Eldorado

A question for the wise and experienced folk here. I'm thinking of using Tandy's Oily Utility Sides or their Stoned Oil Cowhide sides to make a shoulder strap. Does anyone know if the oily stuff is prone to escaping the leather and getting on clothing (like the shirt the strap is rubbing against)? I've not used this material before and like the texture, but don't want to get calls from customers griping about how it ruined their clothes. Thanks in advance for any advice and assistance.

Thanks for that insight. Fortunately, Tandy and some others have provided me a business account since I have a valid DBA on file with the state. If I lived a couple of miles north I'd be in the city and would need a sales tax license, but there are benefits to being in the county. I'll have to look into this more.

Folks, In my small leather business, so far my sales have been entirely internet. As a result, and because I operate in unincorporated county where there is no sales tax, I've not gotten a State sales tax license thus far. However, I've begun to attract some interest locally and may be doing some in-state business soon. My sales are few and far enough between that it seems pretty onerous to get a license and report quarterly forever after. I've heard that when doing custom work (rather than selling out of inventory), you can choose to bill for only the labor and so avoid sales tax on the merchandise. Anyone else have any knowledge of this? Thanks in advance.

Taking nothing away from the tremendous work displayed here, it seems the discussion of whether (or to what extent) leather armor was used in war in the medieval period comes up from time to time. I'd like to offer the following link to the Met, which shows examples of surviving horse armor out of cuirbouli and makes a pretty definitive statement that "the use of hardened leather defenses was once more widespread than assumed." http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/26.235.1-.3 The Metropolitan Museum of Art would seem to be a fairly reliable source.

He could use a dauber and alot of acrylic resolene on the back side, don't ya think? That would keep some of the sweat transfer under control.

On a different day, we might have met with my antler staff in hand. I've got a Druid look that I do from time to time. Took the antler, chopped the end clean with my chop saw, gouged out some of the brittle horn on the inside, and gooped in JBWeld. When it set, I drilled it and cranked in a double-ended lag bolt (3/8"). Screwed the thing to the top of an live oak cutting from my back yard. Solid as a rock. Good luck.

Hey Ben, It was good to see you and Bob in Larkspur last weekend. I've done something similar with a deer antler using JB Weld Epoxy. This is probably similar to what Hivemind did. The nice parts about it are that it fills the entire void, is drillable/tappable, and when you fill the void with the soft epoxy and then let it set-up on a piece of paper on a flat surface you can get a perfectly flat base that is even with the bottom of the horn. Hope you find this helpful.

Both of these are bloody brilliant! Thank you very much. I had found a manual on the 153w on the web, but seemed to be missing sections, particularly those that had to do with adjustments and timing. Both of these manuals cover the issue exactly and, as far as I can tell, the mechanisms for each are the same. Here is the offending part diagram from the first manual you posted. The bits we have been working with are labeled as #1. I'm concerned that the screw marked as #2 is connected to a part of the steel casing that is cracked and that contributes to the shifting when something happens. I'm going to forward these manuals to my friend and see if he understands them better than I. Thank you again.

I certainly can. It may be a couple of days, but I'd appreciate any input.

Tremendous input, thanks much. I'm ever hopeful that he can get it up and running (and show me how to keep it that way). I've got to swallow hard at a new one's cost. The boy's going to college this fall.. and that taint cheap. Anyone know anything about timing a 153? Are there tricks to getting the gear teeth lined up (1st tooth to 1st tooth, vertical gear to horizontal) for example?

