LAPat

I do a lot of painting with Angelus and also regular acrylic paint, but I also dye the leather underneath. I am now using Fiebings oil dye which I find I can get a nice finish with, although there aren't too many colors. I have regular Fiebings spirit dyes, but I have never liked the way they look, too watery, at least the way I tried them. So my question is, what is the difference between oil dye, and spirit dye. I tried some Tandy products, but they lifted off way too easily. At least how I was using them. Background is that I am a painter and do a lot of dog collars like this one.

So my Pfaff went out of time again and I thought to myself that I should not bring it back to the nice man who has fixed it twice before even if he is in the neighborhood. I contacted Steve at the Leather Machine Company and he told me that his mechanic Tony could take a look at it for me. This was an hour drive and in downtown Los Angeles there are probably thirty places to get a walking foot machine looked at. But, and this is a big but, I knew that Steve would help me understand what was going on with the machine. It wasn't Steve but Tony who spent the time with me that I needed. Not only did he let me sit there and watch him work on the machine, but he explained everything he found. He also pointed out that the machine was missing three parts, not essential but that should have been there. Now my local guy didn't tell me this, and the guy who sold me the machine on Ebay (long ago, but that makes no difference) didn't tell me this. Tony told me this. He was thorough, he was patient, and he was meticulously organized. But the most important thing was that he took time with me to help me understand my machine. I am self taught, I think many of us are. So to have Tony go over thread and needles and pressure was really helpful to me. And when I tell you I brought all my thread and all my needles and all the stuff I wanted to sew, I did. I have had one other experience with Steve, buying a motor, and he was just as patient with me then. If you don't hook up with people like this when you are learning, it's hard sometimes to keep on going. I have had machines serviced before and asked for help, but I haven't had great experiences. Either people don't have the time, or they don't want to be bothered. Or my lack of knowledge is annoying. Who knows. All I know is that Steve and Tony are exceptional at what they do. And that I intend to see if I can get them to run a sewing workshop this summer if they have time. Because I am sure I am not the only one who would benefit from hands on experience. So Kudos to Steve Tayrien and his mechanic Tony. And thank you so much for your time and patience. LA Pat

Thank you Kirk, I already have, just don't think of him a a repair guy. But I know he'll have help for me. Best Pat

Would anyone be willing to suggest a repair shop for my Pfaff 545 in Los Angeles. I would love to find somewhere that could run me through some basics on needles and thread as well. I am so self taught it's ridiculous. Thanks in advance if anyone can help. Pat in Los Angeles

Call Pepe @ 800-421-6154

International Sheepskin and Leather in Vernon is someplace I have done business with for years and I can't say enough about their service, integrity and prices. For small businesses (or large) it's a great place not just to get leather and sheepskin but to work with people who will help you grow. Pepe Cerda and his grandson Pepe and Gail are people you definately should know about. You can reach them in California at 323 588 1818 and out of state at 800 421 6154. I have suggested that they join the board and so you may be hearing from them directly. I really think they should be on the supplier list as well. Truly a gem in L.A. Best L.A. Pat

Thanks, Kate I actually called them before I posted but they were closed for the day. I am hoping they are my peoples.... I will report back. Pat

I am thinking, often even, that what makes a successful company is the quality of its resources. If you can't get what you want, don't know what you can get, or are limited to getting what everyone else has, you are just going to get so frustrated and limited in your ability to create that you might just implode. I got a lot of leather two years ago from a guy who I don't think I can find right now. It was nine or ten ounce leather, spray painted in colors, and with a grey center -- pretty dry stuff. I am guessing it was for boots or belts. I mixed it with harness and latigo and made braided leashes. And thus was my business much grown. I cannot find colored leather anywhere that is anything like it. It's not the neon bright, rubbery coated "designer latigo" from Hide House. It's not the alum latigo that is used for moccasins etc. It is certainly not a tooling leather. It is, however, a great deal of the reason I am now looking at four or five stores that want to carry my product. Not big stores, mind you. And their orders will probably be relatively small -- a dozen or so leashes perhaps each. But while I have some left, I can't find it and I have no idea if it's possible to contract to get it made on a small scale. Very small. Tiny. jiminy cricket scale. Flea circus size. I am up a creek without a paddle and a flea circus tent isn't going to keep me afloat. Does anyone on this list have leather made to order? Does anyone know who does so? I know there is a solution to this problem but that it's outside of my experience. I am also thinking if it is possible to put together a co-op of artisans making dog collars who would go in with me on having some special rivets or conchos struck. I believe a minimum order is 5000, but I can tell you right now that I am sure if we did the right designs we could wholesale them easily. And I am dead tired of the same old you know what everywhere. I couldn't even find a copper buckle. So I'm going to get a brass one plated. Where there is a will, there is a way. Leatherworkers enter the 21st Century! Let's empower ourselves! A recession is also an opportunity. Pause. Deep Breath. Anyone think I have a sound idea? Or do I need to change my medication? Thanks for the feedback Pat in L.A. P.S. My dog Mars and my little Vallhund Astra both did some dock diving this weekend at a show where Splashdogs had set up. It was wild. I highly recommend it.

