dragonspit

thanks for taking the time to comment folks. If you see anything that you could add to, other than what I have said, please pipe up. Im pretty hard to dent on the crit side. Dave, Kind words, thank you. I have always had a knack for finding that little thing that is personal. I have done a bunch of hot rod art., some pen and ink, some digital, some combined and everything in between. but the one constant is I alway manage to do personal things that make them happy or makes that art theirs. I am hoping I can continue that trend on these one offs. I know I got it on this one. I just keep learning about at least one thing, every project. It may be that all my past life hobbies and experiences are coming to bear fruit. from artwork, to painting custom stuff, to trying to pinstripe, many different things. or maybe Im just ready to settle on something, but Im really enjoying this. part of it I think, I have some solid in my hand when Im done.

^______________________^ agree, and I like the basket weave. I have done a little bit of it, and just cant get it good. I'm considering it could be the tool, not blaming the tool, just saying. but yours looks like it should.

Well I been getting all kinds of help through the forums. I had not been posting as I dont have a pc right now. but I found that if I take a reasonable pic with my smart phone, I could change the size at my office pc and well, lets see how that goes. I have only really created 3 things since picking up leather a couple of months ago, a Tandy wallet, a personal notepad holder and what I have posted here. The post here I was asked to make when a co worker saw mine. Mine wasnt all that, but it had lots of detail work which she really liked. all the other stuff was just stuff, but she liked the tooling. My did not have a spine cover and the liner was suede and the edges not done so well. my first large hand sewing piece to. it wasnt bad, but I was surprised she wanted to pay for one. I spent a little more time on the design and the details from what I learned and its much much better than mine. not perfect by any means, but nice. I know she will like it. I had some likes and dislikes and thought Id mention them, anyone want to add notes is just fine. Likes: I liked how my front panel looked. my own design, and it could be better, but I liked that it had negative space and was more elegant than overwhelming for a lady exec. I like the spine cover, an obvious error to some, I questioned but didnt get a response and didnt know any better till I sewed it on. However I was reasonably happy (was concerned prior) that the spine outline and what I tooled wouldnt line up right, it did, and I liked the little lacing accent. I like the interior layout and it folds nicely. I like the natural color. Its a bit cleaner than mine on the edging. I worked out some of the issues, but not all. Dislikes: i used a different thread, it broke more than once. I didnt seem to go quite deep enough with my grooving. but it was only my second grooving. I see that you probably shouldnt put a spine cover on, unless you are separating the main panels. if its a solid panel, probablty best not to do a spine cover. I was upset I muffed the tooling of the tri athlete, she will have no idea I would even know she is a triathlete. she will like it, but its rough. there were parts of the organize that didnt work out as well, the phone holder is a good idea. i did a wet mold but after a few days it kind of relaxed out, so when I sewed it, I pushed it in, not realizing, I then made it look crooked or actually made the card holder look crooked. oh well, live and learn. I could go on. here are some not great but decent pics. there ya go john, something new lol.

Embarrassed to say, I used grooved a stitch line. maybe I needed to go deeper. and I ran over it with a wheel and hammer when done, as per Al's book. I did struggle with a new thread. it broke a couple of times, which was unusual for me, but I will note my likes and dislikes on my next post. thanx for the info on the dyes, I am going to do something different for the next project.

test. if this works decent I'll put up all 4 picks on a new post. thats not to bad, lighting could be better. I will start a new post later today.

thanks for the help, its awesome. Im afraid I got the bug a bit with this stuff, I am always thinking about next and what and onward. So, you used dye's, but you thinned them, what did you thin them with? and what is acrylic resolene, well, I will go search that, sure its out here somewhere. anyway I do appreciate it. I finished my project, will take it home, take pictures and try to upload when I am home this weekend. Bob

yeah, i know what you mean. I keep going back to the pages hoping I missed some thing cool, lol. You really dont know what you will see next. we have all heard the phrase there is more ways than one to skin a cat, here ya get to see the same items, done so differently. I have already learned, sometimes, you just gotta go with it, and damn the torpedos, or the right way, or,....whatever, just do it and live with it.

