WinterBear

Wow, you won't have to move anything around to get a big piece over the stone, will you? Will you set it flush with the top, or have it on top of a base?

The ladybug is an especially nice touch.

I've put a small piece of rawhide to soak and I'll get it stretched tomorrow. A friend is letting me steal her pencils for an hour or so this weekend, and I have a bottle of Testor's thinner/brush cleaner in the cabinet. So, I should be able to tell you what I think of the "pencil painting" on rawhide in a few more days.

Maybe you can use oil pencils and oil pastels to draw on leather, then blend, thin, and "paint" the drawing with a thinning medium used for model enamel paint. I have done this on cardstock, hot and cold press watercolor papers, unfinished wood, gesso, and goose eggs, along with some fabrics. I plan to be trying it on leather too, but haven't had the time yet, or the money to get myself new oil pastels! I expect it would work on rawhide about as well as it does on gesso or wood. "Painting" with the thinner can cause drawn edges to bleed, so use caution.

From what I understand, she forges the clips. The metal is shaped, then tempered by working and heating/cooling cycles. She also starts with a heavier gauge than most I see. I think the clip is mostly meant for dressing up or a gift. Daily day-to-day would ruin the mirror finish, the chasing, and the malachite cab, but the piece is actually pretty robust. I'd honestly expect it to outlast the brass or nickle ones I see sold most often. You ought to take some sketches to a smallish jeweler and see what they'd charge you to job-lot a few dozen. A big place wouldn't want to do it unless you were buying a lot (100 or 1000 + pieces), and a really small one might not have the abilities/equipment to do multiple castings. I'd suggest some folks I know, except the shipping here and back would probably cost more than the work! Not to mention, US silver prices are pretty steep right now.

There is the stuff they use to paint unglazed bisque (aka clay that is fired once to cure it from green ware, or wet clay, to bisque ware fired clay) might be what he was speaking of. Bisque is often painted with pastels and acrylics. The stuff most often used is an acrylic medium, often in unique colors and finishes. Duncan is one brand I have used (Liquid Pearl, Ultra Metallic, and the stains), along with Lusters, Pearls, Metallics, and Translucents in other brands. Some of the stuff does come as a powder that is brushed on as an accent, but it can be harder to use. Most of the ones I used were easier in the pre-mixed form, which for some of the metallics is the metallic powder in a clear or tinted suspension of acrylic medium. I've seen some stuff here where the makers used acrylics and seal with an acrylic sealer (Super Sheen and others), so maybe you can substitute your powders with thinned-down metallic acrylics and do a little experimenting on scrap?

If you look at most high end journals and diaries with a closure, there IS a little gap. It isn't butted up flush and tight against the edge of the front and back boards of the book (the cover), so the slight excess bows away from the edges of the book slightly. The reason being that pages get a little warped when they are written on. Not by much, but some, so the book gets minutely "thicker". It also allows a little bit of expansion if the journal owner tucks a pressed flower or a picture or three in there. That little bit of free play prevents the closure and the closure tab that goes from the back to the front cover from being over-strained. It also allows for a pen to be tucked under the closure tab in the gap between the covers and the page edges, which most journal owners seem to do.

Yeoo. Pretty well crisped. But it could have been so much worse, I'm happy for you that most of the damage was cosmetic and most of the important tools (and the rest of the house!) are undamaged. If you haven't already, you might ask your local hardware store if they have fire chemicals to wipe the salvaged items down with. They're degreaser and detergent types formulated to get rid of the nasty gunky grubby soot on everything. That being said, I have a brand new, still in the bag, still dipped in edge protectant, french edge skiver. I accidentally bought one, it got lost in the chaos, so I bought another. And then found the first a week ago. I haven't taken it back yet, so you're welcome to it if you want it? It's just hobby quality (Tandy Craftool) but it does a pretty nice job.

Holler at me if I can help too? I don't have a much that isn't the hobby-type quality, but I'm sure I can help with something.

Welcome CritterPoor. I'm just beginning myself with a lot of this, and finding all sorts of tips, great ideas, and help here. Plus lots of fantastic items to aspire to!

Can you post a picture? The folks here might be better able to give you an idea if they had a better understanding of what it looks like and what you are trying to do.

I've had more problems myself with stolen pictures by someone here in the States that from anywhere else. Not pictures of leatherwork, but of custom quilts, where they were trying to pass it off as their own work. Generally, the local sharps are more of a nuicance to the people around here anyways. For instance, in my neck of the woods, it's the start of Frontier Week and there are out-of-towners and hard-core tourists from all over, well, all over! There will be a lot of vendors and street-corner sellers who will be selling machine embossed belts as "hand tooled" to the tourists this week. A lot of laminated/bonded/poorly dyed leather/leather clone is going to be sold as high-end product. Jewelry too--a lot of "silver" isn't--nickle plate, electroplate over brass, and pot metal. And in the long run, that sort of product, and the seller who cheats the public, really hurts the local craftsfolk when they lose sales to tourists who wind up with an inferior product and then assume all of the products being sold are of that same low quality.

