JLSleather

NICE. A little "dry brush" to make the hair stand out ... sweet!

Probably the wrong forum...I saw the Aukland thing and thought I'd comment. My wife is an import from there, though I'm in Iowa. Everyone over here thinks she's an A-grade hide, though perhaps there she's standard Her niece just loves my "American accent"...

Yep, traditional thing. Other side of the coin, though... Where was that fella talked about the "good" mistake? If you're carving a portrait of me, then it needs to LOOK like me (good news, you won't need your hair blade). But, you can make that flower look like about anything you want. If you trace a line off just a little, it STILL looks like a flower Lots of folks seem to think they are not an artist, therefore they shouldn't do this or that. Buddy years ago was a charcoal artist (black and white drawings). Always said, "You can't be scared and be an artist". And somewhere I heard that -- "If you think you can't, you're right". But by using these "flowers", you're getting comfortable with your use of tools, whether that's bevelers, swivel knives, brushes, the dyes, whatever ... if you make a "mistake", YOU know it and can improve, but meanwhile you have a MARKETABLE PRODUCT (looks like a flower to ME).

Yep, check Ebay. I've been in there last couple of days, because I would like to find some of the older tools I used to have. Keep in mind, though, that Ebay is not always a discount. I ordered stuff from catalogs BRAND NEW -- CHEAPER than the same item went for on Ebay. Just so you know... It won't happen tomorrow, but let me get up and running next couple of weeks and I'll send you at least some of the trim. When I'm working with hides, I hang onto a bit, just by way of suggestion... 1. ) at least 'til it's gone, a small piece of the same hide I'm working on can't be beat for testing colors on (different hides may color slightly differently) 2. ) doesn't hurt to leave a little 4-ounce leather laying around, even if you're making belts/holsters... the lighter stuff makes great leather keepers. 3. ) heavier chunks often get stuck in to embossing plugs. You get the idea. Bottom line, though, I'm likely to have more "scraps" than I want laying around. Too much stuff around here becomes test equipment for my Baby (age 21 mos) to see if it will go down the "potty"...

Or, cut out the background (filigree) and back it with black. Maybe duplicate the background look with a marbled-texture skin? 'Course, ya gotta line it... But, Donny's right - that belt looks great.

Wow, this stuff doesn't cost what it used to! My stuff "got away" from me in a break-in, and I'm trying to put my shop back together in the new house. Wanted to get started, but not order EVERYthing 'til I figure how the room will lay out. Spent just over $1000, and haven't ordered any leather yet ...

SUE Weeet. I sometimes think folks get so caught up in tooling/carving/painting/embossing/blahblah that we forget that the real beauty of leather is IN the leather. Yours is broken up (not a "piece of cow"), simple (not gaudy), and PURDY. Love the stitching, looks great! Oh, yeah... been years since I hunted, and I didn't know a fella would take the bolt out of the rifle .... GREAT look AND legitimate function. Did I already say SUE Weeeeet?

Airbrush it. Nice even tone, consistent. I only use spirit dyes (never did like that sit-on-the-top stuff) and, when you test it on scrap, use a piece of scrap FROM THE SAME HIDE. A scrap from another hide may not dye the same.

Someone mentioned not charging enough. I know when I was in full swing, most of the people I talked to already knew it wasn't going to be cheap (I had good "word of mouth", so they knew the quality would be good). But, you can't get them all. I find that just like crossing the street, it's the one you DON'T see coming that gets you. I lost a good sale (high volume, with good per piece price) by bidding too LOW. Later found out that the "customer" hired someone else because she figured that the most expensive one MUST be the best one. I offered better craftsmanship - on better materials - in the same time frame - and she personally knew some of the people who referred me. On the other side ... Remodeling the house, I asked my buddy about his job at Menards. How can they sell me a board for $.02 LESS than what they paid and make money (John Menard had just hit the 10-richest-in-the-country list). If I spend $8000 on new materials, and 1000 guys do the same this month, Menards loses $.02 THOUSANDS of times. But TENS OF THOUSANDS is in short-term CD's the whole time I'm building, and by the time I'm done John has made money. Then Stanley gives him some MORE for agreeing to NOT sell Makita tools (?) where all us boys are coming to buy stuff... you get the idea. If this is unclear, here's one more... Al passed on a few years back, but the Stohlman's STILL get paid when one of us buys a craft book...

New to the site, and returning to leathercraft. First project in 1985 (or was it 86). Used to work out a bit, and asked a guy to make me a weight lifting belt. Simple, natural, a little earthtone color on my first name centered on the back. He took so long to get going, I finally told him I'd take care of it myself . From there I made LOTS of belts and wallets, handbags and such, some holsters/gunbelts, framed landscape scenes, just about everything... though never any saddle work. Since I don't have a horse, I figured that was OK. Got away from the fun when I started making babies, which spanned alot of years. Somebody broke into the house and got the tools, the computer files (including the backups - ugghh), and the camera. Almost ready to smile about that one... I didn't replace it for quite a while, figuring I didn't have room for a bunch of sharp objects AND the babies. Sorry about the extra spaces in this post, just not used to the new keyboard yet... Anyway, I've ordered stuff from SO many places I thought I'd better let some of it come in so I can see where I'm at before I end up with 3 of everything! Hope to have some photos of some finished work by the end of the month, but seems like the tools have changed a bit since back then (not all the changes good ones).