I've got a Singer 153w, arm machine from the 40's or 50's. I fear it might have just died. It has had some problems with kicking out of true on the gears in the bottom arm. If I get a mis-stich or some kind of bind up, the bobbin holder rig seems to bump out of true with the shaft gear (all my names, have no idea what these things are really called). This has happened just a couple of times in the last year that I've had it and loosening the three screws that hold the shaft gear in place, then coaxing the shaft gear back to seat with the bobbin gear has seemed to fix it. This time it didnt work. The gears arent meshing now and I'm not sure why. I have a friend who knows about this stuff and I'm hoping to entice him to come have a look at it. He's got it purring in the past. While I'm hopeful, I'm concerned it may not be fix-able. Which leads me to the primary question (though if anyone knows how to fix the above, please feel free to offer advice. I'd be in your debt.) This is an old simple machine that will sew through about 3/8 of leather or 20 oz. It has a walking foot, an arm, but no reverse. Is there a newer, more available machine out there that is comparable, which I could get for $500-$1000? I don't need much. Most of the work I do is on simple pouches and occasionally stitching 3 oz garment/upholstery leather to something like 9-12oz veg tan. If this thing would stay working, I'd probably be happy as a clam with it. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks.

I've tried a number of ways of application. My friend and mentor initially told me to use a wool dauber and that put way too much on the piece. I couldnt control the foaming action and it some completely saturated the piece that there was no telling what would happen to the color. Mottled is a nice term, it even turned the top a bit green. So i shifted to a small make-up sponge. That cut down dramatically on the saturation, but it still messed with the color. I had some success with using a craft paint brush in terms of control, but that turned the back of my belt quite green and I had to paint acrylic over it. As you suggest, I'm beginning to think my issue is just with the brown spirit dyes. As I think about it, I've mostly used Tan, Mahogany, Black, and Ox Blood up until now. These definitely behave differently than the Fiebings brown series (light, medium, dark). Maybe it isnt technique so much as a different chemical behavior in this color set. I've been very pleased with Leather Sheen, I've worn the armor that is in my signature in the rain and the leather has been fine. LS does seem to have some tendency to crack in flexible areas, which is why I was looking into Resolene as a more flexible finish. I use the spray Leather Sheen and the biggest issue I have is sometimes it gunks in the nozzle and a big glob comes spraying out. If I'm quick I can recover and wipe off the piece, but if not the piece is ruined.

So, I decided to use Acrylic Resolene from Tandy as a top coat on some custom work. I have been using Leather Sheen. I dyed the pieces made of 5oz vegtan (they go to a purse) with 35% Fiebings Medium Brown spirit dye and 65% denatured alcohol and they looked ok. When I applied the resolene (after 24 hours of drying) it mottled the color - splotches, light areas, yuck. Ruined the pieces and I had to start over. It also turned the back of a matching belt an olive green color. I ended up painting the back of the belt with acrylic paint and spraying it with a clear craft finish. Thank God I didnt do the topside of the belt first, 57" x 1.5" belt leather is expensive. It even messed with the color density of some USMC black pieces I did for a different project. Anyone else get this result? Is this somehow a defective batch or does resolene have something against spirit dyes?

Quite nice and spiky. What weight leather are you using?

Interesting. For some reason, I expected it to be longer. Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm not sure why you couldnt use this pattern and modify it a bit - http://www.ecrater.com/p/6338493/mccalls-5907-mp316-medieval-costumes-sewing The collar would probably be the most difficult thing to put together. I typically transfer these tissue paper patters to poster board and then cut them out. The tissue paper is useful for pinning to fabric, but that would scar the leather. Before cutting them out, you can sketch-edit the differences.

I can't see it on the computer I am at now. Often that is a firewall issue, sometimes though it is a problem with the post. Maybe others can see it. Either way, you may want to consider doing the arms as detachable laced on pieces. In the time period you mention, attaching sleeves this way wasnt uncommon. Not sure the reason, other than style, but it will give you flexibility to wear with and without.

Ah very good. Frankly, some of the more interesting stuff to me is from the earlier period. I guess it appeals to the kid in me, more than than some of the frilly later period stuff. I've certainly been to TRF in Conroe, and though it presumes to be Tudor period, I recall alot more 1400's stuff than we have here at the big faires in Colorado and Kansas City. Perhaps because our days can be cooler -- summer mornings in Colorado can start at 45-50 degrees and KC is in the fall -- you will see alot more full jacket garb with high collars and such. Good luck, hopefully the same leather is available.

