caseroni

I use a program called GIMP which is free to download. This is something I have used for years for any photo/image manipulation. It's pretty powerful for a free program.

You make some really nice stuff, Craig. Welcome!

Hi kc! I'm new too. Welcome!

Thank you! You are all so welcoming here! This drawing might be better for carving.

I am also new to this forum and to leathercrafting. I have learned a lot, too. Information overload. Thanks so much for posting this. I will definitely look these up.

Wow, thanks for writing that! It answered a lot of my questions and addressed many of the issues I have been having.

I just put an avatar on my profile and I didn't realize how big my face would be. Haha. I might have to work on that.

Thanks for the welcome! On sewing, I have a Kenmore sewing machine. Nothing fancy at all. It works fine for cloth, but it will only sew through thin leather with a leather needle. I haven't decided on the types of bags I want to make, but I sure don't have the dough to drop on a nice heavy duty leather machine. I wish I did, though. I'll take a look around the sewing forum, though and perhaps I will learn what it will take, machine-wise to get going. I finally did my first tooling project and it doesn't look as good as I would like, but it was really my 4th shot at leather tooling, I guess. We are our own worst critics, I suppose. This one was a wallet kit I made for my husband from Tandy. I want to move toward doing custom work, but I am sure I have a long road! Anyway, it is lots of fun, and I look forward to gaining and improving skills. I spent many years drawing and painting with oils and acrylics and switching media is a challenge, but I am up for it. A few months ago I started doing these charcoal rodeo/western drawings. I posted one of those, even though it is not really leather related. And here is the wallet. I haven't really figured out the staining yet. I think I need to put some kind of layer of varnish(terminology?) on top but I really don't want it to be shiny. Any help is appreciated.

That looks great! I am just starting out, too. Yours looks so clean and sharp!

Hello! I am Case from Colorado! I am very very new to leatherwork. Just attended a class last Saturday on leather tooling and now I am hooked. Not sure what direction I plan to go with it. I also make purses and bags out of fabric but want to make them out of leather. So, maybe I will somehow integrate sewing and tooling. Anyway, I posted a picture of my 3rd shot at a little practice scrap with a template I found on the Tandy website. Thanks for approving my membership, here and I hope to get to know you all better! Case