John, I understand and also come here quite a bit and disappointed when there isnt anything new. Keep in mind, there are 15 pages of previous stuff and a lot of it really nice to. But I cant complain as I have not been diligent in posting as well, so how can I whine. I am a newb as well. I have done all of 3 things since starting leather, a tandy wallet, an office type notepad holder I did mostly to practice tooling and assembling that type of thng. someone saw it, asked me to make another and I have. I am 90% complete. I promised when I was done I would post and will. however, right now I tried my smart phone camera and cant get the images small enough to post here. I plan on taking pictures this weekend and see if I cant load all this stuff better. Once I get that done i will. I have another new request for a Bible cover. already have most of the design worked out....in my head. Dave, Awesome, i mean really nice stuff. Envious. I have a question if you dont mind. On the first piece, some of the line work on the very outside, doesnt look like a standard swivel knife cut, more like a double beveled line only. How did you do that? I have seen it and thought it was simply a cut, then a double edge beveler. well I tried that and it dont look anything like that. or maybe, I just need to practice more. I would like to be able to do some line work like that. second, the color on the executive portfolio, what is that? its so lush and just freakn nice. I want that color, actually I think the bible cover would look really nice. but I dont have a very big selection of dyes or stains. and for that matter, I really need to start to understand dyes and stains. there is a whole section here devoted to it, but you could spend months just reading it all. I wonder if there is anything that simplifies what each is, what they do, how to thin, if to thin or change the color. its endless. ok, lunch time over, but John i watch this all the time. maybe we just need to be more diligent. to be honest, some of the other areas I am interested in are similar. You get posts sporadically and sometimes in runs. but only the general topics are constant. takes many of us time to make anything, specially us new guys, sloooooooow. Bob

I like it. Im partial to tooling, its what got me started a very short time ago. so I like the details when folks add it. I am sure a lot of folks might consider it overkill, not sure, but for me, it adds a piece of elegance that really looks nice. I noted rwp said something about a video. where is that, somewhere I can see. sure would like to check it out. bob

Thanx for all the input. guess I will just have to call him and see if I did one, what little bro's specs would be.

Ray, these all look so nice, so clean. Really liked them. I am a newbie and only done a few notebooks really, but want to do a strap or two for my brother, a bass player. He has so many and some real nice ones, dont know I could do them justice. I always thought that the straps for acoustics were wider than electrics, but you have yours on both. is that normal, abnormal. are straps a standard length with an adjustment at the end? if so, how long are they? I would love to get half way close to this.

Sweet work. love the bike bags most. the basket weave is so clean.

Thats a heck of a buy, good luck tomorrow. I should look on cl for stuff more.

The design looks very nice to me. I most likely would never have caught those reversed patterns, just to new to the scene, but you can count on Ferg, he'd catch it. I meant that as a compliment. Looking forward to seeing it done.

Thanks Cheryl, I think I am going to combine a couple of ideas to gether. I think I will braid a little bit above and below, as I have plenty of spine left, according to my design. then I think I will sew part of those together and add a touch o glue. the liner part wont help because as I mentioned, I am adding this spine cover, but the main cover is all one piece, so the liner would never touch the middle of the spine cover like it would if you were using two halves instead of one whole piece. but I think thats the way to go. It would have to take some aweful abuse to become, unsewn, unglued, unraveled and pulled out of the holes. thanks for the ideas. all I have to do is learn how to lace, lol. but I got a book. : D

Thanks for the input JC, you might have hit upon something I wasnt thinking, or at least an alternative. Due to lack of picture, cause I havent done anything yet. The spine cover is from top to bottom, a little over 12", and its 3 1/4 wide. so if you have a piece of leather, 3 1/4 wide by 12 tall, I was going to just for accent, using a standard 3 hole lacing prong, create a series of holes about 4 or 5" long, in the center of the spine cover, right in the middle. Does that help picture it? so I would do the lacing on the spine cover, then I would sew the spine cover onto the main cover. but I was afraid if i dont secure the ends of the lace, they could eventually get loose enough to pop out. maybe not. but I like your idea of being at the top and using as a book mark type thing. it could maybe even just be decorative. I did think of sewing it somehow, but I think what you said about weaving a short bit then sew it together, most likely would be the best idea. I will play with that and see if I can make that happen. I got a piece of scrap I can use to practice. thanks for the ideas. Bob

I was afraid the glue might not hold as its on a spine that opens and closes a lot. and the lace would be between the inside of the spine cover, and outside of the actual cover. and the spine cover would be stitched on so movement would be or should be minimal. what you said got me to thinking. so, I was intending on the binder being a one piece, would/should you only put a spine cover if you were having not a one piece, but only if you had a two piece to join them together. I was just adding the spine cover for looks and to add some more strength. now I am wondering if there is a negative issue with putting a spine cover on a solid one piece cover? one step forward, two steps back, lol. appreciate the comment. Bob

