ClayB

I'm sure most of you are probably aware of the calendar feature here on the forum. You can access the calendar from the button at the top of the main page, and you can also see a list of upcoming events at the bottom of the main page. I try and add events as I become aware of them, and a few others do too occasionally. It was pointed out to me yesterday that I don't seem to be doing a very good job of keeping up with things, so I'm asking everyone for their help here. If you hear of an upcoming event, a show, contest, class etc. that other leather workers might be interested in, PLEASE add them to the calendar. It's not difficult to do, pretty much the same as posting a message on the forum. If you have any trouble, you can send me a message and I can try and walk you through it, or if you send me the details, I can post it for you. This is a valuable feature here on the forum as it lets other people know about upcoming events that they may not otherwise have heard about. Several teachers have commented that they have had students tell them they heard about classes here on LW. The more people that know about upcoming, the better chance that they will be successful.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane Ben. Remember how many of these Billy did? Seems like there were times when he'd post 2 or 3 a week for a while, the finished piece and several in progress photos to show us how he did it. And he'd always answer a pile of questions after each one. We really miss you Billy!!! I hope England is treating you well. If you get a chance, I'd really like a mailing address. I'd sure like to send you something back as a small token of my thanks for that beautiful picture I got from you (by way of Johanna) Take care my friend, you are in my thoughts often. Clay

When I was at the Tandy store in Rapid City last weekend, they had a stack of booklets on the counter entitled Wholly Cow Too. I guess there was a Wholly Cow one back in 2004 but I haven't seen it. This 72 page book covers the history of Tandy Leather, The Leather Factory, and the new Tandy Leather Factory. It's kind of interesting reading to see how this company evolved over the last 90 years. Check with your local Tandy Leather Factory store to get your own copy. There's even a several page section of pictures in case you are wondering what Jim Linnell, Tony and Kay Laier, and lots of other Tandy employees looked like a LONG time ago.

I hope you have a really good trip over Tina. I'll be looking forward to hearing all about it once you get settled back in. I'll also be looking forward to you getting back to using your tools and creating your wonderful works of art!

I guess I ran out of space on the first post. Here's the rest of the pictures. A few of the finished boxes A sample box Kathy brought to show us And one of the class Kathy is a great teacher and her classes are always a lot of fun. She's teaching this class again at the IFOLG show this fall. If any of you are looking for a class to take, this would be a good one!

Kathy Flanagan (aka Yaklady) returned to Rapid City, SD to Clay Miller's Tandy store to teach another class. This time she taught us how to make a leather box. As usual, Kathy did a great job teaching this class. She started out by explaining how to design and cut out the leather for a box. She then gave each of us a piece of leather (pre cut) for our boxes. We then spent the next several hours carving a pattern onto this piece of leather. Here's an the piece that Kathy carved. On Saturday we finished up the carving and started the construction. This involved folding, edging, coloring, adding a lining and punching the stitching holes. We finished up on Sunday doing the sewing to complete the box.

Hi Hilly, I know where you are coming from. I finally gave in and got myself a pair of real glasses with progressive lenses in them. The reading glasses were getting to be a real hassle. Even with the glasses, I can use some help with close up work so I got a Mini Techlight headband with the clip on magnifier. It really does help to see what you are doing on the small details.

David, You can use most any kind of acrylic paint to paint on leather. The ones I use most often are Liquitex that I pick up at Hobby Lobby or Delta Ceramcoat that I get at Walmart. There are lots of other brands that will probably work just fine too. Always try them on scrap first to see what kind of results you're going to get. Most often when using acrylic paint on leather I'll thin it down quite a bit with water. You can build up color by adding more layers of paint. Straight out of the bottle, it's too thick for my taste and the results are kind of like painting a barn. Even with paint, it's still nice to be able to see the texture of the leather in your project.

Paul, I think this is the "Everything Burnett" issue of the LCSJ. All of your articles appeared in it, carving the cover, the turnbacks, the swivel knife exercises, and a press release on the "everything Burnett club". Lots of great info in there. You do some of the neatest scrolls out there!!

Seems like for me it's actually slower with the bluish screen than it was with the brown one. Yesterday I timed it and it took right around one minute for a page to change from when I clicked a button till I could read the next screen. It also seems like for me it's slower if I am signed in than if I am not. I didn't see any noticable difference when I installed Google Chrome yesterday, so for me, I am guessing it could be that this is as fast as my internet connection is going to let it get. I cant believe you both dont have concussions yet from banging your heads on the table. I would have given up long ago!!

Hi Paul, Another long time fan of your art here. Ever since you introduced that first home study course many many years ago, I've been a big fan of your teaching style too. I have always really liked the way you explain not just the how, but also the "why" in your lessons. That helped me to understand a lot of things better. It's really great to have you here on LW. I know that anyone wanting to increase their knowledge, whether they've been carving for a couple days or a couple decades, is going to be able to learn some things from you. I can't wait to see what you've got in store for us here.

This isn't aimed directly at electrathon. I've been reading more and more people trashing Tandy and the products they sell for awhile now, and it's been really bothering me too. Have any of you tried any of the new Craftools that Tandy has been putting out? I sat in on a beginner class earlier this year in a Tandy store and was handed a pack of tools and told to play along. When I used the cams and the veiners I was pleasantly surprised. They left crisp clear impressions. Then when I used the smooth pear shaders and bevelers, they walked really nice, no chatter marks with the beveler. I asked if these were the new tools Tandy was putting out and was told they were. I was really impressed with how well they worked. I don't know how many of the tools Tandy has redesigned up to this date, but they are working on improving the quality of thier products. I hear so many people complaining about the quality of their leather and their dyes, but I have been using them if you take a little time to figure out what works, I get along fine with them. I get so tired of hearing people call everything Tandy sells "crap". Tandy got most of us started. Tandy has some very talented, dedicated leather artisans working for them. They have added some better quality leather to thier line, they are working on improving the quality of the Craftool line of tools. When it sounded like we weren't going to be able to get spirit based dyes much longer, they got started on a new line right away so that we'd have something to use in it's place. Seems like so many people tried it once, and when it didn't work just the same as the old stuff they gave up on it and call it "junk". Getting good at the art of working with leather requires dedication, practice, experimentation. So many people seem to want instant gratification and unfortunately, that's not gonna happen for most people when it comes to this medium. Then they want to blame the leather, the tools, the finishes, or anything else. I know I'll probably regret posting this, but I have a lot of friends that work for Tandy and I know that they aren't trying to "trash" thier customer base. I know that a lot of them are the most dedicated leather carvers you're going to find anywhere and I think it's wrong for people here to throw insults at them. Maybe some of these people that keep complaining should go out and start thier own leather supply company and offer us all the "perfect" leather, tools, finishes, and supplies for rock bottom prices if it's so easy.