Sarah C

Dwight, I never thought of using my strap cutter for both at once! Genius! Do you think I could glue them together? Then punch and add hardware?

Maybe I'm missing something but I can't seem to find any topics on here explaining how to line leather. I tried once with pigs skin and it turned out horrible. The edges were... Just awful. That's putting it lightly. I'm interested in lining some collars (for humans) and chokers and bracelets and the like... And I can't find any kind of info. If anyone can explain or link me, I'd appreciate it. I'm interested in adhesives, how to get the edges correct and lined up, is it necessary to stitch on top of gluing, or is just glue okay, etc. Thanks!!

OOOO thanks everyone! I have plenty of stuff to try now! Where do you find the frost colors? I don't see them on tandy's site

I also just had a thought... what if the leather was dyed first, and then tooled? Renee, you said you got impressions like that from a pre-dyed leather, maybe she dyed it herself first and then tooled it? I bet that would give those results! *runs off to try stuff*

Thanks, everyone! I am not certain the black is predyed, only because that's how hard this person does all her tooling. You can see it in the rest of the items in her shop, all her beveling is like that. And it's obvious it's a practice piece shape (because I use those too, lol. they're perfect!), and I don't think those come pre-dyed anywhere that I'm aware of. I wonder if it isn't some watered down cova color to highlight the cuts and then wiped off (i.e. the white being used as a sort of high liter), before the black is dyed on, so it creates a sort of resist? I just hate wasting leather, maybe i'll find some scraps to try it out on! I'm sure I have something here I can use... I emailed the shop owner a while ago. I hope she answers me and it's not a "trade secret" or anything!!!!!

Thanks, but that thread was about removing the white haze from black dye applications. I am sort of asking the opposite! The tooling seems to pop out with a gray sort of color rather than a pure black color... and I want that. I emailed the shop owner (it's on etsy) but no luck yet. It looks like the rest of her color palette is simply the eco-flo high liters, so I'm assuming this one probably doesn't have much of an extensive "process" per se. And I love the white finish, I'm thinking maybe it's just some watered down cova color, since I can't find any kind of white "dye" that is eco-friendly (both her shop and mine are eco-friendly). Thank you for trying, though!

Any help would be appreciated. I have yet to be able to make my tooling pop out in black finish applications like in "blackjack." And I was just curious about the white coloring. I was going to purchase a few different stains to try them out but honestly I am on a very tight budget and would like some help in identifying them before I buy a bunch of stuff and it's not right.

I actually got a replacement from tandy when I emailed customer service. They have redesigned the black ones- they look like the silver ones now, and work just fine!

OOO! Thanks! Dad just LOVES it when I think in his shop, lol. Thanks!! And worry not, I despise pink.

I emailed Tandy about the problem and they said I should have never received the black ones that I did. They were being returned to the manufacturer already, and I'm getting free replacements. The silver ones seem to have held up so far. I banged a few with the mallet just to check (the black ones all fell off when I initiated the first snap with the mallet) and they seem fairly solid. I suppose only time will tell!! Can you use glove snaps on thicker leather? I only use 6oz and up for my cuffs. Thanks!

Out of curiosity, did you use black or silver snaps? I bought two packs of each color, and look what I found! The SILVER snaps snap like a charm!! The BLACK snap caps don't have as much ummm whatever that word is... curl? prickly things sticking out?, so the caps don't grab onto the socket properly! The black ones look as if someone already curled the prongs over. PRONGS! That's the word... anyway... You can really see the difference!!! Look:

Art- Have you used the plastic snaps on any leather goods? That's probably super unconventional but they're a lot cheaper than the press needed for the metal snaps. I'm sure they'll work just fine, I just want to know if it would be like... okay... or if I'd be breaking some sort of unknown rule handed down by the leather gods. Thanks!!!

Okay, thanks. I'm just loathing to have to buy all new tools and snaps again, but it looks like that's what I'm gonna have to do. Thanks for all your help!

Oh wow, i didn't even look at the year, geez. I've attached a pic of the setters I have. Can you point out which one it is when you get a chance? I can wait until you are home for numbers or whatever. I ruined two packs of snaps today, I'm in no rush to ruin more without knowing what I'm doing (apparently). The problem may be that now they are selling a kit that sets BOTH glove and belt snaps. There's only one for the female end for both kinds. From left to right in the pic: male end setter for belt snaps, universal female end setter for glove and belt snaps, male (I think??) end setter for glove snaps, cheap eyelet setter, line 20 snap setter, line 24 snap setter, nice eyelet setter. These are literally all the setters I have that i think would be useful. None of them have numbers on them.

Thanks! looking at their site now. I don't have the kind of money for a machine like that right now, but I'll keep it in mind. Thanks again!

I realize I'm half a year behind this topic, but I'm having severe issues with the cap staying on the female end of my segma snaps. When you say you sed the glove setter, what do you mean? I have the glove/segma kit from tandy. Are you talking about that pointy tool that looks like a pencil?

is there a machine that sets the segma snaps?

They also seem to be a lot cheaper... thanks for the tip!

