Ferg

Well, I am considered a bad ---- by a few on the forum but I see what I see and I still think constructive criticism is one of the best teachers so here goes. You may have intentionally made the stitching holes large, I believe they should be smaller so the eye catches the stitch and not the "hole". On the inside shot of your wallet, right side top, is it your photo or are the lacing holes "whopper jawed" ? That description is compliments of my mom. Next time you photograph your projects, either lay them flat on a table or the floor so you can adjust your view to make the item appear "what it is" Just minor adjustments that I see. Practice, practice, practice, and keep hammering away. ferg

Only answer I can give for this... You need the cut done by the swivel knife to determine the depth of a nice clean bevel. Some instances will call for beveling without cutting, I don't think around letters is one of them in my book ferg

I may have thinned the white but the colors look as though I painted full strength. Still, I may have used a white "wash" under the colors. My wife and youngest daughter are fine art pros, they almost always use white Gesso for instance, under a color. ferg

Nothing stayed on the plexi-glass. I have removed the piece from the PG. The cement is only on the leather and no the plexi-glass did not melt anywhere:) ferg

I have two of Bob Douglas Awls plus the haft. Amazing piece of equipment. Do not hesitate to spend your hard earned money for these awls. ferg

Personal experience; I made some items for folks, kids mostly, that I used the old acrylics on. Butterflies, comic characters, etc. READ THIS 40 to 45 years ago. I have one that I know two of the youngsters carried extensively. I am actually sitting here looking at this little purse with a butterfly painted bright red, orange and white. The white doesn't look too great but I don't think it did when I done it The back has a large butterfly painted with a dark blue, light blue, green, and white. All of the colors are very bright and show no wear at all. That bit of info may not do you any good but...... ferg

Never thought of the gum eraser, I will try that. Thanks, ferg

Greg, There have been a number of folks advertise, maybe by word of mouth, on this forum for the making of "Makers Stamps". Do a search inside the forum. ferg

This may not hit a note with you Deno. Printed work is not doing well these days with a few exceptions. That said, I would consider a Digital version. There are several websites with downloads as well as DVD's for sale. I would do a lot of soul searching as well as shaking a lot of doors real hard. Printed books are expensive to publish even if you self publish. I think you have a noble idea for the book but I wouldn't count on a lot of money to disburse. That is a tough one. ferg

Acrylics used for painting on canvas etc. would be "iffy" when thinned too much. The Cova colors are nothing more than acrylics with maybe a slightly different formulation. I thinned some extremely, such as a few drops of the Cova in maybe a fluid ounce of water with no problem. Use the extremely thinned product for a wash. We found that a wash of white made other colors "stand out" when used over the white wash. Allow the applications to dry completely before you re-coat. ferg

I thought of that also, I don't think they are compatible. We have glued up thousands of feet of laminate with contact cement and it is a breed all it's own. Thanks, ferg

I have always cased my leather before doing anything else. I wet it thoroughly both sides, most of the time I simply place it in a pan of warm water until the bubbles stop. I then role it loosely with an old T shirt on both sides and leave over night. When I am ready to cut with the swivel knife I uncover it, flatten it out, let it dry until it is just about it's original color. If you can allow the leather to dry in an air conditioned area I think it is best. Your swivel knife should "glide" through the leather with little effort making the cuts look really smooth. If the knife drags or feels choppy to you, your knife is dull or not polished enough on the strop, or your leather was not properly conditioned. A NOTE: Some folks never case their leather if they are just carving and stamping. If this is you, try my way just once and see how you like it ferg

I think you done a great job on the wood grain. You need to double up on the corners with your lace. That is: Make the corner slot just a little larger than the others so you can lace more than one time in the corner hole. Makes the corner filled in. Also: I believe you should have either hand stitched the liner or sewn on a sewing machine. The lacing inside makes the wallet a little bulky. Overall you done a nice job. ferg

I had thought of the packing tape but it would not stick to the leather. I had to apply two coats of rubber cement to get it to even think about sticking to the plastic. BTW: I had waited until the leather was ready to carve before doing any of these so it was not excessively wet. It doesn't want to rub off. My past experience with applying any liner with rubber cement has been a total disaster. I also thought abut applying the glue to the plastic but I would need to make a mark around the piece to keep glue from getting every where else. A marker would probably be needed and that could get on the face of the leather. I am going to try a small amount of the cement over what is there and see what happens but I doubt it will loosen the stuff. Thanks for all suggestions. Will post what happens. ferg

As I said before, I was simply interested to know what your inspiration for the rendering was. Thank you for your explanation, that is all I was looking for. My original vocation was a building contractor. I drew my own plans. They were renderings done from what I felt and understood what buildings should look like. Many folks are enjoying those homes to this day. Everyone should be so lucky as to have the full life I have enjoyed for almost seventy seven years. ferg

Okay..... I applied rubber cement to the back of the piece of leather I am/was tooling and stuck it to a piece of 1/4" plexiglass, never again. How in tarnation do I get that glue off the back of the leather so I can glue a liner to it. Don't tell me to use rubber cement for that because it is not a good idea. The plexiglass shrunk up into a concave, not a lot but enough that it won't lay down on the granite to carve on. I n all the years I have tooled leather I never done any of the suggested methods to keep the leather from stretching. I simply never had a problem. Believe me, I will go back to the way I always done it from now on. I still need to get that blasted rubber cement off the back ferg

From what i know about horse hides, I don't think you are going to have much luck with this. ferg

I visited Peter Main's site several times lately, do not see any modeler for sale. Does he still have the "Best Modeling tool" available? Where can I get one? ferg

My following comments are in no way trying to be picky or chastising in any way, please do not take offense. My youngest daughter, she is 25 years young, likes the skulls, dragons, extreme art, etc. I am an old codger and I simply do not get it. Can anyone tell me what is going through your mind when you design this sort of thing? When I was a kid growing up we would have been locked up if we even drew these images on a piece of paper I am honestly interested in where the inspiration comes from. I try to understand almost everything in this world of ours, politicians excepted. ferg

Kathy, I too have transferred images onto leather and most everything else I find the easiest to use is OEM Laser Printer on to transfer paper and then onto leather. I also have used white Doe Skin, Tandy carries it. The images on the Doeskin are fabulous. ferg

Anyone tried/used 32 OZ. FIEBING WAX BURNISHING INK? Description would indicate a good product for edges. LCi only sells their products through distributors. They gave me a list of several but only the phone numbers. So far I haven't found any that carry the edge ink etc. ferg

My thought was concerning the stitch line being so close to the fold line, that was the only concern I had. If the cover is opened and closed often that stitch line could cause a problem. ferg

Looks nice but I cannot see it very well, photos are too small ferg

I am guessing here so...... I believe you may need to grind the edge into it's original shape. If you do not have a set-up for a grinder that you can do this, please take it to a sharpening shop and tell them exactly what you want. When that is done use a strop every time you are going to cut some leather/"used thread." ferg

I am replying to my original post, well you know how it is with old folks I bought a pricking iron. One I received is for stitches a lot wider than I like. Decided to stitch a notebook cover using the marking wheel that Tandy sells. I had practiced some with holding the awl at the correct angle or to the angle providing the look I wanted. Stitched the entire cover without the pricking iron, probably will never use the cotton pickin thing. ferg