity to flop around and make uneven edges that are still fuzzy, and using tape on the back makes it give you clean cuts, but peeling off the tape makes it fuzzy all over again. So I grabbed my nailclippers and SNIPPED the leather! I put a before and after picture below showing the first loop after the snap and how much more tidy it is. Using curved surgical scissors may be another way of cleaning it up, I'll have to experiment.
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