Bob Blea

Thanks for posting this. I've had the same problems with trying to glue fabric to the flesh side of leather. I'm looking forward to giving this a try!

I use Oxalic Acid to clean mold of leather. It's stronger than vinegar so I'm a little more confident it's really killing off the spores. But I've never tried it on suede. I've used lemon juice and it works well, but again I've never tried that on suede either.

I'm always amazed by the level of craftsmanship and detail that goes into making something like this. It is just fascinating!

Thanks for posting, this is great to see.

I think your pattern looked pretty good and so did your tooling. Too bad about the dye though. I don't know why it would do that. What kind of dye was it?

Dragonfly your basically right about the 'S' shape. The other shape you will commonly see, though not in belt designs because there isn't enough room, are circles with S shaped flow lines connecting them. That is more common on larger projects like notebook covers where there's more room. Regarding background area, there isn't a set rule that I'm aware of. It's a matter of personal preference but bargrounding (which is traditional in Sheridan style) can be very time consuming and many people can't stand it, so it makes sense to create as little of it as possible. I think what you have in your drawings looks pretty good, but I really try to keep my background areas pretty small. Bob

Not stupid at all. RTC is a product made by Bee Natural Leathercare. The full name is RTC Sheridan Resist and Finish and it's used as both a resist for antique and a final finish for leather projects. A lot of people swear by it. I have a bottle but I haven't experimented with it yet.

They look good.

If you are not using a resist like Resolene or any of the lacquer type products, the leather may be absorbing more antique is some spots just based on differences in the firmness of the grain at those spots. When that happens it's penetrating the leather so much that I doubt there is much you could do to remove it. If you are using a resist, you likely had a spot where there wasn't enough of the resist and the antique penetrated it. I've had this problem on several occasions and I recommend using a damp sponge to wipe the project after you've applied the resist. If there are any gaps the leather will darken and you'll know you need another coat.

I'm curious to see how this turns out too. I've wanted to do this but I'm not sure how to attach the liner either.

I think it looks great!

There was also an article in the Leather Crafters and Saddlers Journal just recently. I think it was the Jan/Feb issue but I'm not certain.

I do a lot of edge braiding but I've never tried to incorporate fringe. I try to help though. Do you have any pictures of the look you want to achieve? Also, how did you attach the fringe in this picture?

Hello and welcome to the forum! These look like conchos, particularly the second one. A concho would be either riveted or attached with a screw to the leather. Whenever I see a metal bezel on the stone it means it's probably mechanically attached with a screw or rivet. For the first one, the three stones may be attached to a metal plate that is being held in place by the four round silver knobs between the stones.

My wife has a veg tan wallet with Liquitex acrylic paints on it's tooling that has accidentally been through the washing machine twice now. No damage to the painted tooling at all.

This is fantastic Rudi! Doing any human portrait is hard because we're all very familiar with what a persons features should look like and anything out of proportion looks off. Your looks great! Bob

Nice idea! Personally I would do two steps differently. I would dye first and then apply the Neatsfoot oil to help set the dye pigments in the leather better and to replace some of the oils that dyeing seems to break down. Dyeing seems to dry out the leather so in my mind oiling afterwards helps restore the leather. Second, I would do hand stitching before finishing the edges, but that's just me. Good luck, you'll have to post your hand stitched version. Bob

Looks very clean Mike!

Nice work on the stamping.

Hi Nick, My notebooks typically have a pigskin lining across the entire tooled outer part. On smaller notebooks I just cut a slot in the lining that the notepad can slide into, and that part of the lining doesn't get glued to the tooled outer cover so the cardboard backing of the notepad can slide into it. I've done the same thing for these bigger 8.5 x 11 notepads and it worked OK but that's a lot of weight to hang off the pigskin. So for these bigger notebooks I prefer to build a separate pocket out of 2/3 oz veg tan leather, cut the slot in that and let that hold the notepad. It gives more support that way. I believe this notebook came from a hide from American Leather Direct. It's the first hide I've gotten from them but it tooled really well. It was a very light veg tan leather, but I've got the same basic light color in tooling leather I've received from Herman Oak and Wicket and Craig. The antiqing actually darkened this quite a bit to a more tan color. Hope that helps! Bob

Tony- I apologize I didn't see your post until now. That is a stamp. It is called a Geer Braid and it's made by Barry King and is available on his website. It makes a great impression of being some kind of sewing or braiding and it worked really well in combination with the lacing. I really should be using it more. Thanks all for the compliments!

That is very elegant! I'm going to try making one too. Thanks for posting!