Beaverslayer

thowie, I'm pretty sure even 3M adhesive will lose it's stickiness on the headrest after a while, what with the sun shining down on it and such. I'd suggest you have someone make you a "Headrest Cover" similar to seat covers with the logo sewn into it from leather or fabric, then you will have no worries. Welcome to the forum by the way....

Those are very nice, it always amazes me how tight you braiders get that rawhide. The findings that you use on the ends, where would one purchase those? I have looked everywhere, without any luck.

Jax, Mexican round braid can be used in a straight line, and ended without having to complete a full circuit. As you have noticed, there isn't anything that shows how to end, just join the circuit. What I do, is once I am at the end, I just continue on, using the last hole a second time as if I were to be continuing lacing. Once the lacing has filled all the holes and been over/under all the stitches so there is no "bald" spots, I just run the tail back under the lace about 4 or 5 rows back, slip it outside the lace, pull it hard and cut the lace off. You can do the same on the beginning of your lace, just reversing the normal order. Somewhere I have pictures of what I speak of, I'll try and find them and upload them here.

Spinner, you do some very fine work...makes me wish I had a Harley to dress up...

Here's a place in Niagara Falls New York. http://www.chichesterinc.com/Reindeer.htm

Jens, I use the goatskins for lace all the time and love it. I don't make wallets, but everything I do make I lace. If it is a garment or purse or such, I actually prefer to use goat lace over even kangaroo, as it is so much softer to the feel.

I didn't see your post about the Tandy Calf Lace....NO...NO...NO...do not use that stuff. You can either purchase Tandys Kangaroo Lace, or order some from Y-Knot, Kangaroo lace is the strongest lace there is and is much easier than that calf lace to use.

electrathon, I have to totally disagree with you on the slits for lacing on the project NJBallslout is doing. A bike seat is a high stress item, as it is being sat on all the time while being ridden down the road. By using slits, you are already "Slicing" the leather, and a "Tear" is already present. This will only lead to future tearing on the edge of the seat where the lacing is. For bike seats and anything else that is subjected to high stress, it is recommended to always use round holes. The round hole is far less likely to split or tear, as a slit will. Another point on round or slit holes, is that on wallets and such, certainly the slits look better on the "front" the side of the project you punched the slits from, but on the backside, they tend to almost always look a bit frazzled. Round holes on the other hand, can be punched on the front side, then flip the piece over, lay it onto your back piece, then punch your holes into that. This way you get very nice looking holes on both sides of the project. As you say, 3/32" holes for 1/8" lace, always use a smaller hole than the lace you are using, this will help ti hide the holes once the lacing is complete. NJBallslout, Those 4 prong punches may look like they are the cats meow, but they tend to be somewhat of an annoyance. As Chief said, they tend to come loose and wobble. They also do not work well on tighter corners. I used to have one, and it's now relegated to the bottom of some tool box out in the garage. The rotary punches are okay for belt buckle holes or maybe 10 hole projects, but you will be throwing it at the wall after punching enough holes in a bike seat. You are far better off to purchase a punch set, that you screw individual punches into it. Mark all your holes on the bike seat halves, then punch them individually. This way, as you are marking your holes around the edge, as you get close to the end, you can adjust the distance of each hole so you don't all of a sudden have a spot where one more hole won't fit and the space between the last two holes is too far apart. I would suggest that rather than lacing your seat with double loop, you should do the Mexican round, as it is a far stronger lacing, and it will look much better when completed.

Haroldson, I was out the other day shopping for supplies and went to a Quilting store. The sales lady was cutting fabric on the table with a rotary knife and a real cool looking ruler. I asked her about it, and she told me it was a quilting ruler. They sold them there, and I got one that is 6" wide by 24" long for $24.99. It's quite thick and it has little raised bumps on the underside that hold the material while cutting, my rotary knife just slides right along the thick edge. I've checked on-line for them, and there are quite a few places that sell them, You can also purchase an anti-slip stick on film for them. Just Google "quilters quilting ruler" and you'll be able to find someplace near you that sells them.

Thanks LoneStar, much appreciated.

Kevin, this is beautiful....great stitching as always.

Are you using a rivet setting tool? or just whacking it with a hammer?

PNgo12, Here's a link to what the copper rivet looks like, they are real good for holding thicker leathers together. http://www.tandyleatherfactory.ca/en-cad/home/department/hardware/rivets/11280-006.aspx You could also use chicago screws.

Nice looking bags Bill, that's a lot of hand stitching. Did you go through the whole 150 sq ft of deer hide yet?

Looks very nice Stewart, the snowflakes really add to the look. I'm a big fan of natural looking leather, so my vote goes to no color, maybe just some antique to bring out the carving.

Aurelie, I just had a look at your website...you do excellent work, you shall have no problems making purses or anything else to catch the eye of potential buyers.

Aurelie, Glad to hear you are going to try, if you run into any problems, feel free to ask for help, I am more than willing to give you any help you may need.

Aurelie, If you know how to lace, and have a desire to do this kind of work, they are not that hard to make. The hardest part actually is coming with a design that customers will buy. If you Google handbags, there must be millions of pictures and all together I'd say there may be only a few hundred different styles. This one is actually a style that Gucci makes, it's just a bit bigger and a different color, with fancier stuff done to it. In total, there is less than 2 square feet of lambskin and even less veg tan leather, with about 100 feet of lace. You could almost build it out of scrap leather. I encourage you to delve into making one, just to see how little material there actually is. Also, for purses and such, you don't have to use kangaroo lace, you can also use goat lace, and even cut your own lace from a garment goat hide, this will greatly reduce your cost of materials. If you have a sewing machine, you can also sew them together, and just add embellishments of exotic leathers or lacing to make them "POP" and catch the attention of potential buyers. Good Luck....I hope to see pictures soon

Aurelie, Thank you... I had actually told her that for "Family" I would charge her $180.00, but she insisted on paying the full retail price. There is a fair amount of work in this one, but most of that is lacing, even at full price it works out to about $20.00 per hour plus materials. Thank you Chad, much appreciated.

Ah come on macdaddy, I've carried it around, people say it matches my shoes....lol Thanks for the compliment by the way.

Well, by what I see here, it shouldn't be long before you have achieved what you're striving for. Those look just great, your basket weave is very good. I love the dye work as well, very nicely done.

Kid, I know what you mean by them being "very specific", I've dealt with some myself in the past. About the only way your going to be able to find something like that, is to have it custom made. There are members here I think, that do make conchos, but don't remember who they are. I know Freddie Matara is making conchos for his product line, you may want to contact him and see if he could do some up for you. http://freddiematara.com/

Welcome StyleBlog, I'm from Canada, as you most likely can tell from my Avatar. It's always good to see more of us here. I checked out your blog, it looks very good. You may want to have a look at the Ladies Handbags I've been posting, I'd love to get some exposure for them in the High Fashion places you seem to frequent.

Here's a link to find a Weaver Retail Dealer near you... http://www.weaverleather.com/Equine/DealerLocator.aspx

Kate and Averya, thank you for the compliments, they are appreciated.