electrathon

Lasts are not really the shape of a foot, but a guideline to the shape for support. The best example of this is that a shoe is longer than your foot is so that your toes do not touch the end (at least they shouldn't) but they do touch the sides. But to answer your question, measuring of the foot is done with some weight on the foot, for the reasons you said. I have othotics insoles that the Dr made from a cast of my foot and he did the cast with no weight bearing. They are not really the exact shoe size though, you often have to trim them depending on the shoes you wear.

Absolutely. Many people are driven by competition. Take the goal posts off a football field and the game is far less fun. I remember in the past some of the contests had a pattern, everyone would tool it in their style. I liked that. People could enter as beginning, intermediate and advanced, someone could be chosen as the judge. No real award needed, just email out a "winner" certificate. Aaron

A asked Tana about meeting on Tuesday evenings at Tandy a while back and she told me not till fall. I brought this up again today and she said we could likely try this starting in September. It would basically be an informal hang out evening where we could all work on projects. Not a class night, but open to everyone learning. Hours would be from 6-9 and we would have to be out so she could lock the door at 9 sharp. Everything very tentative, but I took a step forward on this. Any other input or better ideas? Aaron

I think the only thing we all agreed on is wax. Interesting the number of different opinions.

We are allowed to post anything we want! And the site works pretty well. We just must ask for permission to correct spelling and textual errors. I re-read my posts and often see errors I can not fix. In general, on most forums, people are allowed to edit their own posts (and not just for a short time window). I am not sure how often posts are scrubbed, I do not think it is that often. I think a lot of the problem is most of us want to/do feel at home here. At home we feel we do not need to be tended to by the owner of the house. Many of us contribute, most of us should, so we feel ownership here. We feel comfortable getting up and looking in the kitchen for something. Then you get yelled at for not asking permission to look in the refrigerator without asking. It is a slap in the face reminding us that it is not the place to feel at home/comfortable in. It is sort of astounding that people have commented on moderator workload. This is something that adds to that workload. I do agree that you should not be able to edit other peoples posts, but it is common on most forums to allow personal editing. It makes everyones life simpler. If someone posts something that is incorect/misspelled/wrong/mean and then realizes it the next morning when they reread what they posted do we really see any harm in allowing them to edit what they said? Not allowing them to fix it, having to ask permission for someone else to edit it only makes the bad thing stay out there longer. Is that the intent? I just do not understand. I do sort of understand people telling the person that sees the flaw to shut up because they are uncomfortable with the situation and do not want waves to be made. It still does not make since. And yes, I am an administrator on a small forum. I can not imaging the extra work of having to edit others posts for them. Just a lot of extra work unnecessaryly.

Sometimes it is hard to see the forest when you are standing in the trees. Sometimes outsiders can spot the flaws we are all used to tolerating. That is a perfect example everyone needs to remember. It is way easier to upset everyone than it is to keep people happy. Sometimes we forget that there is a far better way to do things than the way it is being done. I personally feel stringduster is fully correct in what he said, and feel that he was wrong in the way he presented it. He was frustrated that a simple, useful, desirable and handy function used in almost all forums is blocked from us. It is blocked so that the administrators can have control over the masses. If we ask for permission, they might grant it. The administrators volunteer their time, so they make you ask for them to do it when you could easily do it yourself. Sort of doesn't make since. The administrators have lots of time so they do not let you do basic common forum control. That makes since, but I don't understand. Sorry this is all one paragraph. The enter key does not work on this, and only this, forum. It works properly everyplace else. Likely is my computer.

Best and easiest method I have found is to do the final shaping with a belt sander. Use a brand new 36 grit belt.

Before. I don't think it will work after.

As to other thoughts, Eugene has a pretty large group. Not sure what they do or how often. Also, there is a very large group in the Seattle area, they meet regularly. Not sure how much they charge.

The main reason for the cost is that we are bringing in someone from half way across the country to do the classes. As to inexpensive, the next best answer is the classes on Saturdays at Tandy. Depending on the week classes range from free to $80 a 4 hour class. Sometimes I have 10 people show up and sometimes no one shows up, it is pretty hit and miss. This Fall there will be a leather show in Pendleton. They will have classes, usually about $150 a day, depending on the class and the teacher. Aaron

The flesh should always look like suede. Leather that was not cleanly split will have a poor looking backside, if it is a quality job the back should be very smooth.

Loose the gum trag and use glycering saddle soap instead. Dampen the edge with water. Rub the edge with saddle soap. Run the edge with a piece of canvas or denim. Great looking edges fast and easy

No emails came through.

I found this one on your site:

I would go for a female one over a male one. Have someone I can make it for. Email the pics to me and I will resize them and post them. I PMed you my email.

How about if we go this way. Can you make a suggestion for one to start on? Recommendation for a pattern and possibly a pic of one that you did? Tips or suggestions to keep a beginner corsetiere to start with.

You said 4/5 layers thick. I am guessing this is with thinner materials than leather? If you were using 3 oz leather you would be up to 15 oz+ in thickness, you would be pushing a half inch of thickness before you know it. By simpler I was referring to underbust waist cincher style as opposed to one that went lower than your butt and above the top of your breasts. I am assuming that one that was longer has a lot more complexity than one that simply pulls your mid-section in. I realize every body is different but also figure that there are basic shapes that you start with for each panel. Do you typically fit to the person or fit to the desired finished size? I am full of questions.

Patterns are the biggest hollow, void area of leatherwork.

I mainly do tooling and leather along that line. I am always looking to branch out and I have recently made my first pair of shoes. I made an underbust corset a couple years ago as part of a costume, it was very basic though. I very much would like to get the hang of fairly simple corsets and then move from there. Help or input would be greatly appreciated.

I don't use artificial sinew for anything, looks tacky to me. Linen sews very nice. I recently bought some Tiger thread (it is braided) and it sews nice too. Aaron

By having a secondary bevel on the blade it changes the angle of cutting to a more blunt angle. This is extreme but think a maul instead of a knife. The more blunt edge does not cut as well but it holds an edge longer. It is also a lot easier to sharpen at the factory. Look at your blade and how rough the grind is on the primary bevel, it would be harder to properly polish out the entire edge so they tip it up and do a final grind. Even their final grind is poor, but it is what it is, you did not buy it because it was quality, you bought it because it was cheap. You can take it in to a sharpening shop, or for almost no money and a lot of time you can hone it to a scary sharp single bevel. The only issue that is sort of an unknown is the quality of the knife blade. Low quality steel is easy to sharpen and fast to dull. Now we have knife humor...

I open my pics in paint and resize them. Easiest way I have found. Most forums do an automatic resize so that pics are all displayed the proper size, for some reason it is not turns on here so it is up to each person to do it. I am all over learning how to make corsets, just need a willing assistant.

One of the things Paul is going to cover is sharpening. He is very smart in this area. Still space available. Aaron

I think he just didn't wait long enough. The site loads pretty slow and it looks like it is just blank. Eventually it will display.

There are only a few corset makers on here (we need more). I think it is sort of a no-mans-land for many of us. Do you have any pics of some of your work?