Hi all, I finished my first notepad type thingy. I only have my smart phone to work with and am strugglin or I would have posted by now. but the few folks that seen it, like it so much one of them asked I make them one, which I am. so I am challenging myself a tad, by adding a spine cover, and I thought, hmm ya know what would look nice, just a 3 band braid of lacing down the center of the spine cover, not even the whole way. but I have a question I have yet to find an answer to. so I get my holes set up and lets say Im going to start at the top. I have 3 holes (I have not done this yet, just thinking through it), I pull 3 pieces of lace, one through each hole, and now I have to create a way to secure the lace so it will not slide out of the hole. normally, I would think to knot it. however, that most likely wont work as the spine cover would bulge at that point, up against the actual spine, especially with 3 of them. I suppose I could glue it, but I am unsure about how stable that would be over time. i suppose since I will have a liner, I could even stitch it to the cover before the liner is in, but that might show as well with the thinner material I am using for the liner. So I am looking for ideas on what folks do in this case. so if anyone had any pointers, would be appreciated. and I swear, Im working on the phone images so I can post the first project, so I can also show this one to. I expect this one to top that one by a bit. thanks in advance, Bob

add inside pocket picture, a little better. well I dont understand that. I altered the pic, and in the preview it was a reasonable size, but after I replied, the image was huge again.

Ok I'm going to try and upload one of my pics to see if ican A. Little large n fuzzy. Its a start.

[Thaquote name=50 years leather' timestamp='1296490073' post='184415] Bob, This is a little tricky. Where the spine folds, two places, you need to gouge a groove about halfway through your cover leather then skive the side of that groove to a 45 degree angle, as close as you can. That allows the cover and back to fold more square and the cover doesn' t have the tendency to stay open. The liner needs to be cut oversize. When you apply place the liner on the front side up to the groove, lift the front about halfway and apply liner to the spine, then to the back cover. You need to lay out your liner so cutting off extra material won't have any bad effects. You only sew the parts of the liner together that are not going to be stitched when you go around the perimeter of the cover. Practice placing liner without glue before you attempt it with the contact cement as it will stick so you cannot move it. Suede has a soft fuzzy interior. Normal cowhide/calfskin has not been "roughed up" so the edge appears more solid. BTW: Do not use latex contact cement. rg Thanks ferg, I think I read that on here n will attempt it. Still trying to work out the details with my new smart phone. It's smarter than. Me so it's a slow go. Oh, thanks also, why not latex cement. Just curious.

thanks for the helps folks. All useful info. so I finished it and it turned out, better than I would think in some spots, rough as I thought in others. all to be expected under the learning curve. my pc is down so I dont have an easy way to show. however, i do have one of those new smart phones, with internet and all that. I will try to get some pictures up off the phone and see how it goes. I will post my thoughts on my pros and cons when I post the picture. probably do that in show off thread seeing, I havent shown anything yet. then again, I have only done a tandy wallet, a failure at a sheath for my round knife which I plan to replace, and this. so all in all, I am happy with how its going. all that being said, one person I know saw my folder and loved it so much wanted to me to make one for her. I told her just to cover the the material, which I will buy just a little extra of, and I told her about what it would be and she said if it was anything as nice she feels she would want to pay a little extra. so now I have another question, maybe a new thread? If I lay a piece of leather out x" long X x" high, and I want to match the liner, should the liner be longer for the fold? actually, I plan on doing a spine cover for this one. the trouble I see is: if you make the line the same lenth, will it be to short when you fold it over? if you make slightly longer, wont the middle part bulge out when you close it? well, who would see that, its closed. anyway, just thinking through it. yeah, and we wont be doing a suede liner for this, although another thread on here did give me some insight about maybe making everything a little bigger, making my thread groove further away from the edge and then trimming it all. thanks for any insight, and I will work on getting a picture up with this new fangled phone. lots of things to learn to get it to work. Bob

My pc is down or I would do it for you. I am not an expert by any means, but I have done a few things. the good thing is, its vecor files so size doesnt matter. oh and if I get to this, what font? If I get it up and running, I will pm you, but I got a heavy work schedule so dont hold your breath. this thread is great as i am making a dayplanner type thing, my second and it gave me some good answers.

thanks for sharing, Im with the other folks on this. been wanting something just like this, and was thinking maybe how to. think I will.....hmmmmm need some more leather.