DaveJohnson

Hello All I recently received two gifts from the Basque Country here in France and would love to add my touch to them and keep them secure : 1. A small knife shaped like a Chilli Pepper called a Bixia - the sheath it comes with looks plain and does not attach to a belt. 2. A beautiful Basque walking stick called a Makhila Both have strange shapes and I wondered if you have any ideas on how I could design a sheath for the knife and a cover / holder for the stick ?? Look forward to your advice Dave

Great work on the wallets and the bag - the actual tooling looks smooth and well defined and the contrast with the background shows it off nicely. Just some comments - the background could be pushed down more to create a flat background - maybe you are not stricking the tool hard enough, or the leather is too wet when you do the background, so it rises up again as it dries. Also getting the dye running around to the flesh side makes it look not so goood on the inside. I found two ways to help with this 1) is to stick clear plastic self-adhesive film to the back while tooling and dying - this stops the streaching when tooling and stops dye creeping around the edge to the flesh side or 2) line the inside after dying and before assembling and cover the dye. Like the wallet / purse design - keep it up and thanks for sharing Cheers Dave

Cool Filigree Belt - old leather is still great leather !! Thanks for posting Dave

Dear Karen I travel to India evermonth and get around to most areas - I attended the ILLG 2011 leather fair in Chennai last month and saw a lot of printed leather coming onto the scene in India> Your samples look interesting - where could I come and see the quality and pick up some samples when I am there in two weeks time. I could give some feedback to the forum and save a lot of these e-mails back and forth. Regards Dave

Really great effect and very realistic - do you plan to colour the scene too? Cheers Dave

Bonjour Bienvenue Rusty I am also in France but down South on the Spanish border in Collioure - I am orginally from South Africa, so my French is "pas bien" Looked at your site, your work is really great - again welcome and I look forward to seeing more and more of your work. A bientot Dave

Great piece Bob - agree with all the previous comments on the quality, detail and inspirational value - the swivel knife detail is to be envied !! But I can hear you saying "it comes with hours and hours of practice" !! Thank you for sharing and inspiring once again. Just one question - with the dyed and burnished top front panel edge in contact with the natural inner lining of the flap, do you get a coloration line on the inside of the flap over time, or is there a way of sealing and preventing this ? Cheers Dave

When I see stuff soooooo good I always have mixed feelings -- Inspired and Demoralised all in one go !!! But the inspiration part comes out on top everytime - if another human can produce this quality of art and craft -- then so can I -- just need a little more time and comittment !!! Excellent work and a GREAT Video KK !!! AWESOME - keep inspiring us !! Dave

Hi Andries I was born and grew up in Nelspruit - net om die hoek - now living in Europe (France). There are quite qa few South Africans on this site and many produce really good stuff - looking forward to seeing you around. Cheers Dave

Gee Tina I wouldn't feel bad - a sale is a sale and probably felt he got a good deal> It looks like your Mr Raymond was a prolific designer he also published a book on needlework art patterns and it seems a lot of the art nouveau clip art in the Dover Clipart series also comes courtesy of him. When will you be posting your first piece - no pressure

For those of you with deep pockets or a very nice mother-in-law looking to buy you an Xmas present there is one on e-bay at $1200.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/LE-CUIR-COMPOSITIONS-DECORATIVES-JEHAN-RAYMOND-FRANCE-/300474702403#vi-desc Check it out, because it gives some prints of the pages and shows just what an awesome book this is - reminds me a bit of "Secrects of Leather" by FO. Bard Really Really Cool Find Tina

Tina it seems you have a collectors item http://www.icollector.com/Raymond-Jehan-Le-Cuir-Compositions-Decora_i6757493 They are gorgeous - if you want them translated, you can send them to me in France and I'll be happy to oblige Cheers Dave

Hi There Not sure what type of notebook you have in mind, but the PSLAC site has a public section where you can download a wealth of info in the form of their RawHide Gazettes - really great Thanks Guys !! The March 2001 issue has a pattern and instructions for a Flip Type Note book which is real easy to adapt to any size pad and can even turned sideways for a book type notepad. http://pslac.org/table_index_rawhide.htm Cheers Dave