Gawdzilla

Bouna sera! I used to live in Motta San Anastasia, 1972-1975. I was stationed at Sigonella at the time. I really enjoyed the stay. Taormina is one of my favorites there.

Eco-Flo Cova Color White works if you have the patience to put on a few layers. Daubing helped on some stubborn spots.

A layer or two of paper towels that sticks out on all sides should help wick the liquid away from the work.

Sometimes dye can go from one area to an adjacent area if enough pressure is applied. Rarely happens, but given the complexity of some folks work here I'd rather put that out than let it go unsaid. If you have a doubt use just enough weight to keep it flat until it dries.

I use a Ziplock full of pennies. (Ever lifted one gallon of pennies?) I put a layer of waxed paper down, the piece, and another lay of waxed paper, then the pennies. The weight presses excess dye out of the leather as well. (Use smaller weights if there's a danger of dye migrating.)

Don't bother with Feibing's White. It just don't work.

I set the jar in the water with the lid off and heat it until the wax melts. You should keep an eye on this as heating too fast may cause the jar to crack. When I dip the hemp I put the lid back on the jar and hold it tight enough to squeeze the excess wax out of the hemp.

I buy it at Wally World when the canning season starts. I also buy candles from the specialty shops when I see a particular color that I like. With the apothecary jar candle crazy fading you can also pick them up pretty cheap. I put them in a pan of boiling water until they're liquid. The wax is not only colored, it's scented so your piece comes out smelling like a ... Oh, never mind. Those jars are good for dyes as well, if you don't mind not having a screw-on top.

I had good reactions from the volunteers at the wolf sanctuary, but a few of them worried about the rivets, so I tweaked the pattern for sewing. As I do a lot of tans and browns to go with the theme at the store there, I got a few different hemp lines in "earth tones" and dipped them in "canning wax". I'll be using that for the sewing.

And a sewn/laced version. The inside corner relief is about right on this now, you may want to transfer that over to the riveted pattern.

Greetings from Exit 257 on I-44.

Dwight, the page protectors are no more work than the manila folders, just take them out of the three ring and dump them on the table.

For any pattern that's less than 8.5" by 11" I put them in a "page protector" and keep them in a three-ring binder. I insert a sheet of copy paper that has the name of the pattern and a xerox of it in case the actual pattern gets lost. Anybody else got a favorite system?

Johnny, I keep a role of waxed paper and a roll of aluminum foil within reach all the time. When I glue my hat brims together I cut the waxed paper into the shape of the brim and then slice it into pie-shaped section. I can pull these out one at a time to keep everything together. Oh, and a kitchen rolling pin is great for making sure you have a tight bond between two flat pieces of leather when gluing. Teflon rolling pin if you have the funds.

The smart phone case I posted earlier in this forum was done with poster board, but only because I had some within easy reach. The box my soda came in would have been a donor if that was the first thing that I found when looking for some something solid. For patterns I know I'll be using many, many times I've used sheet metal. A soda can with the top and bottom cut off and flattened makes enough metal for a key fob pattern.

I try to apply the K.I.S.S. principle whenever possible.

Here's the second edition, with belt slots and push hole added. You'll note I relieved the point where the flaps meet the body. Depending on the thickness of your leather you might want to make that a bit more generous.

Thanks, I'll send you my addy via Messenger.

There's another way to do that. Take two pieces of leather and put them on your head rough side out. Ruck up enough leather to staple a seam in the shape of your head from along the mohawk line and have someone tack it in place. Then you simply sew along the staples. Do the same for the left and right seams and you have a guaranteed fit. If your head is symmetrical. If it's not, ... well, that's none of my business. ;-)

The first seam is fore-and-aft down the center of the head. The middle of an imaginary mohawk if you will. The other two are half way between the center of the skull and the top of the ear, where it joins the skull.

Not wet molded, but I made a "Snoopy cap" for a skull one time. I started at the center of the skull and folded two pieces of leather into the positions they would be in after sewing, only rough side up. Then I marked them both so I line to sew on and I ran that through the sewing machine. Then I did two more pieces that joined the first two where the skull turned downward. These pieces had the chin-strap material on them. When I had them sewed up I ran seams along the front and back edges and trimmed and glued the three "fore and aft" seams I had made. I hope that made sense.

Here's the proof-of-concept pieces. Not finished, not ready for prime time, just put together to test the pattern. (Big pix would have used up my allotment, so I'm posting links.) The front: http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv272/PanchoZilla/Leather/DSCN4259.jpg The back: http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv272/PanchoZilla/Leather/DSCN4260.jpg Inside: http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv272/PanchoZilla/Leather/DSCN4261.jpg Bottom: (Holes punched to mark push hole slot.) http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv272/PanchoZilla/Leather/DSCN4262.jpg There's room for a pair of 2" belt slots on the back between the rivets. I use slots rather than loops because people who don't need a belt system can ignore them easily.

Greetings! I escaped from Indiana back in '07. (And I graduated from Purdue in '04 with a MA.)

I want to send some things to friends who are currently "in deep grit" and I want to keep it clean. I was wondering if anybody had done this and if so, did you go for one shade of tan or did you do "chocolate chip"? And any suggestions on how you did it would be nice. TIA.