The food chain is the tragedy of life. But there is no escape from it, and veganism as an attempt to keep animals from suffering is an artifical construct with no true logic. Nobody can live unless something dies, and if that something is not meat, eventually nothing can live at all. there is suffering inherent in everything we do. It is the biggest mystery of creation to me. That exchange of energy is core to survival, and the food chain does not work without animals. However, I find it troubling the way people devalue what they must kill, or judge those who participate in killing to eat, rather than respect and honor that death -- which is a transformation into other life. The sacrifice that a cow makes is not trivial to that cow, but to do something beautiful with that sacrifice is one way we can honor it. So long as we must kill to survive, making useful and beautiful things is an act of magic, not cruelty. Using a piece of leather with respect and consciousness is not as easy as treating it like an object whose creation is our right. But it is the right thing to do. It's just not as easy on one's desire to be "kind" as is veganism. Use your leather with honor and respect and it is a better thing that leaving that leather for someone to use mindlessly or letting it go to waste. As for kindness, when you do something to be kind rather than to do what is right (not an easy thing to know, of course) you are so in danger of becoming morally corrupt. Immoral kindness is practically a sure thing particularly if it leads a person to feel they are better, or more valuable, or have the right to dictate to others, because they are not causing suffering. Of course they are. We all do. See above -- the food chain is the tragedy of life. And here's the irony -- what a beautiful life it is. Respectfully, Pat

Thanks for the encouragement you guys. I can braid a four plait strand in my sleep because it's how I make the dog toys, and I've done braided collars with four strands and no core, but can't do anything that requires weaving. I am thinking of either making a trip to a braiding instructor or trying a phone lesson! Someone at Tandy today told me that there might be a class in Fountain Valley soon. I'm going to check that out as well. Pat

Despite alot of information from this site, trying to follow instructions on several sites and in books. I still can't braid a turkshead. I just don't understand any of the diagrams that I see and I don't understand the language of braiding. It is literally a foreign language to me. I figure I have a learning disablity in this regard. Personally I have decided I need to take a braiding class, but I don't think there is such a thing in Southern California. Anyway, don't feel alone. And good luck. Pat

Search google under "antiquing brass" and you will find a lot of information. From what I saw quickly, you suspend the brass (after you remove the laquer with a thinner) over a bowl of vinegar via a nylon stocking. Interesting. Pat

Thank you all for your input, I found it really helpful for a lot of reasons. My store is in a middle class neighborhood but we do get drop ins from the ritzy areas -- Tanya Tucker was in the other day and I see my share of stars and titanium Amex cards. The leash is $69.00 in the shop and if I sell it at a dog show I will come down to about $48.00. I just sold one with a fur handle for $95.00. It takes about thirty minutes to make if I am not rushing things, I like to do them while I watch tv. My buyers don't seem all that at the top of the food chain, but they all fall in love with the leashes and some of them come back three and four times and then buy. What fascinates me is that I sell more of these now that I charge more and I upped the price after a lecture from a friend about undervaluing my work. But those first leashes I sold for $40.00 got them out and about on dogs, and they are still leashes that have people calling me to see if I want to sell in their stores. In fact, my problem now is production work. Which is another story all together. Now I have another friend who does incredibly nice porcelain pendants of dogs. She is new to selling and wants to get $90.00 a piece. I think that a better course of action would be to start selling them under $50.00 , get them on some necks out in the world, and then bring the price up. That's what's worked for me. As for those areas where I would be selling for under forty dollars, I think I'd find something else to sell... Thanks again, Pat Holly, Can you say how big this box is and show it open? Did you line the inside? I think what I would pay would depend on the finish inside the box, although I very much like the outside. Thanks Pat

Well, copper plate or copper decorations then. I'm using copper plate conchos. I can lay in a second metal but I really dont want to if I can help it. Pat

Does anyone know where I can get a copper buckle or buckles suitable for a dog collar? 1" wide. Thanks Pat

