WinterBear

Whoops! My fault, I forgot to look at your country Skald. Of course, differing countries have different regulations. All that garbage I posted was the general US regs. If you were to make your own castings out of sterling, and attach stainless snaps with a brass screw--then you could say "custom sterling accents with stainless steel hardware" and everybody'd be happy. I think the snaps might fall under the US exception of "any other joints, catches, or screws" anyway, and would fall under something similar in Sweden if I'm reading what I've found correctly. Have you considered using PMC? Some people have had good results with relief/bas relief work in silver, and production molding it by making a master "push mold" and firing the castings in a tiny kiln, similar to what glass workers use for beads. The items are a little more porous than a piece cast using the lost-wax methods or fabricated, but you can assemble pieces using a slurry mixed with water to make more complex forms, such as hollow filigree pendants, so it does have some advantages. I wouldn't buy "silver" anything off of ebay for those reasons. Or gold, gemstones, whatever. Better to travel to a gem and mineral show or visit the local jewelers who are well respected. But you can make money clips from sterling if you know what you are doing. You simply need a heavy gauge, proper working, and proper tempering. I'd give a link to Kathy's work to show a nice example set with malachite, but she's migrating her website and the pictures are still down. I'll be visiting Kathy next week and I'll ask her about how those things might be put together. Being someone who hand-makes her work from the ground up, she might have some insight on the methods and assembly.

Anytime. Wouldn't a wallet back make a much shallower purse though.Most wallet-backs I've seen are about 1/2 as long as the strip used in the purse pattern in that thread. To be semi-proportional, you might have to cut the wallet back in half along the long edge and make essentially a half-sized purse?

Sorry to hear that, that is really disappointing as I was considering buying from them. I think I'll buy from the bookbinders. Or bite the bullet and buy a whole spool from Zack White--they have a 1-lb spool. I'll probably save myself time and money in the long run, and could probably dye it myself using Ritz or leather dye.

I have not been able to find a reliable retailer at all, but this is what I have been able to find in my searches. Some specialty sewing shops carry it as a hand sewing thread, but they also have difficulty with supply and reliability from their suppliers. Cobbler supply houses are another source, and sometimes a local shoe-repair shop is willing to sell thread--but they are often only willing to sell 10 yards or less, or an entire spool--and the markup on a whole spool will make your wallet cry hysterically. Some bead stores also sell linen and flax threads, but usually only have waxed types. This is where you are most likely to find it locally, depending on the size and structure of your town and how "handicrafty" it is. I find flax/linen thread on ebay fairly often, but I try to avoid the threads touted as "vintage spools" as they are often heat/light/mold degraded and/or stained from being in a windowsill or a dank cellar for years. There's someone on ebay that sells clean 1-lb spools (1500+ yds) in 3-cord natural as well as 2-lb spools (2000+ yds) of 5-cord chestnut. They are currently out of black. Cost is $10 per spool, but shipping is about the same cost as the spool (http://cgi.ebay.com/Pure-Flax-Sinew-Linen-Thread-hand-sewing-beading-/110674971095?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&var=&hash=item5f776a0a4b). A caveat: ebay seldom has new linen or flax thread for sale, and instead usually has old spools of dubious quality sold for collectors rather than usable spools for use by artists and craftspeople. New 60-yd spools in various colors can be purchased at http://www.oneoftheflock.com for $4.25, but I do not know what they charge for shipping. Bookbinder supplies usually have new unwaxed threads in different plys, but colors are often limited (see http://www.bookmakerscatalog.com/catalog/Threads/threadandtape/thread.htm for examples). Another source is mortuary and some medical supply houses, but you usually need at the least a wholesale license to purchase from them if not a medical/mortician license, and they often have minimums that need to be met. Miscellaneous sources include suppliers for pool cue makers, fly makers (tied flies for fishing), and handicraft suppliers for smockers.

Chewie? I like the name. One of the bears never went completely under, so he got nicknamed Chewie for the absent-minded gnawing of anything that made contact with his snout--the chocks, the dental elevator, the graduate student... The tooth detail is especially cute. I might have to make something similar for Mom's dog, only with a tennis ball clamped between two sets of choppers. Would you mind if I took your idea and ran with it?

