Cyberthrasher

There's a lot of people who have input on rivets. I believe most say the copper are the best. I haven't used them myself just because i don't ever have a project that needs them. My belts get snaps on them so the buckle can be switched out with ease.

All of the above plus a modeling spoon. You may also have to adjust the artwork a touch. I think a modeling spoon would probably be your best start.

What application do you use for layout? You could just stamp all the letters into some leather, take a picture, then use some basic editing tools to make each letter it's own black image. I know with GIMP you could even then use that image as a "brush". Or, you could look around online for images of the stamps already in leather and use that instead to create your samples.

It's 90% of what I do anyway, so it will be an easy section for fill up

Very nice and an extremely worth cause. I love the coloring effect.

I know what you mean about the therapeutic nature. I look forward to working on leather all day while I'm at work. Really helps me zone out and do something enjoyable. You're doing GREAT for a first time piece. I also want to add how perfect the lace job looks. Just keep at it and do something every day so you can really get those tooling techniques down (this is where scrap bags of leather come in handy). The first thing I did is a coaster that sits on my desk at work. I use it as a reminder of how bad I was and how far I've come.

Check out Blackthorn Leather on Facebook. From your description, it sounds a lot like what he's been making a lot of lately. He's also a member here, but I can't remember what his username is right now. http://www.facebook.com/BlackthornLeather

Sorry about that. I think we forget to check that sometimes. You use water based dyes though, right? Any time you dilute/thin something you should be using the base of the product. For a water based dye, that base would be water. For alcohol based dyes such as Fiebings, then you would want to use alcohol, and spirit dyes would be spirits, etc.... If you put a finish on before you color, this will resist the color. It's a useful technique for covering large areas while leaving some spots uncolored. Just remember, it's called "Finish" because it's the finishing step.

very cute.

I couldn't say how to have it repaired without seeing it, but my thought leans towards the battle scar aspect. I don't know about others, but I want my stuff to be used. Granted, I like to hear that things are being properly cared for, but at the same time I wouldn't want to see it locked away in a display case not being used for its intended purpose.

Very slick looking!

I have absolutely no experience with cad in any form. Blender sounds familiar to me, but all that means is that a bunch of people have used it.

Uhm, I'm a network administrator, so trust me when I say that Linux IS NOT free from infections. If it were, then they wouldn't write antivirus programs for it.

Where are you at when the popups happen? A lot of well meaning website get conned into popups by adding widgets to their sites, such as hit counters, that actually add the popup code. So, the vendor may not even be aware that they're sending popups. If it's happening here though, I'd lean more toward an infection on your computer and nothing to do with the site itself.

I just got a couple of REALLY good books on braiding by Bruce Grant. The second one is more of a quick reference - everything in it is actually covered in the first link. They are well worth the price though. For simple practicing, I like to just use the cheap plastic craft lace - that way I'm not wasting anything that's useable on a future sale. Just grab that multicolored package and punch some holes in cardboard and you'll get the lacing down pretty quick. http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Rawhide-Leather-Braiding-Bruce/dp/0870331612 http://www.amazon.com/Leather-Braiding-reprint-Bruce-Grant/dp/087033039X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_y

It's labeled a little weird, but the "Member Gallery" is pretty much the spot for introductions. You're doing a great job with your work.

If the lacing is structural, you want round holes. If you use slits it will be a lot more likely to tear out under stress. I don't know about latigo lace, but 1/8" lace should easily go into 1/8" holes. A lot of times we actually undersize the holes to make things a bit tighter.

It looks like maybe your holes are spaced a little too far apart for the size of your lace, though I haven't tried anything quite that large so it's just an observation. Also, I noticed that I have problems getting good edge coverage on 90 degree corners like that. It usually comes out much better for me if I round the corner before punching the holes. In the end, your corner is going to look rounded anyway, so I find doing it first just makes the end lacing job look that much better.

I've had some issues with my elbow from prolonged periods of tooling. I don't think I'd cause it tennis elbow, but it's definitely a pain associated with the constant wrist movement. Usually I find that readjusting the position of my elbow helps a lot, as does not wresting it on the table while I'm working. I keep trying to tell myself it's ok to buy a Bear Maul.

I'd say that for the most part you are ok. The Tandy stuff is sold for you to make. You can't sell their patterns, but you can produce the item portrayed (this has been discussed in detail in this thread). As for gaining stuff from tutorials, it could be a little trickier. Because you're taking the designs from a tutorial that was offered up, then I would say that any reasonable person would expect their patterns used in the tutorial to be reproduced unless stated otherwise. Your final example though where you are just really inspired by a specific artist can get trickier. If he is the ONLY person that makes that design, then it could be said that he has an implied claim to it. The best bet here would be to contact the artist and ask his permission to use aspects of his design while you try to make it your own. You'll find that many artists actually love that they inspire people and are more than happy to share their ideas as long as credit is given and permission asked.

You'll find that most of the kit leather is really poor compared to even the scrap leather available for sale at other retailers. That's my experience anyway. I had used the Tandy stuff that came in my kit and it wouldn't case right, and sure wouldn't dye correctly. It's like they add chemicals to it to treat it or something. When I bought my first bag of scrap, I thought I had went to heaven with the difference in tooling. That's pretty sad considering it was something that was deemed not fit for use!!!

i think it's something to do with the tanneries only supplying the good stuff to the expensive manufacturers. There was an article about it in a recent Shop Talk issue. I'll have to see if I can remember to look it up later.

Get a hold of Springfield Leather. They'll be able to answer all your questions specific to your goals and point you in the right direction on products. They'll even pre-cut leather exactly to your needs, but depending on your quantities, I'd buy a strap cutter myself. We can answer any of your questions here, but it sounds like you're pretty concerned with a supplier that will work with you, so that would be an EXCELLENT place to start.

Thanks Chief!! The brown one had a hiccup where I spliced back into the beginning, but that was just because I started a little too tight. I think I fixed it pretty well on the next one. I go so long between lacing jobs sometimes that I forget the little details like that. Hopefully now that I'm offering these as a standard order item, I'll get PERFECT at it