bison

Good tip! Thanks Pete.

Beautiful work! I love the clean look and the nice sharp tooling. What a great set. Dave

I use godaddy for two different organizations and have been very happy. There is a learning curve, like Particle says, but you can really customize your site, set up shopping carts, forms, etc. it's pretty easy to update only the changes when you do them and it goes pretty fast.

I have had good and bad experiences with this type of client. What I do now is to hold their hand through the design process, provide pics, etc, then, once the design is complete, they sign an approval form and I make the item...no more changes. Since I have been doing that I haven't had any problems with clients not being happy with it,since they are somewhat invested in it and see just how much effort goes into creating a custom piece. but there are still times you just have to say no. I usually put it on me...I'm probably not the best person for this, but I will give them some names if they would like...that sort of thing. Doesn't cost me anything to do that and they don't feel like I've been rude. Good luck.Dave

I spend a lot of time at the Cowboy Hall of Fame (old name) in Oklahome City, and I wish they had something as nice as your display. You really set up a great teaching display, which should be the goal of any museum. Thanks for sharing this. Dave

Great piece of work. Nice deep tooling that really stands out against the background. Every time I look at one of your pieces, I see things that I can learn from. Your attention to detail is inspiring. Dave

Fantastic work. I really like the photo with the quarter for scale. It shows the wonderful detail of your work. Always inspiring!

Pete, I tried tooling a piece of scrap horse I have and it does not work. Mi bought it from Springfield to make a belt. Worked great for the belt, but it does not case...and won't hold tooling impressions. It may be because it is specifically for belts though, I don't know. Dave

You might try Montana Silversmiths. Dave

I had my gunsmith set me up with about 30 .45's that had no powder AND a small hole drilled in the brass so they couldn't hold powder or pop the lead from simple concussion. I also had him remove the firing pin from the gun so there was no possibility of anything firing. I've worn the rig to dozens of public events, and it's always been a big hit as part of my Teddy Roosevelt costume.

Thanks Luke!

I'm looking for 1 to 1.5 inch silver conchos with a screw back. I'm using them on a 3-ring notebook I'm working on to hold the ring plate to the leather. Any suppliers you'd recommend? Thanks, Dave

First I oil the piece and let it dry for 24 hours. Then I dye the leather the color I'm wanting...tan. light brown, etc. Then I "dry-sponge" the ridges. Put some dye on a sponge and squeeze most of it out, then gently rub flat across the ridges until I get the color I'm looking for. Finally, I seal and antique and then do a final seal. The antique gets into the cracks in the design and adds the finishing touch, I think. Play around with some scraps to get the look you want first. Good luck! Dave

Here's one I did for my wife: It's for a small moleskein insert.

I did one for a customer that he requested. The top flips over to the back. It holds a steno pad one one side and loose papers and business cards on the other. There is a dowel in the pen holder. I put a loop on the front and back cover and so the pen holds it together when it is closes. He had a custom over-sized pen made for it so that's why the dowel looks so big!

Nice tutorial, Kevin. I'm guessing you're using an inkjet printer, right? Dave

Really nice work. I love the white stitching...it's very clean and crisp and sets off the belt color really nicely. The mahogany antique looks good. I like the nice red-brown color it gives. I use it often. Thanks for posting. I always get inspired to try a bit harder when i see your work. Dave

Thanks for posting these. It's really nice to see how other folks set up their space. And I agree, this is a Studio...and it should be referred to as such...Studios command higher prices than shops!

Try Springfield Leather.

Hi Cheryl, I voted for the template, although like you I am not a big fan of templates. I use Go-Daddy for my web site and I can put my own background into their template. I bought some images from istockphoto.com and arranged them to suit my needs, along with some other elements I created. The reason I didn't vote for the sketches is; 1. Your partner said no to using hers...that'd be good enough for me. 2. Customers expect a certain amount of "polish" on a website. Different is good and a refined sketch can be used pretty effectively (I did one for my wife's children's theatre company here: Scissortail Children's Theatre Company it's the bird in the banner. If the sketch is not refined, it may make potential customers think that the product is not refined and they may keep searching. A web presence is an important element today, so I hope you all can get one up and running soon. I'd love to see it when it's done. Dave

Hi John, You have to install the font so it can be used on your computer. On a Mac, simply unzip the file, and drag it into your font book. I'm not a Windows user, so I can't help with that, but you coulf probably Google How to install a new font on my PC for the answer. Dave

Sheepskin should be just fine.

I use pigskin, usually black. If it's good quality you can use either side depending on if you want a "suede" feel to it or not.

HI Kevin, Suede was a good idea. Thanks for detailing how you did it. Since I do mostly portfolio and notebook covers, I think there might be a possibility that it may have an application there. I'd probably glue it to the stiffener and lay the fillagreed leather over and glue/stitch. Now you've got me thinking! Dave