I'm looking at those things on the websites and wondering if they are following the legal regs for anything sold as sterling, or if they are unintentionally misbranding. The snaps on those findings probably aren't silver, just silver colored, so the snaps as a whole may have an issue with being legally marketed as sterling--But, it depends on whether the snap would be an exemption and what the regs are in the state the business is located in. See, the jewelry industry is very tightly regulated as to what is allowed to carry the "ster." or ".925" quality marks. In order for a jeweler to legally market something as sterling, and quality mark it as .925 or ster., the entire "silver" colored portions of the object must be .925 pure silver by weight. That means any portion that is colored similarly or has the appearance of being colored similarly, (e.g., solder, coins, and most findings, stainless steel portions, some buckle hardware, etc.) must be offset by a certain amount of fine silver (.999 pure) so the item as a whole is 925 parts out of 1000 pure silver. A deviance of only 4 parts per 1000 is allowed. This also means that silver colored platings or portions also have to be offset, even if it is platinum--some fine silver has to be added to offset the platinum. The federal regs allow some exemptions (see below), but some states do not--if is it silver colored and somehow attached, the entire object must be .925 pure silver to be marketed as sterling. I believe the regs of some countries are even more stringent and typically do not allow for the exemptions listed below. Most jewelers I know will follow the "pure silver of my jewelery is .925 of the entire weight" and do not try to figure out which exemptions are and aren't allowed in each state, usually because they sell their jewelry in several different states or online. These jewelers offset the solder and findings added to sterling or coin items by adding weighed amounts of fine silver, usually in the bezels, filigree, or ear-wires, to make their item legally able to be marketed and quality marked as sterling everywhere. ---- § 23.6 Misrepresentation as to silver content. ( a ) It is unfair or deceptive to misrepresent that an industry product contains silver, or to misrepresent an industry product as having a silver content, plating, electroplating, or coating. ( b ) It is unfair or deceptive to mark, describe, or otherwise represent all or part of an industry product as "silver," "solid silver," "Sterling Silver," "Sterling," or the abbreviation "Ster." unless it is at least 925/1,000ths pure silver. ( c ) It is unfair or deceptive to mark, describe, or otherwise represent all or part of an industry product as "coin" or "coin silver" unless it is at least 900/1,000ths pure silver. ( d ) It is unfair or deceptive to mark, describe, or otherwise represent all or part of an industry product as being plated or coated with silver unless all significant surfaces of the product or part contain a plating or coating of silver that is of substantial thickness. ( e ) The provisions of this section relating to markings and descriptions of industry products and parts thereof are subject to the applicable tolerances of the National Stamping Act or any amendment thereof. Note 1 to § 23.6: The National Stamping Act provides that silverplated articles shall not "be stamped, branded, engraved or imprinted with the word 'sterling' or the word 'coin,' either alone or in conjunction with other words or marks." 15 U.S.C. 297(a) Note 2 to § 23.6: Exemptions recognized in the assay of silver industry products are listed in the appendix. Appendix: ( c ) Exemptions recognized in the industry and not to be considered in any assay for quality of a silver industry product include screws, rivets, springs, spring pins for wrist watch straps; posts and separable backs of lapel buttons; wire pegs, posts, and nuts used for applying mountings or other ornaments, which mountings or ornaments shall be of the quality marked; pin stems (e.g., of badges, brooches, emblem pins, hat pins, and scarf pins, etc.); levers for belt buckles; blades and skeletons of pocket knives; field pieces and bezels for lockets; bracelet and necklace snap tongues; any other joints, catches, or screws; and metallic parts completely and permanently encased in a nonmetallic covering.

Hi there. I found a stirrup purse pattern here in this thread: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=1633 I've never seen a wallet-back stirrup though, so I don't know how to help ya there.

Hi wildrose/Holly, Do you have any other needs besides the swivel knives? I also work with youth and might have some stuff I could spare that you could use as well.

Yes, a flap would solve the problem nicely. I like this thread. I'm planning on making my own tool roll as soon as I get back from teaching merit badges at camp. I have it all sketched out and just need to start cutting and sewing.

I can offer some of my odds'n'ends of various latigo laces too. Most of it is in about 3ft lengths, but I have several pounds worth. I have a little blue (but it's not colorfast), some boot-lace type which is pretty nice, some off-white, and a deep dark brown. Lemme know if you want any before Friday--It's gonna be picked over by Boy Scouts working on merit badges, and I might not have any left after that!

You're talking to someone who has seen what Boy Scouts cobble together on the spur of the moment. You ain't gonna scare me!

I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out!