A lot of those types of picture thieves don't edit or crop the pictures, which is how that sort of monkey business gets reported. A good way to clue in potential buyers that they are looking at a stolen picture of another person's work is to put your website on the picture, especially where it doesn't interfere with the viewing of your item. Someone liking the work might decide to type in the address and find out that they were looking at someone who was pretending to do the work and will appreciate being able to find the correct source. It also makes it easier to get Facebook to have the account suspended as you can say "Hey! They are using my pictures of my work to entice customers to believe they are doing that work. See, there's my website/Facebook link on that picture." If you do mark your pictures for use on Facebook, you can also add the website or logo where if it is clumsily cropped, it will be noticed that a portion of the picture is cut away--such as having your website name placed diagonally across the corner of a picture. Removing that sort of mark by basic cropping will leave "chunked corners". In order to remove the mark, they'd have to Photoshop it, and most can't be bothered as if they are lazy enough to steal a picture, they are often too lazy to photoshop and will look for an easier mark to steal pictures from. For your blog, you can use some other tricks to make it harder for people to thieve pictures, depending on how it is set up. Some people directly edit the html to add java applications that prevent right-clicking, cover their pictures with a "clear picture", hidden-splicing the pictures into several pieces (so someone downloading and saving the webpage will only get a portion of each picture), and so on. None of these will prevent a screen capture though, so the watermark/website on the picture itself still can help there.

I'll wish you luck then and hope you find exactly what you need. It is no fun using shears that don't fit your hand. Have you considered contacting Ghinger directly and asking if they make the model you want in left-handed? http://www.gingher.com/static/contact/ Worth a shot as not every model they make is shown in their product catalog.

That is amazing. I can't even begin to fathom the man hours in this thing. That is incredible work.

Good luck. Oh, one word of warning. If you're looking to talk to FFA/4-H, county and state fair folk--be sure you aren't trying to talk to them during the week leading up to or the week of county/state fair. They'll be busier than you can believe and stressed to the max. Especially those in charge of getting county exhibits, exhibitors, and animals to state fair.

Yes, they do. Any place that carries Gingher scissors should be able to order them in (Part # G-8L). They are sold by Roberts Crafts online (http://robertscrafts...&ProductID=6851), amazon (http://www.amazon.co...11134671&sr=8-1), Kmart online (http://www.kmart.com...90000000080137P), Possibly your local quilt and hobby stores. I can't find an Australian source for the lefts, but they DO make them. (augh, forgot to look at the country again, sorry).

King's X has the right of it--lots and lots of self-help on here and I'm sure someone nearby will pop in soon. I have a few ideas for you based on what I can find locally and my experiences. Co-op Extension Service Agents, especially the liaisons for 4-H and FFA, and the local Boy Scout Council/Troop Leaders might be able to put you in touch with leatherworkers that teach the youth in your area. You might be able to find someone who'd be willing to teach in exchange for help at some of the youth classes and camps. Fair warning though--Be prepared for various levels of chaos if you go this route. Chaos and kids go hand-in-hand and the more kids, the more the chaos! (From personal experiences, I would avoid anything that would involve teaching those under 11 or 12 years old and teaching groups of youth larger than 5 or 6 youth per instructor. I also recommend a parent or other adult for every 5 or 6 kids under the age of about 15. Kids under 11 tend to get bored to quickly, while more than 6 at a time means a lot of horse play and not much actually paying attention.) Feed and Ranch Supply houses are also good places to wander into and talk to the owners and customers. Especially the Mom-and-Pop types. You'll know you have the right spot when you find the folks who make their own tack, wallets, and boots, or know who does make the stuff. Feed and Ranch stores are also great place to get things like saddle soaps, leather conditioners, and cleaners (lexol, lexol non-darkening, neatsfoot oil, etc.) if you don't have access to a leather store. Shipping costs on liquids can be a bear (no pun intended), so I buy the big bottles at the ranch supply down the street. Find the people with horses and you'll find the people with tack--and those who repair it, make it, and sell it. Talk to the DVMs, farriers, and blacksmiths. Find the local equestrians groups--they usually have a newsletter that sometimes lists classes that can be attended by the public. Horse shows, county and state fairs, ren faires, rendezvous (aka mountain man jamborees), rodeos...I seem to recall that Maine has Cavalry Reenactors? Reenactors, especially of the Civil War and Revolutionary War have makers that supply their gear or they make their own. While at these events, find a maker and see if they offer classes or would be willing to trade some instruction for some help. Ask about short-term "apprenticeships"--they teach, and you help with the work--watch the local labor regs on this though. Some regs require that a wage be paid and taxes collected, some don't as long as no money changes hands. (Several jewelers I know have done this to learn some of the more obscure techniques and the instructors are happy to have the help. Most of them don't mind teaching either, as each person tends to have their own style and will take what they learn and go their own direction with it, so direct competition with similar products is a fairly rare occurrence.)

I have also heard good things about Weaver, but haven't seen their goods yet. These guys were recommended to me when I was seeking thread for canvas repair: http://www.thethreadexchange.com http://www.thethreadexchange.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=SRCH&Store_Code=TTE, and type in "138 thread" and it pulls up all kinds of colors in size 138 in nylon, polyester, kevlar, and nomex. I haven't ordered from them, but they use UPS and USPS and state that they usually ship same-day and don't have hidden handling costs.

If you cant find it in the hardware stores, many camping supply stores carry it too for repair of collapsible tent poles. Look for "shock cord", it usually sells for around $0.25 US per foot. Many craft and hobby type stores will also carry it if they have more than the simple "button and thread" types of sewing notions. REI currently has 1/4" black in stock (http://www.rei.com/product/624074/shock-cord-14-diameter-black-nylon).