Ann McGrath

I also have an Etsy shop, although I haven't managed to sell anything through it yet. Must go back and photograph stuff, write descriptions (that's the part I do badly), post the photos and descriptions, and see if anything happens this time.

You're very welcome. I'm very glad you found this useful. You're welcome. Don't forget to post pictures of your mystery braids!

You have it in a nutshell. Using the right tool for the right job makes everything a lot easier.

Like everything else, there is a learning curve. Anything you do a lot is going to look easier than something you are doing for the first time, or even the first couple of times.

I posted a video on how to make the Mystery braid bracelet blanks a while back, here: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=26483 Now I finally have made and uploaded a video of me braiding them. This one isn't captioned, and doesn't have any neat music. I hope you are not too disappointed.

Sounds like a fine idea to me, Joe. Some time ago I did a much simpler version of what you've got planned. Let me see if I can find a photo to attach.

The white on black on black is very striking. Pieces that anyone would be proud to display in their living room.

Fantastic. I make chokers or collars, but your dragon is way better than anything I've made.

More awesomeness. I like the dragon. Very much.

Beautiful work, Tina. I love the way the tooling and the color work together.

I associate sewn edges with a backing. You don't have to back it with anything, I was wondering, if you had, what you used. I made a memorial bracelet with a rhinestone pair. Having the prongs uncovered bothered me, so I covered just the prongs with an oval of lining leather.

"Looks like Swedish to me. Google translate gives this back when I ask for a Swedish to English translation: Hello, if you tend to look in to eBay from the yards I have right now a lot of magazines / patterns, tools and other things for sale as oxo sent from / in Sweden / Scandinavia. I am selling my duplicates and other leather materials :-) (web link munged) Thanks for looking / / Tina" I don't know what the Swedish word "oxo" would be. The on line translators aren't helping with it.

Silva Fox has a method of setting stones in leather that's lovely. This link has a discussion of same right here on leatherworker.net

Where is the website you made? Is it still up as it was back then? I'd love to have a look and see what it looks like.

I wonder if the "attachment hardware" with "two stalks" might just be split rivets. This link is to a Google image of split rivets: http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.machinistchest.com/site/images/big/BrassRivets.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.machinistchest.com/site/product_details.php%3Fitem_id%3D13&h=243&w=300&sz=21&tbnid=NQyoehoNHdObqM:&tbnh=94&tbnw=116&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsplit%2Brivets&zoom=1&q=split+rivets&hl=en&usg=__B8VETy_DVh9VQ0axtTKnNrIGXJc=&sa=X&ei=s82PTKKeA8L78AbOprzTDQ&ved=0CEgQ9QEwBg

Oh, that's lovely! Beautiful work.

Very nice! I see that you have sewn the edges. What did you use for backing the bracelet?

I made this video some years back, but only got around to captioning it this summer after I did the Mystery Braid Blank one.

She's a nice stamp either way, but I think I like the second version better than the first.

You must be an organized person, Ken, because your work area is so neat. I keep promising to make a purse for myself, but it hasn't happened yet.

That's really nice and neat, Jim. Organized. I quite like the labels you made to make finding the right tool easier. *is jealous, a little* My backgrounders and bevelers and suchlike tools are nowhere nearly that organized and easy to find.

Thanks, Kate. I'll admit that I thought it was pretty clever, too. AFTER I discovered it worked the way I thought it would. Then I had to ask myself why it took me so long to try it out.

Very nice! I like the simplification of boma's design for the holder. I might even be able to pull off a holder like that.

*bows, grinning* You're very welcome! If you have a sharp blade in your strap cutter, have the strap cutter width set correctly for your current strips, and have the strap cutter firmly clamped (notice I have a piece of scrap leather protecting the wood from the jaws of the vise) it IS easy. *grin* When you first try the jig, it may take a few tries to get one right. A little practice, and Voila! the mystery braid blanks are going zip, zip, zip! Thank you very much!

I was terribly pleased with myself for figuring out how to do captioning on the YouTube video I made of my hands cutting a mystery braid bracelet blank. What do you think?