Cyberthrasher

I was just talking to someone the other night who uses a lot of acrylics for stuff and he recommended GameWorks Citadel paints. Apparently, if you know of anywhere that sells those games, they usually have the paints available. http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/landing.jsp?catId=cat440136a&rootCatGameStyle=paints-tools If that's not an option, the other one that was recommended to me was Golden Fluid Acrylics, available in many craft stores. http://www.goldenpaints.com/products/color/fluid/ The Angelus acrylics are specially formulated for leather though - designed to hold better and be more flexible while offering the best coverage for the medium it's being used on. I don't know if Fiebing's has done anything special for their leather paints or not.

Sounds good. Keep us posted.

Everytime I know someone with a baby I request all their jars. What also works is the bouillon jars we get. Some are glass and some are plastic, but they're all great for mixing and storing finishes. They even have a nice seal on them. I was teaching myself pinstriping and used these to store paint after I mixed up a color. Didn't have any problems with too much film forming on the top. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Herb-Ox-Chicken-Bouillon-25-Ct-Bouillon-Cubes-3.33-oz/10291263

I just stick to the CHEAP $2 pad of tracing paper from walmart with really cheap packing tape on the back. I use an HB pencil (hard and fine line) to transfer my design to the paper, back it with packing tape (keeps moisture off and stops me from pressing into the leather too hard), then line it up and trace with my stylus. A lot of people do the same with a plain sheet of paper, but I prefer to have transparency so I can see where I'm placing my work better. Also, backing it with tape means I'm not going to tear it up, leaving it available to reuse over and over if I'm doing a run of items with the same design on them.

I think there was another thread going where this was answered within the last few days. Dye first because dye penetrates leather. Paint stays on top of the leather. Also, alcohol (as found in many dyes) can reactivate acrylics, so you DO NOT want to apply the dye over the top of it. There are more tips on using Acrylics in this Springfield video that they recently released.

I was mobile last night so forgot to add that portion I have dollar store trash bags that aren't good for my garbage can, but perfect for holding my projects. I actually wrap it in saran wrap and then place it in the bag in the fridge. The fridge occasionally has other items in it (food), so I do that to add in locking moisture in, as well as to protect it from any spills. I keep some straps in the fridge for weeks like that and they're still perfectly cased as the day I SHOULD have pulled them out. I actually find that 2 - 3 days in the fridge is the perfect amount of time for tooling. Any less and it seems to dry out quicker - any more and I've obviously been slacking and just need to get to work!!

Ditto Dwight on the 7/8 oz shoulder. It's light enough that it won't seem too rigid for people when it's fresh of the gate, but still good and strong. I wouldn't make a bag or pouch with anything less, unless it was meant to be a really soft ladies purse or something. I'm not sure how it would come out all around for a watch band though. It would work for the main cuff piece, but if you need to add any straps to connect the watch you might have a hard time. All around it's a great cut of leather though. I was using 8/9 for all of my guitar straps but then switched to 7/8 when I started hearing that people weren't happy with how rigid they were. The 7/8 is a noticeable difference in stiffness, but still just as strong for my quality control.

I just don't have immediate use for most of that. But, if you feel like you might part some bits out, there's a few things I could probably convince myself to spend money on.

Don't worry Ray. I run a datacenter for a living and I'm still not a fan of most of GoDaddy's services. For an enterprise or higher end solution, they're great. But for someone unexperienced or without much money, they're not that good. I use them for a lot of stuff at my day job, so I tried purchasing my domain through them for my personal use. The one thing that made me furious is that they decided they should charge people for "private registration". For people who don't know, ANYBODY can look up your information (name, address, phone number, email, etc....) by doing a WHOIS lookup on your domain. With a private registration, they fill in the public information with non-identifiable contact in order to protect you from spammers and other entities. MOST domain registrar's offer that service for free - NOT GODADDY!!!!

Angelus is highly recommended and it's formulated well for leather. But, I would suggest using dye for anything with available colors. Dye will actually penetrate the leather and change its color, acrylic paints just sit on top and can eventually chip or flake off.

For projects that are too bag for a ziplock, I wrap it in saran wrap then put it in the fridge. While I'm working, I only expose the portion I'm working on at the time. This keeps the rest of the leather from drying out and needing recased.

Awesome job Andy!!

I've had my "thick" blade for well over a year and it's NEVER been sharpened. I also just got a Tandy shank angle blade (also "thick") and have never sharpened it either. All it needs is stropping on a regular basis. Remember, a "thin" blade doesn't really get you a thinner line, but it will plunge deeper into the leather - which is most likely what you're experiencing with the drag. I'd get on the line with Barry and see if he has any information for you on it.

Trust me, it will hardly be noticeable once a butt's in place on it!!! I was just staring at it trying to figure out how many different tools were use.

Andy, check out Craftstack. They're a new site, but I've had several conversations with the owner and he's a really good guy that's trying to actually promote their sellers. I have a store setup, just haven't put anything in it yet. It's a pretty reasonable price for unlimited selling.

Ditto Dwight. I prefer 2 - 3 light coats of 50/50. I use a lightly moistened sponge or airbrush myself, but other than that the application is the same. the key is LIGHT pressure as you go along. If you keep on pressing hard, it actually removes what's there and starting to dry, just making a mess of things. I had to learn that one the hard way.

Works perfect. I actually just use plain old Isopropyl. I've heard warnings about it, but I've never had a problem and I've never gotten a straight answer on why it shouldn't be used. It's quite a bit cheaper then denatured and doesn't have as much fumes.

Yes, a big one in terms of product. Resolene is a flexible water resistant acrylic, where the clear lac can be pretty rigid in comparison (don't take that as it's a rigid product, because it's not). Clear-lac is pretty water resistant too, but I just have the most luck with Resolene.

Fiebing's Pro Oil is all I use. I usually use resolene to finish things. But, resolene (or any other "finish") WILL NOT resist dye, so if you wanted to dye the background, you'd either have to carefully brush it or use a masking solution over the dyed tooling. I have good results with Woodland Scenics liquid latex.

yeah, I'd say it's just saddle tan. You'd have to experiment to get the right color since it may be thinned a bit. The guitar strap is a few coats of straight yellow, which happened to make it dark like saddle tan.

Sounds like you're basically doing what I do. Here's my steps. bevel edges sand with 150 - 200 grit on lightly moistened edge dye sand with 400 grit coat with glycerin saddle soap bar dremel burnisher apply finish (resolene, clear-lac, whatever you want) rub down with beeswax on a piece of denim The gloss edge comes with smoothness. Once I'm done with the first sanding, things are looking pretty smooth at that point. I found that I have to dye before the 400 grit because it's too smooth by that point and my dye has problems taking well. By the time the 400 is done, it's pretty much a finished product. After that, burnishing with saddle soap just helps to seal down the pores and make sure nothing's going to pop up on me. From there, the finish seals it all in and the wax helps fill in any spots that may not be perfectly level while offering another layer of protection. I'm happy with my edges, my customers are happy, and I don't have anything looking frayed after it all.

All those products are basically the same thing. I'm not sure if Wyoshene is any different, but I know ClearLac and Neatlac are the EXACT same product made by the same company. Neatlac was just labeled and marketed for Tandy. They are all a lacquer product, so it's not plastic at all. You say you're following Hidepounder's method. Is it exact, or have you taken any liberties? What kind of use does the item see?

SWEEEEET!!!

GENIUS!!