Bob Blea

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!

They are all great people, but especially Paul and Rosa. I can't wait to see all of them again in May at Sheridan.

Thanks all! She carries this around work daily and apparently one of her coworkers is considering ordering one too. Hope that works out!

Thank you for the kind words Ray! I certainly have been keeping my spare time filled up with leather projects lately. I'd think you are better off with your own site than dedicating any time and effort to Etsy, especially since it sounds like you've established a good working site. With Etsy you don't have a lot of tools on your site to set yourself apart from your Etsy competition, and frequently you are competing on price with MANY other Etsy leatherworkers. I've been thinking going your route and developing my own website might be the right way to go now. I'm glad to hear your site is working out so well! Bob

Thanks for the words of wisdom Ray. While I don't do this full time I do try to run it as a business. I don't have tons of orders but I do always have something going on. With a full time job and young children I always have other demands on my time, so it's always a struggle to balance work, family and leather work.

The color you are dyeing could be part of the problem. Darker colors tend to make carving and stamping details disappear just because they absorb so much light. Dyeing black will hide much detail in the leather. Alpha2 may have had the best solution for you. Antiquing adds color but also highlights the detail in your carving, adding depth.

Thanks Rohn!

Nice work Rohn! I think in just a couple of weeks you exceeded my entire production capability for the year! Bob

This was a custom order I finished up recently for the wife of a coworker. He had a very specific design in mind with wild roses in the foreground and a mountain scene in the background. He also wanted the roses to have some color but the rest of the scene to retain the natural leather color. Both he and his wife were thrilled with how it turned out, and since I've known both of them for over 20 years it was important to do a spectacular job. The flowers were colored with acrylics and the overall notebook was antiqued. For some reason I didn't think to take pictures of the interior, but it holds a 8.5 x 11 refillable notepad.

Thanks for the suggestion fredk, hadn't thought of trying a stretchy leather like that. I'll give that a shot. I agree about the Velcro.

Thanks Michelle, I agree with you on the elastic. I used it here because I didn't know the diameters of the dart barrels in this case, and since the top is open and the darts could potentially just slide out of the case, I didn't want to take the chance of having leather loops that were too big. It's one of the design concerns I have about this case and if I make a second one I think I will make it zippered so everything is contained if it gets loose inside. I agree on the Velcro too. I've used it when I can't come up with a good way to use a snap.

It looks great, very good use of color.

This stamp is made by Wayne Jueschke in Elco, NV. He makes some of the best geometrics in the business, IMO.