electrathon

When I have made things that I want to look old/ weathered I tend to be less carefull on application of dye. I tend to intentionally be more sloppy so there will be darker and lighter areas. Sometimes I will rub it with a scotch brite pad to wear off the edges a little. Sometines just bending and flexing it works. Basicly you are trying to put 15 years of wear into about an hours time. Aaron

The pslac article Bob posted above is full of great information. I really encourage everyone to read through it is you ever want to put words or letters on leather. I have bought almost all of my font off of Craigs list. It appears fairly often. Aaron

I think it is a good looking bag. Aaron

Tooling would be done before any assembly. Aaron

Sorry, I missed that. I saw dye along the edge. Final step usually.

Look up letterpress type. It is left over from the old days of printing. Exactly what you are looking for, but you will have to look a little bit. You press it in, not pound it. It is also set as a full word or phrase, so it is totally perfect and straight when done. Aaron

Sheridan is a circular style of floral. Flower in the center, vines and leaves rotating around. Western floral is more common in the older patterns (like many of the Stohlman patterns), it is a lot simpler, less busy style. many call western floral Sheridan because the name Sheridan sounds better. What you have done is not either one, knife cuts only one aspect of tooling.

Sewing machine needles chucked in your dremal are perfect for drilling holes.

Use fiebings dye, toss the eco-flo. Practice on something else first, it wicks away from where you touch it. Aaron

I do not have an answer, but you are not on ignore. Aaron

I don't think it is possible to strop too often, you can easily strop not often enough. I do it every few cuts. Aaron

You should be able to sew the inside with a home sewing machine. Use quality thread on it add you will be good. As for sewing around it, it will be easier if you start off with thinner leather. You can skive the edges even thinner so it will roll around the edge easier.

I was going to try to find this earlier when I posted but was out of time. Here is the pattern I use: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=32747&hl= wallet insert aaron&st=0 The outside edges can be trimmed when you get it all togeather and see how it fits togeather folded, si I suggest leaving the extra to trim and not cutting it the exact size. The insert is easy to make, very tough and does not ass a lot of thickness. Aaron

What I see right off is that your interior is too long. The interior should be 3/8" shorter than the outside. You put a U shaped notch in the fold area that does not get sewn. This allows it to fold properly without bunching up. It will not lay flat when when open. I also think your outside is a little short too, it needs length to whap around the cards when folded. Use thinner outside leather too. 3-4oz is plenty.

Most places would help you load it. They pay by the ton to dispose of it. My friend that has a shop will sit them outside with a free sign on them, they disapear quickly. I took a pile of scraps and we paved around another friends fire pit, looked pretty nice. Aaron

Chan Geer lives in Sheridan, best teacher ever. I am not sure if he does any local classes though, contact him and see what he says. Aaron

My recomendation. You need them, buy them. Sell them in bags of 12 for a $10 paypal, shipped. You will come out a little ahead and everyone will benifit that gets some.

I am interested. Who is going to organize this. There will be mail forwarding fees. Who is handeling the repackaging and stuff like that. Aaron

Poly kitchen cutting board. Very cheap and lasts forever. Aaron

I REALLY like the covering on the helmet. The dragon is good, but not my thing. I do have to comment, the dragon looks like it has doggie dentures. http://www.suerte-communications.com/2012/05/doggy-dentures-funniest-advert-television/

Your fingers are going to be sore from all the lacing.

Coming from a tool guy here. Never sell your tools. They are the path to what you do. Once you go backwards on the path it is really hard to recover. I am assuming you own them. If you owe money on them, totally differant. Never go into debt, the path is even worse in the wrong direction.

It is hard to imagine anyone buying in this day if you do not take paypal or credit cards. The me, if someone says they will not take credit cards what I hear is that they do horrible work and get tons of complaints so they get charge backs. In order to stop this they demand money orders so that no matter how unreputible they are, money gets collected. This may not be the case with you, but as a consumer, I assume it to be true. I then buy from someone else. I buy and have sold many thousands of dollars worth of stuff online in hundreds of transactions. I have been ripped off once (ironically from a guy on this site). He convinced me he would not use paypal, I sent him money, never got the tool I bought. I will never again send anyone money directly.

Your tooling is shallow and "soft". try tooling deeper and let the leather be a little drier. You will have crisper lines to trap the antique in. Also be very careful when wiping off the antique, wiping gently in a directional manor to allow the antiquing to stay in the deeper crevices. Aaron

Reading through and looking at the pictures I saw the side stamping and feel it went is a wrong direction. Alone it would stand as a good guitar strap, but it is a very different style than the carvings. The simpleness of the knife cut carvings looks very good. The side "belt" part is a stamping, not a carving. I feel that if the side was a carving it would look better. Something along the lines of rocks, possibly a trail, would be good. The sides need to not have a top or a bottom, so no matter how you are looking at the front or back it will be a continuation of the other carvings. Aaron