Aven

We also have McPherson's in Seattle and Oregon Leather in Portland. If you are in the neighborhood, worth stopping in for a browse. Oregon Leather had some really nice pieces of "scrap" leather when I was down there last year. Check their hours first. I know McPherson's has short hours on Saturdays. I'd suggest you make a belt. It will give you experience cutting, skiving, punching holes and dealing with edges. You can buy a strap and go from there. If you want something smaller, key ring. Same skills needed there with the option to get creative design wise.

Your work looks great. If I didn't know better, I'd would have thought that you have been doing leather work for several years already. Your photos display your work very nicely. By the way, your English is fine. No need to apologize.

I can guaren-damn-tee you that she would love to see them.

Tape a piece of paper that is about as long as you want your wrap to be. Wrap it around the mug, overlapping the taped edge. Find something that you can put a pen/pencil on that is as high/low as you want it. Stack whatever you are using on the table, hold the pen in place and turn the mug on the table so you get a nice clean line for the top and repeat for the bottom. Then, if it won't scratch your mug, draw a vertical line on the paper between the two pieces of tape at the overlap and cut it off with a knife. Once its off, you just have to cut the arcs on the top and the bottom. Then you can start designing how you want it to close.

I had the pleasure of meeting Jenny, her husband and their daughter when they stopped into Seattle Mystery Bookshop. She is just a wonderfully genuine person. Front pocket wallet, valet tray, nice keyrings or coffee cup sleeves or carriers. Check out Fischer Workshops on YouTube.

Be careful when you are outside. Tick bites can cause a "meat allergy". https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/06/tick-bite-meat-allergy-spreading-spd/

Check this thread

It looks like a 125 Common Edge Tool, size 0 https://www.csosborneleathertools.com/product_detail.php?p_id=26

There are the usual pleather suspects, microfibers, Naugahyde, and their sort. But if you are looking for something different. https://makezine.com/2018/03/01/making-faux-leather-from-kombucha/ http://vegangazette.com/italian-company-making-vegan-leather-from-grapes-wins-award/

The upper is sewn together and then it's sewn to the sole. A rubber, outer sole is glued on to the inner sole. If you go to Jason's website, you can see the trailer he did for the instructional video. You'll get a quick glimpse of the sole and the upper being sewn together. Its was done as a nod to Twin Peaks. http://laughingcrowe.com/ Its on the Shoemaking Classes home page. If you are interested in making shoes and can't make it out to Portland, there is shoemaking class in Chicago. Its different, but it's closer to home than Portland.

There maybe a light shining at the end of the tunnel. The latest update from Calen on the Kickstarter site: " We have preview versions of all 16 sections done! With english captions, sound mix, color correction, animations, music, and everything! It's just under 8 hours of finished video. They're all exported from Final Cut Pro and they're currently being transcoded to a web-stream friendly codec. It's been running for about 14 hours now, and probably has another 14 hours to go. Then we'll do one final quality check, make any changes, and the streaming version will be done! We will give everyone who pre-ordered the DVD access to the streaming version as soon as it is up. Next, we'll work on authoring the DVD and send those to print."

Not knowing what the wearing is sensitive to, you might want to make up a simple choker necklace with different finishes. Let the wear spend some time in them to see if they react. My best friend can feel the weave in sheets she's so sensitive. Things that I think she can stand, some times she can't. Things I think will bother her might not.

Gengado, most of us are our own worst critic, seeing all of the mistakes or imperfections first. For someone who has been doing leather work for only four months, that wallet isn't as bad as you seem to think it is. Yes, there are things you could work on, but all in all, it isn't bad. I would suggest you pick something you don't like and spend some time watching videos that will help you do whatever it is better and then practice until you like it.

Sorry, can't help with either of those mau, but if you are still searching for a decent maul at a very reasonable price, check out wrising.com. I've been using their 1 lb maul for about a year now and love it. They also carry poly mauls and mallets.

5shot, check out Lisa Sorrel's website. She sells lasts for several different styles. She might have what you are looking for and can answer your questions.

Thanks

Tim, what's the name of Carl's book? I'm coming up empty handed. My google is weak.

A proper sharpening and stropping it will make all the difference in the world. It should just glide in. If you look at the trailer for the video, you'll see Jason use the curved awl to make the holes in the soles.

That sole leather looks thick, but not compressed like it should for a sole bend. I'm seeing some shallow holes. It's easy to go too shallow and rip through. My stitches are spaced about 3/8" apart.

Blueblade, using an awl to make your holes first may help. You need to use a curved awl. Start about 3/8 back from the edge. Start the hole go in about a third and kinda pivot the awl so it slides along the blade curve and aim to come out about 2/3rds down from the top edge. It's easier to do the holes before hand. This is a picture of a curved awl that Jason Horvatter from Laughing Crowe sells. Jason also teaches shoe making. One of the styles he teaches is a turnshoe. If you can't get to one of his classes, check out the turnshoe video he did. Well worth the price.

Cher, look for a copy of the Recreating the 18th Century Hunting Pouch by T. C. Albert. I think it's what you're looking for.

If you use rawhide (dog bones soaked and unknotted work a treat), you can mold it a bit at the guard to get some retention. Found some pictures on Pinterest that look like what he wants. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/610730399441753521

I've made shoes similar to this pattern, but put the seam was on the outside. I didn't want the seam on the inside because it could rub. I did a saddle stitch. I would have sewn them with a sewing machine but didn't have one at the time. After the tops were sewn on to the inner sole, I trimmed them about a skinny 1/4" from the stitching and glued on a thin crape sole. These shoes are not my work, but it does show how I attached the uppers to the insole. I didn't sew the crape onto the sole. I figured Barge was strong enough considering it wouldn't be long before he out grew them.

If you go to the link YinTx posted you can see how it's used. Nice clear graphics.

I was taught to skive like the guy in the video and the way Lisa shows, working on a flat, smooth surface, (glass or marble works great), knife hand over the leather and the knife point on the marble. Keeping the cutting edge at an angle to the work and smoothly, gently pull towards you. If you keep the cutting edge angle shown at 1:53 in the Kinnari video, its possible to get a good skive with a safety skiver. You'll have to change out the blade often, but it will do a good job. It takes a bit of time, blades and practice, but in the not so long run it's much cheaper to buy a good knife than 1000's of replacement blades for the skiver.