That sounds like it'd be nice done that way. And I understand about the shipping. It's only cost effective if you can buy enough or go in with someone to split something (and split the shipping too). Do you mean a strip along the edges perpendicular to the axis of the stamps? So it would roll up with the tooled strip forming a sort of "jelly roll" and spiraling from the center to the outer edge? Or a single, shorter strip along the outermost edge, near to where the closure would be, and that is parallel to the axis of the stamps? I was thinking the latter.

I think I have a bunch not in that list. I'll post them--hopefully they are all craftool, but honestly, some might be midas? Not all of them are marked craftool, so I can't tell. None of the ones I have are minis. 3 bears: 8528 black bear (no shoulder hump), 8428 seated bear cub, 8460 bear head 3 wolves: 8459 wolf head, 8530 walking wolf, 8474 howling wolf 2 bison: 8458 bison head, 8418 standing bison eagles: 8301 (reverse of 8369), 8514 2 trout: 8518, 8345 8529 (looks just like the one in the attachment labeled 8366) 8286 wolf paw print 8429 chief 8422 howling coyote 8523 standing elk 8524 standing moose 8419 puppy 8407 rabbit 8417 cat 8446 bulldog 8416 bullfrog 8586 dragon shield 8566 crossed axes 8423 dragon 8537 round celtic knot 8538 square celtic knot 8490 basketweave arrow 8491 celtic knotwork arrow 8519 bass 8479 bucking bronc 8396 beaver 8445 BSA Tiger Cub 8613 fluer-de-lis 8465 lion 8557 eagle shield 8400 handmade by 8450 mandela 8515 duck (looks like reverse to 8306) 8617, 8618 left and right rampant lions 8540 live to ride 8547 skull and crossbones There are a whole bunch of others I don't have, and I don't know their numbers either. I could probably find out if you want me to for most of these. I can recall 3 different kangaroos, 2 or 3 koalas, platypus, wombat, southwestern quail, southwestern turtle, southwestern lizard, kokopeli, cheetah or leopard, snarling bobcat head, left and right footprints, 4-H clover, dairy cow, pig, sheep, chickens, 2 different trains (one diesel, one steam), African antelope (kudu, I think), elephant, rhino, bullrider, barrel racer, bulldogger, 2 different angels, crossed nails, lamb&staff, Bible&sword, and BSA Arrow of Light. Craftool also used to make the BSA Wolf Cub, Bear Cub, Bobcat Cub, and Webelo stamps, but some other company makes them now. (gosh, I've really got to watch my spelling)

They say "It's just 1 hour a week!" And those of us who have done it say--"yeah, sure, so which hour of the week do I get to keep for myself?" In all seriousness, I have yet to see a strong, long lasting Troop to ever turn down a volunteer, especially someone with a Scout background. You could always be an alumnus who pops in whenever time allows. If you can only come once a quarter or twice a year to teach a special merit badge class, most Troops won't say no either!

Math is not my strong suit, so I struggled with my degree. All in all, from the BS to the MS, I took 1 semester of trig, 2 of chemistry, 2 of organic chemistry, 2 of physics, 2 of calculus, 2 of statistics, plus some of the biology coursework was heavily math-based, so I also had things like theoretical ecology and fractal theory (many biological systems can be modeled with stochastic equations and fractal iterations). As for the "real job" most of what I do only peripherally touches on the degree. Which is why I work with Boy Scouts and Venturers (co-ed Boy Scouts age 14-21). I call it my "second job"--I have no kids, so I borrow them. They're the ones that get me out and about, out camping, teaching what I know, and just fooling around in the great outdoors. One bonus is that I get to give dirty tired kids and their laundry back to their parents. One reason I joined this forum is so I can get ideas and tips so I can be a better merit badge counselor and learn some new things with leather. I am a counselor in whole or in part for the "nature" merit badges: Nature, Mammals, Insects, Birds, Amphibians and Reptiles, Fish and Wildlife Management, Plant Science, Environmental Science, and so on. Also, photography, radio, leatherwork (with a fellow adult leader), and portions of eight or nine other rank advancement requirements or merit badges.

