Northmount

When you add a hint of green, I would keep it closer to the stem. The outer edges of the leaf dry out first, so shouldn't have any green left. And I like it without the green. Looks like an inverted carving style, which is fine. Been doing some myself. But as mentioned, reduce the amount of matting. The leaf surface in nature is smooth between veins. Tom

There should be a piece of leather, sort of like a welt, between the outside and the lining leather. It should be the same thickness as the magnets. Punch a hole for the magnet to rest in. Glue the magnet plus welt to the outside layer. You can use a layer of strong cloth over the magnet to the welt. Then glue the lining in place over all of it. Depending on where your folds and stitching lines are, you could do some decorative stitching to provide some more strength. And you may need to skive the edges of the welt to help it blend in. Mount the magnets in a welt in the purse body as well. Won't likely need any extra reinforcement so no cloth. Make sure your magnets are placed with the right polarity before you glue up. As a side note, I tried using just a thin roughly 24 AWG piece of sheet steel in the flap to keep the bulk down. It doesn't hold as well as using magnets in both pieces. If you do use a steel plate in the flap, use several magnets, and larger diameters, like 3/4 inch to get enough holding power. Do a mock up to see if it has the strength you want. Tom

Fantastic! Tom

Or punch a hole in the belt to fit, epoxy the leather to the metal tip, then cut or file off the excess post, or take the post off completely and just epoxy to the belt. Tom

Pretty good for 6 days! You already know what you need to work on, so the next step is more practise. And when you think you have practised enough, do more practise. Tom

And you can attach a flat bed adapter to a cylinder arm machine. Depending on what parts you are sewing, sometimes the flat bed makes that part of the job easier. Tom

Pretty nice. Lots of color. Check the tension on your sewing machine. I notice in the first couple pictures, the knot is pulled up too high. Tom

Looking pretty nice. Keep it up. Tom

Warm them with a hair dryer to see what they do. If it is fat, will tend to melt as it gets warm. Tom

To help reduce the wrinkling in the lining, form the leather as you glue the lining in so that it is curled about halfway to the position it will be when fully folded. I assume you are concerned with the flap. Note that the flap will not return to flat as it has to stretch the lining to do that. If you can't tolerate not being able to return to flat, then you can design (force) wrinkles in the location you want by gathering a little extra bulge in the lining as you glue it. Try it on some scrap pieces first to see if it is doing what you want it to. Tom

Some use 50/50. I think it is something you have to play with a bit to find what works for you. Also try a search here for thinning clear lac. I'm sure I have seen comments several times. Tom

Works fine for me. You likely have a root kit virus, pointing you to a rouge DNS server. Search for malwarebytes and install it and run a scan. Also download tdsskiller from support.kasper.com/5350 install it and run it to detect and fix. I had a similar thing a month or so ago, also related to google searches, but couldn't get any results from a google search. Hope this helps Tom

I second using a hair blade. Try the fine and coarse to see which looks the best. I'm tending to the fine blade, since the thistle is wispy. Tom

The catalog has some description. I'll abbreviate their descriptions. Live Oak - Best, top quality, long life, superior performance, excellent carving, tooling, dyeing, oiling qualities, American sourced Oak-Leaf - Good, premium import, excellent tooling and embossing, occasional blemishes and brands, fine hand carving leather Craftsman Oak - Economy, imported, medium firm temper, stamp, carve and dye well, low cost, may have brands, blemishes, insect bites. Tom

Check that your leather scraps are vegtan leather. Depending on the bag of scraps you got, there may be leather that isn't suitable for stamping. If you haven't cased the leather, read up on how to properly case leather before carving and stamping. See http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=19121&hl=%20casing%20%20tutorial&st=0 casing tutorial by Hidepounder (Bob Parks). Dry leather doesn't take impressions well. Tom

It would be great if people would read the last few posts in a thread instead of just the first one or two. Look at post number 88 immediately above your post. Tom.

Try applying very light layer of glue to both pieces and let set a little before pressing them together. Or use contact cement, but still keep the layer of glue thin. For very porous surfaces, you may need two coats if the first coat soaks in and dries to quickly. Two thin coats are far better than a heavy coat. Remember for contact cement to let the glue set until almost dry (very little tack) before assembly. Press together with a roller after you have positioned the seam correctly. With most contact cements, you have little chance of repositioning the parts if you aren't lined up correctly. Avoid getting any glue on surfaces that are to be dyed and finished. Will show up after the dye or finish is applied. Tom

Try using a deglazer to remove anything on the surface that may be impeding the dye soaking into the leather. Also try using some oxalic acid to remove any stains. Otherwise, a lot of posts recommend thinning the dye, then building up the color in layers, allowing to dry and buffing well in between. Airbrush has also been recommended. Not too expensive so might be within your budget. Lots of info on airbrushing here if you want to do a search. Great job on the hat, and keep testing different ideas for dying the leather before actually doing the hat. Too many of us are in a big hurry and jump right in without any testing or practice. Tom Edit: Some do dampen the leather slightly before applying the dye. Some also give the leather a very light coat of oil (Neatsfoot or Extra Virgin Olive OIl (EVOO)). Neatsfoot will darken the leather more than EVOO.

Found a 270 page PDF called Bush Leather Work by Ron Edwards. http://blog.survival-goods.com/LIBRARY/Manuals/bushcraft%20leather%20work%20PDF.pdf Lots of info on lace cutting, plaiting, making pouches, bags, belts, etc. Hope you enjoy looking through it. Tom

Go for it. You may be able to work through a local college's continuing education program to help look after the logistics. Though that could lock you into a lower hourly rate for your time. Some high school con-ed programs may do the same. Also consider libraries. Tom

Descriptions and pictures might help you sell these kits. Reminds me of an old saying about "buying a pig in a poke" or something like that. Your location and shipping might help too! Tom

This is one of the best places to be! Happy New Year to Joanna and the rest of the crew that makes the site work, and Happy New Year 2013 to all the rest of you leather workers out there! Tom

Great job. Almost too good to give away! He should really appreciate it. Tom

I agree with Wiz. Need to be able to look down on your work. I have a neck and shoulder problem so becomes painful to work with arms raised. I dropped my table to as low as it can go. Recently obtained an old piano stool with screw height adjustment. So can easily adjust for what I am working on. A stool is better than a chair, nothing in the road of your elbows when sewing or reaching for something. The table needs to stay above your knees ... obviously! Tom

Nice, also practical. Tom