I started out in the film business as a secretary to Donald Sutherland. Worked my way into a job as a creative executive, did story notes for screenwriters, producers and directors for years, and taught story development at UCLA. Published a little scifi, a little literary fiction and produced a low budget horror flic called Voodoo Dawn. Took a break to go to art school. Still do dog portraits on commission . Schooled horses at Pepperdine for a guy named Jim Wyllie (90 years old and still in the saddle, he is). Switched to dogs when I got my first Leonberger. Hooked up with a woman named Vicki Hearne, a philosophy instructor and dog trainer who wrote a book I loved and she introduced me to a lot of the old classical dog trainers across the country. I can't tell you how generous everyone was in teaching me everything I could learn. Not to mention that Dog Training will change your life, becuz you have to do what you say and say what you mean. I got a weird sleep disorder and gave up reading. Training dogs kept me awake. I ended up specializing in remote electronic collar training for pet and competition dogs, spent a few years working with Sit Means Sit, put every sort of training onto my Leo I could think of (utility obedience, agility, water work, tricks, but no bite work, he was too heavy) and then crashed from lack of sleep. Gradually woke up, took a job managing an all natural pet store in Los Angeles for a former client, and started making leashes and then recycling old belts for collars. For years I have made dog toys out of sheepskin that are used by top agility competitors in my area. Now I'm getting into making my own stuff from scratch. I want to start doing dog portraits in leather, but haven't got the time right now to learn how to use a swivel knife, so for now it's the other stuff. Pat PS Having a hard time managing attachments. Sorry if they come up in weird places.

Actually, because I didn't know any better, I've put impressions in all kinds of leather. Why can't you tool latigo? It doesn't take an impression as easily, but it takes it. Pat

I think this is a fun idea for a poll or even a topic but I don't want anyone to get their feelings hurt so if you do this, be ready to be surprised -- maybe pleasantly! I am posting a picture of something I made to ask you all what you think it would be worth if you saw it in a shop. Eventually I will tell you what i charge, and if you have convinced me that I need to change the price. It should be interesting to see how area, local culture, and true knowledge of what went into a piece affect what we think it's worth. I think it might help to do a ballpark of where such items are usually placed for a retail sale. For instance, leashes, including fabric ones, in L.A. are usually under a hundred dollars and no less than about twenty. Average cost is probably twenty eight bucks. collars have a broader price range. If anyone has any ideas how to tweak this, tweak away. ALso, I don't know how to write this as a poll, so I hope this is okay. This leash is about four feet long and 3/4 wide. Pat

The ergonomics of striking are in the mix too. Hitting the tool from up high and straight like a hammer blow, rolling your wrist, all that stuff. It seems like tapered head is a power head? If the thing about an angled maul versus a round maul is how you strike the tool, I have a feeling that women are differently built at the shoulder anyway, which is one reason women don't throw the same. Our shoulders are more in at the socket. I am thinking round head for me. Pat

See I posted too quickly and realized there is more than one variable. Is tapered and round head the same? And where do I get a good maul at a good price? Thanks again Pat

I'm getting a maul and would like to know if anyone can share which they prefer between poly and rawhide and why. Thanks Pat

I have a Pfaff 545 and I have been using it for sheepskin more than leather due to the speed. Honestly, I have been sewing for years and I have no idea about thread and needles or feet. So any help you could give would be very much appreciated. Pat

Me again. I guess this is the same general thread, so I will ask here. I have Pfaff 545 and I have been using it mostly to sew sheepskin. I have no idea what thread I'm using, nor needle either for that matter, it's probably a 140. Can anyone tell me the sizes of thread I might use for the machine, and if I need to use thicker thread on thicker leather. Also, do you all use leather point needles or regular point? Really, it's amazing how much you can do without knowing what you are doing. But I have a feeling that being the case, once I actually do things right, ( like finally getting a servo motor for the machine) I am going to be much, much more efficient.

A little off topic, but Is Barges (old formula) going the way of the dodo? I got it from Weaver and they sent it to California ground, I thought it was outlawed here or something. The new formula Barge doesn't really seem to be a contact cement, but an acrylic paint of sorts.... I hate it. I use glue while sewing and I have not had a problem. I just make sure it's dry. In fact, I just used glue for lining for a while, and I think it will hold just fine. Of course, I am an opitimistic sort. Pat

Now that my machine is slower thanks to the servo, I am ready to stitch linings on collars but I don't know which presser foot I should get that will allow me to do so. What feet do people have and use? Thanks in advance Pat