That is a lot of leather. Would you do the tooling leather as overlay panels over the chrome tan then? Or inlaid? Or just a separate pieces that are sewn to the chrome tan sides? Maybe check out Springfield Leather--the stuff looks nice. You'd have to ask the forum at large about that leather as I have not bought anything but the bison from Springfield. They have some black chrome tan sides from 2-4 oz in weight for $1.99 sq.ft. http://springfieldleather.com/product/1635/Side%2CChrome%2CAsst-Black%2C2-4oz/. f you wanted more stiffness and shape to the bag, maybe you could make the bag, or even just the outside, out of bison latigo or water buffalo--Springfield leather has it. It's more expensive than 3-4 oz chap leather though. Bison is sold by the side only, and runs $6.49 sq.ft., while the water buffalo is sold by the side or whole hide at $4.99 sq.ft. Both are very thick. I have a piece of a bison latigo side that a friend and I split between us. Heavy!--But that stuff will take a beating. Springfield had good shipping too--cost less than $12 to ship the bison side from Missouri to Wyoming. I don't know if you'd want to make a whole big bag out of bison/buffalo entirely though--the bag itself will weigh a ton. If you're going to brand chrome-tan, be careful of the fumes. The fumes are apparently especially nasty. But it would make a pretty bag, better than baggies. You could tool a strip and sew it to the outside of the roll? A vertical strip on the outside edge where the snap would be would show nicely when the tool roll is closed an wouldn't interfere with the purpose, structure, or use of the tool roll.

Oh, I got the masters degree, but couldn't find a job. So it goes. I worked in bakeries for several years before finding a job as a technical editor for a company that does biometrics/biostatistics analyses.

Now both of those ideas are distinct possibilities. I'll have to start trying some of these ideas out. Anything that doesn't suit 100%, I'm sure the Scout troop or crew can find a use for.

I have a similar worry with the tools falling out. I thought I'd see how this one turns out, and maybe add a strap across the bottom? I'm not sure how to make it bigger than the Tandy block I am trying to use. I mocked up a pattern in foamboard and cardboard, and I think it will work. Overall, I think the stamping tool case will work for my current needs, but I'm thinking of making a case with smaller cases inside for future use. I was thinking the manicure case on page 106, volume 2, could be modified to hold as many tools as I want in as many rows as I want. I think i could dispense with the zipper, make the spine thicker, and insert several "booklets" sewn to the spine, with each booklet having additional loops to hold more tools on each of its pages. Then I could fold the modifed case into a 3-sided box (the 3-sides being sewn the the back cover which forms the bottom of the box, and the sides being as tall as the "pages" where the tools are), the spine forms the 4th side of the box, and the "cover" of the modified manicure case forms the lid of box. A snap could hold it closed. I could also replace the loops with O-rings. hmmm. Have to think about that... As for something to hold the mallet and whatnot, the large heavy things, I was looking at the case on page 44 in Volume 2. I think it would work for larger and heavier items with some thicker leather and some additional support. But I think I'd like to keep mallets and boards separate from the stamps in two separate cases, so as not to make a single case that is too heavy for me to lift or carry easily. Anything heavier than about 25-30 pounds carried more than a few blocks stresses my bad wrist too much. Anything close to that weight or heavier, I'd put a padded shoulder strap on so I could carry the weight on my shoulders and brace the case against my hip.

Most people here seem to recommend them. I quite like them because they not only tell you suggested weights, but also how to stitch difficult portions, when to use certain methods and when to not, and why certain methods should be avoided entirely (such as being a weak attachment or likely to fail). The only thing that the folks here disagree with that Stolhman's Volume One suggests is using a copper rivet at the top of the blade edge of a knife sheath to protect the stitches. The people here say to add a welt to protect the stitches and avoid the rivet entirely, I'm sure some more experienced people will be along shortly to give you much better advice and some other resources. I am still very much a newbie myself.

I'm currently in the process of making a carrying case for my stamps, based on the "simplified carrying case for leathercraft stamping tools" found in Volume One of the Art of Making Leather Cases by Al Stohlman, but with a better handle, something like what is shown in Volume Two. The case is more-or less a bottomless leather case that attaches to either a homemade tool block or can be modified to fit the wood tool rack sold by Tandy. The tool rack/block forms the bottom of the case is held in place with heavy-duty snaps--half of the snap is screwed into the wood near the bottom, while the other half of the snap is set into the leather side. The case shown in the book only uses four snaps, but I think I will use at least six.

Where I live now does not accept cats, so the cat has been living with my parents. The dog is Mom's. I don't have a yard here, and I don't think it is fair to expect a dog to be cooped up and bored all day while I am work, so I am currently dogless as well. My name is from my graduate work, a joint study on black bears, and the first live bear I got to see and touch was a denned female.