Cyberthrasher

Awesome Man! Did you actually get some stitching on his helmet there, or are those just impressions made to look like stitching?

My photo kind of sucks, but this is the layered yellow I did. Piled it on nice and thick because I was out of Saddle Tan at the time. This is the Pro Oil Dye.

Maybe it's my sceen or something, but I see Saddle Tan there. Actually, I've even done one that was "yellow" full strength that came out like that with a little oil.

I'm gonna have to get me some of those Gretsch buttons so I can see them for myself (Or, I can buy a Gretsch and call it an expense ). I have a customer right now who told me his Fender strap locks are 12mm - that seems huge to me. I'm going to have to order some to make sure. I've actually found that both my Schaller and Dunlop strap locks take the exact same size hole as most of my guitars strap buttons. They all fit over it and they're tight enough that they aren't slipping off.

It's ok, I'm only that cheap when it comes to software I'm actually finding that there are LOTS of really full featured enterprise class solutions on the Free/OpenSource market. They're just so fully featured that they're overkill for my "accounting" brain. I installed PostBooks on my laptop and it looked really good (full vendor, inventory, workflow, accounting, etc...). It's a pretty large program though so it crashed my poor little browsing machine.

I would check with EmbossingDieCompany - that's one of our members here who makes them. There are actually several members here who make stamps, but I think he'll best suit your needs. Member profile here http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showuser=16724 And his Etsy store http://www.etsy.com/shop/CustomMadeStuff?ref=seller_info

If you're mostly focused on tools - Leathercraft Tools by Al Stohlman is a must have. It will continue to serve you down the road. From there, you just need to decide what you want to focus on and then get books more closely related to that if needed.

That's the source that David Theobold recommended for his seat foam, so I gave them a shot with his endorsement

No problem man!! Post up what you got when you're able to get some pictures going.

yeah, mass production makes that stuff much more cost effective. Now I'm wondering why that guy wasn't using the anvil with them though. Maybe he lost his. I've seen a few of his videos though and kind of wonder about some of the things he does.

here's a couple shots of stuff I've done with the latex. It doesn't discolor at all. I hear they have it at Hobby Lobby. I bought mine on ebay though. It's made for making models for train sets. On these skulls, I did all my tooling, covered the skulls with the latex, then airbrushed black over everything. For the guitar strap with flames, I covered the natural stuff with latex, then airbrushed my blue on the flames (to keep the blue off the natural), then I put latex over the flames (at this point it's on the natural and the flames) and airbrushed on the black. Then just peel off all the latex, add my clear coat (Resolene) and send it on it's way . There is a little discoloring of the natural on that strap, but that's because I got a little overzealous with the oil and has nothing to do with the latex. here's a link showing what the product looks like. Gotta be careful googling "Liquid latex" http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/woo/wooc1204.htm?source=froogle&gclid=CNTzh_rQxbYCFaF7QgodODoAmw

Lot's to choose from here. They have pretty good prices and really fast turn around. http://www.foamforyou.com/neoprene.htm

There's not really any product that will "resist" dye reliably, though I've heard of people having better results with RTC Sheridan Resist. I have a bottle of that that I haven't had a chance to try yet. What I use is liquid latex from Woodland Scenics in this situation. You brush on a couple coats, dye, then peel off. It works well, but takes a little bit of practice to get it applied in detail spots.

I think I was reading somewhere that they virtually shutdown this time of year to clean or do something else plant wide. I can't remember the details right now. But I do remember it was about this time last year that someone mentioned it was taking a long time and then a phone call was made where the explanation was given.

I haven't heard about any of the schools. But, I've decided to just start joining EVERY group I can find to soak up all the resources I can, for that same reason. I'd start with the IILG and any local guilds you may have. From there you'll be able to get more localized information on any classes being taught that you may not here about otherwise. Also, there are some bigger events/leather shows scattered throughout the country over the year. See if you can make it to one of those and take some of the classes offered. Right now I'm trying to convince myself to spend the money on attending the Pendleton show in Oregon this year. And, since joining IILG, I found out that there will be some classes taught by a few of the people I look up to fairly close to me. Just some examples of the kind of resources out there. If you can't find any groups, figure out what the next step is in your work and PRACTICE until you have it right. Really there's nothing you can learn in a class that can't be found here for free. The only difference is that you would have someone right there pointing out how to improve and showing you the way it should be done. I find that you can get the same results if you just stop and stare at your work to figure out how to accomplish the next step.

Read through some of the stropping and sharpening threads that are stickied around here. There's one long conversation that takes place somewhere regarding the colors and how they AREN'T standardized. Most people recommend the green stuff. I have some white that I purchased that seems to be about the same coarseness of the standard green. I'm not talking Tandy's white jeweler's rouge though. This is a white honing compound. Here's some of the information I was referring to: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=33539 http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=36221

Look who you're talking too!!!

Hey, guess what!! That lacing don't look "stereotypical cowboy"... Now, you gotta share that lacing technique too

I checked out FileMaker a little bit. It looks cool, but for my purposes it's outside of my price range. All the stuff I'm looking at right now is free. I haven't really gotten to the point yet where I'm turning a good profit (still trying to build up supplies to have on hand), so I'm trying to make sure that all of my spending goes to material as much as possible. But, I did find that GNU Cash has some small customer and invoicing functionality. Not a whole lot (just ledger information and contact data), but it might be enough to hold me off until I find a better solution that's not overkill.

I suppose it's possible, but it's really an unnecessary step and I've found that sometimes that stuff can mess with the leather too. Also, remember that none of you standard "resists" will actually resist DYE. The highlighters and stains aren't too bad, but dye will go straight through. Here's some good information on resisting. http://www.johan-potgieter.com/ll/?cat=8 Pay special attention to the section titled "using resist - for antiquing" since that's the part that a lot of people seem to have some confusion on. That will give you a good idea on the outcome of different scenarios and how it should be used. That section is about 3/4 of the way down.

Did you end up with the highly embossed stuff, or the lighter weight one? I don't see it being a problem at all with the lightweight. Not sure about the heavy weight with deep embossing. I've never used a machine, so i can't answer with absolute knowledge. But, I do know of one person who turned me onto it who stitched up some wallets with good results. So with that, I'd give it a try with some test pieces.