You might try this link. There are also a couple of other non-corporate makers of patterns that my wife and I googled and found. I don't have the links here, but there were a number of them popping up with search terms of renaissance+sewing+patterns. Prices were $7-$11. http://tudorshoppe.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=P Regarding leather, right now my local Tandy is piled high with 34-40 sq.ft. odd-lot upholstery leather full hides. They tell me this is the case in other stores nationwide as well. They were a special from a couple of months ago, but they havent sold out. The price is $1.50 per sq ft, which is amazing. I've bought several of these hides for various purposes, but keep eying them for a cape or cloak. They drape very well, are about 2 oz and have a water resistant finished exterior (like you'd expect on a couch). If I were doing what you are doing, I'd go with these, assuming your closest Tandy has any left. BTW, 11th-12th century is pretty early dark ages to mix with a 21st century look. That's crusade time and all I can think of is a surcoat. Collars and other accoutrements hadn't been invented (or in style) at that time, they way they might be in the 1500's or 1600's. Wthout seeing your sketch its hard to react, but you may want to rethink the time period - to make it easier to mesh with current day. And, at our local faire, you'd get the local Professor character coming up to you to explain that Jerusalem is "that way", as he does to anyone more than a couple of hundred years earlier than the age of Henry and his wives (good fun, but pointing out the disconnect with the actual faire period). No offense, just an observation. Hope this is helpful.

Thanks for the kind words. You know, a similar thought crossed my mind as I was researching and making it. Several of the styles of the time had the purse hanging from the belt by a simply string or leather thong. Fairly easy for a cutpurse to cut. This design (though I modified it a bit) appears to be one of the first attempts at fixing that, by making the belt connection be a more substantial piece of leather. The Girdle Purse also did this. I also think the several exterior pouches allowed access to coins and such, without opening the whole bag. This could have been important, both to keep hands out of it and so as to not let others know what you had. Easier to bargain if the other person thinks you only have the three shillings they can see in the outer pouch.

Sort of... and it depends on how you mould it. If you use a boiling or near boiling method, in my experience the answer is no. You can use your swivel knife to make cuts that will survive the process, but stamping and tooling for me just gets washed away. If you just wet mould, you will experience loss of definition, but some of the tooling/stamping can remain. However, I've not been as happy with that as I'd wish. The definition loss makes it all look a bit blurred. Also commenting on the polystyrene approach, I think it will work better if you get a harder surface. You'll need to press against the features and the poly might just squish under the pressure. I used a full halloween facemask, put tape over the eyes and nose holes and filled it with liquid marble from Michaels. When it set, I had a face-shaped piece of stone. Even with this, though I had to add some eyebrow ridges (with several passes of hot glue) and some nose definition. I suspect the poly head suffers from the same understated-ness in the human nose and forehead that my facemask did. Also, I would agree that 2-3oz would be better, though heavier can work ok with the boiling method. For 25 seconds after boiling, the leather is very similar to pie dough and will do most of what you want. After that you can't do much with it. But 25 seconds is easily enough to take it out of the pot and press it on to your form. Not alot of time to do the cool shaping that Leatheroo does, though. Hope this helps.

Made this pouch purse based an interpretation of this 1503 design - http://tarvos.imarea...ges/7005484.JPG Would love some comments.

Very nice, did you make the brass bits or get them from somewhere?

You know, I thought of doing two different kinds of floating joints here. The first was to use the sandwiched deertan to connect to the base -- not altogether different than what I did do but with a more flexible leather. I didnt do this because I wanted this design to be acceptable for actual combat. A floating joint might not be protective enough. The second was to add a second lame to the collar piece, not unlike what is often seen in the 16th century paintings of "great men". I didnt for two reasons. One was simply heat. Though this piece is for sale (as is a custom decorated one off the same pattern), if I wear it, that will probably happen in the Colorado or Kansas summer. I was fearful of not having enough air flow. The other was a concerned about chafing. An additional lame would bring the neck up fairly high and could be uncomfortable. If I had followed through on this, I would have used 4 or 5 strips of 3-4 oz veg tan to support the extra lame in a way that would allow it to flex. Something similar was done by the Greenwich armorers at the time. It would be interesting to see if deertan cowhide would work even better.

How's this?