WinterBear

Anytime. I'd be curious to see the PVC form when you are done with it though.

Maybe you can also use thin PVC tubing so you can get the rigidity for forming, with both the side-to-side and fore-and-aft curves? PVC can be shaped very carefully over a heat source (it CAN burn, and the fumes are nasty--shaping PVC is best done outside over a fixed source and while wearing heat resistant gloves, and maybe a respirator). But once warmed and shaped, it will hold that shape once cool. I use heat-bent PVC for support structures for conclave pennants and for round and oval wallhangings.

If you're just wanting to donate it, I agree, a local 4-H is a good one to look at. Also Boy/Cub/Girl Scouts, FFA, church youth groups, Boys and Girls Clubs, programs/safehouses/group homes for troubled/at risk/abused youths, and some after school programs in the middle and high schools (most elementary schools seem to have phased out after school arts/crafts programs). You are bound to find someone delighted to have it, and some groups with a non-profit status might be able to offer you a receipt for the donation for your taxes (in some states, this requires that the individual Troop, Church, Pack, or Group must have a 501 ( c) 3 filed). (Edit--argh, it changed the 501( c)3 into a copyright symbol)

Looks good to me too. I'm sure they'll be pleased with it. I agree, looks like a lot of work. Since there is quite a bit of both, which took more time, the tooling or the stitching?

Looks nasty. Glad you and your family are ok.

You might try looking at some jeweler's stamps. Some are very small, and some you might have to dull a bit so they don't cut the leather. They generally run about 2-3 mm OD. Hackbarth makes some small stamps too.

I'm pretty sure he's right, just a friction fit. I've not made that particular kit, but a similar kit made by someone else and the window was just sort of slid in. I didn't like that, so I scuffed the edges of the acetate so the glue would bind to it, and cemented it into place (after the tooling and dying and before the stitching). I think it worked, or at least the person I gave it to hasn't said anything about it coming loose.

I think my brain just broke. I can't even fathom how that is made, but it is beautiful.

Hi Helmut. See the little envelope under Twin Oaks avatar/icon? Click on that and it will take you to a Private Message to Twin Oaks. Write your message, and send. When you get a green square with a number on it above your avatar in the upper right corner of the webpage when you are logged in, it means that you have a reply. Click on your name at the upper right, and it will open a small menu. Select "Messenger" and it'll take you to your unread messages.

Nice. I especially like how the gloss on the leather gives the sheen of a live amphibian, and the stance--looks like it's ready to hop off and go looking for a juicy bug. (What can I say, I like frogs, but my two aren't nearly this cute.)

If you're worried about the bottles slipping out, maybe you could add a strap to the bottom? You could take a strip of that leather and fold it in half over the center of the bottle band with the ends dangling down, then glue or stitch it in place. Then pull the strip across the bottom of the bottle in the center, and back up to the center on the inside, mark where you need to trip the strip, remove the bottle, and and rivet or stitch the ends in place on the inside back of the bottle's loop.

I like--this would be a great travel tool. Have you decided how much you'll be selling them for?

Hope you find them then. They're handy little things.

Hi Turkish. Welcome. Your attachment is a "2-sided halter ring". Try Hardware Elf?

Whip rope ends, use lengths of it to temporarily be threaded through holes to align parts while sewing or repairing, bulk up the center of the cores for knots (just wrap and glue the layers down, cover with a bit of leather if desired, then go over the shaped center with the braided lace of the finished knot), or from less traditional uses, weave dream-catchers, weave netting and beads on a gourd, or twist several lengths into heavier cord and hang leather Christmas ornaments from it. You can also split it down very fine and use it to make nearly invisible stitches in very thin molded veg-tan (1 oz), especially in creases where a thread might be prone to bulking up a seam too much or where it might be prone to snagging-- I use split sinew to sew parts of wallet guts where I don't want any bulk (pocket seams between layers of leather) or to hold bits of inlay in place to the backing leather if glue might ooze through.

Your other options are perhaps to try finding an acceptable color in waxed linen, which is used by shoemakers and bookmakers (see Royalwood, Bookmakers,Starlit, etc.) or using unwaxed linen thread and dying it youself. Because flax/linen is a natural fiber it will accept most fabric dyes, although the absorption and binding of the dye will vary--some types of linen fibers just do not accept dye well. Rit dye would probably work, in concentrated amounts in small batches. You'd then have to make sure to dye and set each hank to make it as colorfast as possible, then twist and wax it yourself. You'd definitely want to make sure you have more than enough hand-dyed thread for your project, as you'll not be able to match the color again if you run out. If it wasn't needed for critical strength (that is to say, just mainly a decorative stitch), I'd simply twist a heavier cord out of what I have if I can find a cord/thread thick enough to start with as a base cord and close enough in color (as long as it isn't common thin sewing thread--not enough strength and takes too long to make a decent cordage out of it). Jeans threads and linen cords work pretty well for twisting your own though, and some other natural fibers and thin cord/thick thread as well. I'd then follow by waxing the ever-living daylights out of it, sort of like how linen thread is prepped in the book "The Art of Hand-Sewing Leather" by Stohlman.

Maybe try the Thread Exchange? I know they have size 69 nylon in a color called Screamin Green. (Size 69 is a thick thread, you'd use about a size 18 needle on a home textile sewing machine to sew with that). If you don't need a spool that big, I'm sure some of the other members might know of who have colored linen thread.

It's that pretty scroll work bikermama. Like line drawings or calligraphy in leather with no tooling, only blade cuts.

Exactly what I needed to know. I'll toss the cover and lining that came with the kit into the Scout box for the Troop to mess around with and cut a new piece.

Mind if I ask you a question leatherrookie? You make such nice notebooks that I got inspired and decided to try one of my own (and probably make a complete hash out of it, but have fun doing it anyway). Getting to the point, I bought a kit to give notebooks/address books a try, or to at least to use as a pattern until I figure out what I am doing. I took a look at the veg-tan in the kit for the outside cover yesterday, and it's a piece of neck, I guess. Considerable texture,and all over--not a "clean" spot bigger than about a square inch. Is it worth trying to turn into a notebook cover and just tool the entire surface, including the spine, to disguise the wrinkles, or should I use it as a pattern and cut a piece from something smoother and less likely to be stretchy?

That's a kind offer wildrose, Go for it Sixer!--the cost on fleabay is eeksome, and right now that's the only place I have been able to find them. I've been tracking the USMC stamps to see if I can find one for myself since I field a few requests for it per season and am just boggled at the prices. The craftool 3-D stamp has been running around $42-$53, shipping usually runs $3.50 for a single stamp from most of the sellers. $45 seems about average, although I saw one sell for $35 flat. Tandy Craftool-$45 + shipping, Tandy Craftool-$35 flat. There is also a limited edition military craftool stamp set, that comes up only rarely, and the lowest I have seen it sell for is around $45 + shipping. Limited edition set The Baron stamp is a little different, and the only one I saw went for $46 + shipping, and that was with the handle cut off. Baron stamp

Hmm..Don't know of any Australian companies, but maybe you can see if the two companies below have a supplier/seller in your neck of the woods. Hardware Elf: http://www.hardwareelf.com/elf/handlehardware.jsp Ohio travel bag: http://www.ohiotravelbag.com/Products.html Pages 37 and 39? I think they only sell wholesale though.

From what I've read and seen on this site, the stretchy belly stuff is good for things leather bottles (both the beeswax coated leather and the leather stitched over glass bottles), some masks, some canteen covers.