mrdabeetle

I have found that if you supply ready to assemble "kits", the kids are less bored and will pay more attention. It is better to have more than one instructor showing how to do it, as there are often more than one who make small mistakes and get stuck. This way, the group can finish about the same time and everyone can be proud of the work they did to make something cool. I was a scoutmaster for a short time before life got in the way.

Some leather is toxic to animals, so if the scraps aren't veg-tan, try to keep it away from the dog.

I got them for a dollar each at Michael's. Wal-mart has some similar ones with etching on the "globe" section. You may find this interesting.

Some people aren't smart enough to know not to steal from a leather crafter. Who needs to hide a body when you can just make an "exotic leather" saddle?

I recently found this: http://www.jugglingd...ngpatterns.html I made this leather covered bottle with it. This is the 3 section, 3" ball pattern

Ponoko does one-off cutting for a reasonable price. They also laser cut leather.

I agree, the cost of a new hide outweighs the work involved in removing the hair and possibly damaging the leather in the process.

Plants are living things too, they are just easier to catch. I'll refrain from ranting... Craft foam can be heated with a heat gun and can be stamped with leather stamps. The impressions are inferior and foam is very weak, but that's the best alternative that I can think of. (It's toxic when heated as well) Felt can be used in conjunction with pva glue to resemble leather. Birkenstock uses acrylic and felt for their fake leather. I don't think it can be tooled though. I just found http://naturesleather.com/ it is "cork leather", a fabric made from cork oak bark. Cork can be branded (pyrography) and looks great when done.

All that nice leather and your revolver is tucked into your belt? Surely something can be done about that. Great work!

The leaves are 3-4 oz. veg tan. I used some scraps with lots of "blemishes" so the dyes would make them pop out more. I cut the veins in with a dull (ish) swivel knife while the leather was dry. (experimenting) This created a very thin, shallow cut. I used Fiebing's yellow and then yellow with a single drop of Fiebing's green dye (about an ounce in total). After buffing excess, I used a medium brown antique to bring out the detail and quickly buffed it away. It left light areas of brown and filled some of the veins of the leaves, but left others intact. I was going to do another coat and finish filling in the veins, but decided it may look better to leave it alone. My daughter sneakily took it out to the renfaire last weekend, and now I have to make 2 more. I may post a pattern once I get it all worked out. The pouch is 5" x 8" (approx.) and 3" deep at the bottom.

I was actually referring to the leather puckering from inconsistent stitch tension and inconsistent hole spacing. I also need to source a more appropriate button. The toggle is ok, but I would prefer something less "manufactured".

Don't laugh too hard at the stitching, I need to adjust the pattern to make the smaller parts fit together better. I kind of threw it together. The next one will look more professional.

I made the pattern. It was easier than it looks. Making it fit is the tricky part, but that goes for anything that needs to fit a person or object.

I just completed a top hat. I'll be delivering it to the customer tomorrow.

I think it should work for your needs. It is more of a garment machine than a leather machine, but it will work with garment leathers and light upholstery. It only does a straight stitch. It is a very basic machine.

You can find more by searching for "calligraphy ornamentation" or "calligraphy ornaments". Thanks for the link! +1 internets