I'm making very thin bands, so I have no choice but to use the segmas. I usually use the 20's also- I've gotten pretty good at setting them. These are just kicking my ass! I don't want to give up on them, I really like the look of these half inch wristbands! Its very frustrating!

So, I can get the male end of the snap to set perfectly, but the female end? Forget it. The socket won't properly set into the cap, so when I pick up my leather piece, the cap falls off. The socket stays put, and will actually snap just fine, but won't for the life of anything hold on to the cap. I'm not sure what weight leather I'm using, I bought I belly on sale a week ago at Tandy. The flyer says "6oz and up." I knew the snaps were for belt leather, so I figured a thicker leather wouldn't be a problem for setting. At this point I'm about ready to start gluing the damn caps on. I'm using the setters Tandy sells, and no, I can't afford a $100 anything to set snaps. I scrape together money to be able to go to Tandy and play with my new hobby, so I could barely afford the cheap Tandy setters. I'd appreciate some advice for using the cheap tools, please!! Ofc, it's probably just me. Thanks in advance!!

Hey, thanks! Bet I could probably even find some in that exact typeface!

This has been going on for YEARS?! Dear lord, I'm sorry. And I thought living with my dad was annoying (split level house- I have the apartment downstairs but that doesn't stop him from barging in whenever he pleases or interrupting my dinner so we can "talk" aka "lecture about everything," or scream for me to come up expecting that I can actually hear him through the floor, my fans, tv, and banging on leather, then get mad when he has to repeat himself and/or call me). Well, I'm glad I could give you a chance to vent. Miserable people like that suck, there's no dealing with them. Because of that, I have a new suggestion. Making wind chimes as a hobby! REALLY LOUD WIND CHIMES. Make sure you leave your four dollar walmart fan on too, when you test them all. At the same time. The look on her face would probably be worth it. But, like I said, you're nicer than me, haha. I would've just found ways to constantly make the problem worse on purpose. So come back to me if you give up on being quiet and want some ideas for very loud revenge. I got you covered! Also- do you have carpeting in general on your floors? If you're operating on planks held up by the grace of god only, they've certainly shrank and dried out over the years, and would make an excellent sound conductor. Even thin carpet would transmit noise. Ripped up the carpet once in our victorian house and the wood was so old you could see straight through to the basement... and immediately tell when the light was on, etc. If you get a carpet and some sort of liner underneath, it would stop the echo or something (there's science to this, I swear!) and certainly dull what she hears. If you're REALLY into it, you could put down some of that soundproofing stuff- I know a friend in college who got some and just stuck it under his drumset and nobody could hear him anymore. I think it's cheap if you can find it as remnants... I know he found his for free. That way it's less about changing your workspace and more about changing what's under it in general- it may solve more than just your tooling problem- she wouldn't be able to hear much of anything you did anymore.

For the comma- the sheer size of that stamp is the same height as the letters, and I'm not sure that would look right. Commas are about half the size of letters. Hole punches are specifically open- the type i'm trying to match is this one: http://www.tandyleatherfactory.com/home/department/Leather-Stamps/Easy-To-Do-Leather-Stamps/4903-01.aspx I'd prefer something filled in. And I reallly don't think I'm that good with the swivel knife to be able to make a perfect question mark at 1/4" height, lol. It probably seems like I'm being super picky, but I went to college for graphic design, and with three classes specifically in typography alone, I'm very aware of how letterforms interact with each other. An open period or a skinny swivel cut, in my mind, would throw my design off if the typeface is a chunky serifed one. Thanks for your ideas, though. Mayhaps I can use the hole punch as an outline to fill in the circle (with what I have no idea- none of my tools are that tiny), and figure out how to handcarve the other marks. I just don't want them to obviously stand out from the typeface.

I'm new here so I don't really know you or what you use your leatherwork for. BUT! If you profit from it, you could just politely explain to her that while the noise may be annoying, you also pay rent, and in order to pay that rent you need to make money, and that is how you do it. I mean, don't be rude about it, but in my experience, just being blunt (but POLITE!) usually makes people more willing to cooperate. Unless she has some sort of medical condition, she really has no right to deny you your ability to make money. I personally don't feel any different even if you were just doing this for fun... it's your house too. I suggest you do what you can to muffle the noise, and if she's happy, then leave it alone, but if she starts poking holes in her ceiling again, I would try to talk with her. Explain what it is you're doing, why you do it, that you need to do it, you've taken measures to be quieter but it's just not possible and not unreasonable between the hours you mentioned. I usually really like old people, but I feel like banging on the ceiling is just a really rude way of her asking you to be quiet. She could've very well just been nice about it and politely asked. I'm probably not as nice as you- I would've just turned on some really loud rock music to cover up her banging and my tooling, lol.

How do you make such marks? Is there a tool set I'm missing? I only shop at Tandy (I'm new) so I'm not really aware of what else is offered. Ps- I considered using a seeder for a period but the type I bought is flat inside (not open face), and the seeder is not completely flat (at least not the ones I have). My type is also 1/4" tall, so these would have to be pretty small stamps to match. Should I just wing it? Any help is appreciated, thanks in advance!