LNLeather

You will probably find that others have their own way of doing things and with time and experience you will get to work out your own routine for how to do whatchu wanna do.... Sometimes there is no right and wrong, but just what ever works for you... Before I use any sealer or finish, I always wait for the item to dry completely. Overnight or up to at least 24 hours. I suppose it might depend on things like leather thickness and how damp your piece is or maybe even things like Humidity, Temperature, or Weather. so it might be different depending on those things... Sometimes I use Super Shene or Satin Shene, or Tan Coat or.... It also depends on how you put it on. When I started out I used a brush and spread it on and I did not like how it looked. Too shiny and looked like plastic... I still use a brush sometimes - so I can get it into all of the nooks and crannies - but mostly I use a small rag (I cut up old used cotton towels - 3in x 3 in) to spread it around or dab on a light coat. Then when that is dry I can put on another coat if I want. I put it on lightly and spread it thin - in a circular motion, watching to see when it evens out and no longer has streaks. In the beginning it might bleed slightly, but if you dab your finish on slowly, you'll get an idea of whether the dye is going to bleed or not... and limit the bleed by dabbing instead of spreading... That plus making sure your leather is dry should help with the problem I hope this helps ps don't forget to use the Leatherworker.net search engine up there in the right hand corner of the pages. Anything you might want to know has probably already been asked and you can search for any topic discussed here and you'll get to read lots of others questions and answers and ideas on the topic of your choice... I hope this helps too Oh and btw - Welcome to Leatherworker.net and Nice work. Sounds like you are hooked too! * And also - scroll down below this and at the bottom of the page you will see some links to old posts that might be similar to what the topic is

Thanks so much for the Optivisor tip and Grrrreat timing actually I just fixed/broke what I have been using... last night...

I was wondering, if you don't mind - since you seem to be happy with the "jewlers glasses" that you have.... I was wondering if you would mind telling us what kind you use? I have been looking at magnifier headbands and there are so many available... I thought it might help to know what you use? Again - Love love love your work!

I just love your work!

If you think that will help you get the stamps spaced right then that's great. My experience was that - I found that after stamping a few coasters (2 or 3) with the "tooling coaster" as described above, it just became easy to gauge the spacing and also how hard to hit the stamp so there is not a square outline around the letters. What ever works for you is good. It gets easier The more you do it...

A lot has been written about Vinegaroon and I have saved a couple of Really Good links… If you are interested in making it, there is a very good tutorial here for how to make Vinegaroon. Vinegaroon tutorial and these twoalso have some good information Groon Smell Vinagaroon Stinks! There is A Lot of Really Good Information here.... and Also, while reading any old posts about Vinegaroon, or anything really – I pay particular attention to anything ChuckBurrows of WILD ROSE TRADING CO has to say...

Those look real good Stewart. I'm not into skulls, but you did good and I like the eagle and even the one with the flag... the way it turned out makes it look old - I like that.

I totally agree with all of the above! Your work should be in a museum for all to see... or in a book! Yeah, you could Easily sell a large book with pictures of all of your work!

I Really like what you do! Grrrreat New Design!

Yer welcome - happy to help

How about making a liner out of suede or a thin piece of garment leather?

I had to laugh, Scott - You are So Right about this.. Dennis - that's a great little case for your first piece - you'll have that for years to come. Welcome to the forum and our collective interests. I am sure we all share your enthusiasm for leatherwork!

Yep - What they All said Your work looks absolutely perfect to me too - Beautiful!

Phenomenal Tooling… That is what you get With Lots of practice and patience! You have obviously been doing this for a while... Niiiiiiiice!