whinewine

Congratulations! It's always a great feeling to be recognized. russ

I may be wrong, but it sounds like block dyeing, except with a sponge rather than a wooden block. Basically, it's a dry (doh!) sponge, either wrapped with a cloth, or not... dye is applied & then blotted on newspaper or a blotter to remove most of the dye. Then it's rubbed around the area you wish to work, lightly where you want very little darkening & heavier where you want more. Wear rubber or latex gloves, for obvious reasons. Or not...

Nice theory, but it doesn't always work. We did an Arts Festival this year: last year we did it & did reasonably well (my son didn't want to do it this year, but I convinced him to do it again, because it was close to home & you could leave your stuff- good security). This year, I set up to do demos & worked on a targe almost the entire 2 days- guess what- it didn't draw any more additional traffic in the entire 2 days...- and we (& everyone else there, btw,) made less $ than the year before. Honestly, this is just a very bad year in my area. We'll still be doing the Celtic Classic is Bethlehem & our regular Celtic Wine & Music Festival in Sunbury, but I really don't expect to make a lot of $, like we did in the past. People are scared, they're out of work, we've just been downgraded on our world-wide credit rating (& let's not get into politics on this one, ok?- I'm already pissed about the Washington Dysfunctional Babies ) ... it's just a damn bad time to try to sell handmade items... Just my current $0.02 worth. russ

If you can get ahold of a printer's typeset letters (wow- talk about a Gutenberg dinosaur!) you can get/make a holder to line up letters that can spell out words via a shop press. Most printshops now use computers, but if you can find a shop that still has the typeset in the back room, maybe you can make a deal to acquire the stock. Most printers have sold off their letters for the value of the lead, but if you're lucky... I got some letters from just such a guy to use to stamp our initials in our stuff that is too small for our maker's stamp. Had I known he was going to go out of business, I would have tried to make a deal for a whole set. Oh, well, too late too smart, as the Amish say.

Springfield sells it. Not expensive.

Same here...

I don't think that matters, since BOTH pieces were cased with the same formulation. Most likely, the pieces were from 2 very different hides that absorbed the casing differently. Actually could have been a number of things (absorption rates of each piece, perhaps 1 piece allowed to dry too much, or too wet, different tannages, etc), but certainly NOT the formulation of the casing solution.

Angelus. Decent amount of choices. And woodandsteel is right about spraying vs applying by hand. Actually, if I'm reading this right, you are dyeing AFTER highliting??? Highliter is to give highlights to areas previously dyed , not the other way around. You dye FIRST, then highlite AFTER. In defense of eco stuff, I do use a fair amount, but only under certain conditions & environments: if the item is going to be used under wet/humid/sweaty conditions (ie, wristbands , workout items, belts, motorcycle seats, etc, I totally stay away from eco., although you can seal these things fairly well with neatlac/clearlac, applied deeply. Still, it's not wise to chance ruining a lady's fine white outfit if you can at all help it. Eco does have its place, but its place is NOT for everything.

He is reasonable, work is done VERY QUICKLY. Chris Wright is a true professional & will make things to your specifications. Everything is perfectly balanced (important for high speed Dremel-type burnishers). You can't go wrong with his work! http://leatherburnishers.com

If you check ebay, there may be a tractor stamp out there, but none are commercially made by the large manufacturers. Baron Tools (long out of existence) may or may not have made a tractor stamp (I know they made a skid loader stamp & those still show up on ebay); I don't know if Basic Tool (also long out of existence) ever made a tractor stamp. Suggestions- you may need someone to do custom work: Bob Polger has a lot of metal stamps that are used with presses- he may have one. You'd need to search ebay for his website & contact him directly. Brenda at Laser Gift Creations custom makes delrin stamps that can be used with a maul or a press. She is excellent to work with, VERY reasonable & very quick. She made our custom business stamp for us, so I know she does quality work. There are others, both on this site & on ebay, who make 'maker stamps' & do custom work also. I don't know if CraftJapan Tools has a tractor stamp. Bottom line, IF nothing is commercially available, you're going to put out some dollars for something custom, from perhaps $40++ & up. If it's going to be for multiple use, it may be worth it to have one made- consider it an investment- if, just for 1 time use, well, that's your call. Good luck.

Roo- not to hijack the thread, but: Beautiful cat. Deaf? (they say blue eyes= deafness). I have one who's all white with 1 blue eye & 1 green & she's definitely NOT deaf. Great work on the seat, btw. russ

Chris: it's a tracing stylus, although it wouldn't necessarily be early (I'd have to check mine to see if it has any letter associated with the number, but I don't think so). However, it IS early- you can tell by the knurling on the shaft- it's much more defined than the later (cast) ones. I don't know if it has been discontinued or not- I bought mine back in 2006 0r 07... russ

Certain shows are just flea markets with a different name- if they have lots of 'arts & crap' like rubber band guns, plastic canvas stuff & 'Pittsburgh Stiller' posters & crying towels, among other high class items, you're not going to sell much, if anything. If the vendors are mostly food vendors, take a guess WHY they're there & guess where the money is going to go... Just ask me- been there, done that, sold not enough to even cover expenses...Seriously, I do hope you do well on this. This year, it seems the economy really does suck & fewer people are buying- except for the food they stuff in their mouths.

Since one side will never be seen, why not glue it to bontex (sp?)or other thin rigid backing material to act as an additional stiffining to help it keep/retain rigidity? That way, there won't be the chance of sagging.

I have a bunch- most have various initials on them, but they are all that style- clip on. if interested, PM me- we'll talk. Thanks. russ

Tandy used to sell a product called "reduran" which did a decent job of removing much of it. They haven't carried it for years, although it shows up occasionally on ebay. Don't know if it's still manufactured, but a simple google search could help you.

Just IHO, why would you waste something this nice on something that has no basis in fact (Vikings didn't wear horns on their hats )? The pictured horn looks so nice, why don't you make them into a pair of very fine drinking horns that can be carried or displayed ? Just MHO.

I had a few minutes so I checked the http://fiebing.com website... the Institutional dyes ARE water-based AND non-flammable, so go ahead & use water to dilute. (when in doubt, ALWAYS go to the source!)

"Institutional" dyes tend to be water-based, because of the likelihood of the participants trying to drink the dyes, either by accident or by design (hospital/rehab patients, children, inmates, among others within institutional settings...)Why don't you try a small bit with water to see if it actually does weaken the color. That would be the obvious first step.

Oh, no- so much PUNishment!!!

Horse butt you can get very inexpensively from Springfield. It's best to call them & talk to one of the experienced staff (Emma is one) & let them know what you need it for- then they can match it to your needs.