Matthew S

Super cool.

Yup. Marotte Leather. It should come up, and if it doesn't, please let me know. :-)

I have a shop. Check out this book (literally, your local library might have a copy...mine did): How To Sell Your Crafts Online It has a heavy focus on Etsy and provides a lot of good ideas and tips for marketing your store. Good luck.

At what stage of the guitar strap production do you apply the Johnny Walker Black? I usually finish with Wild Turkey, but to each his own.

I will give that a try should I encounter another kink. I didn't experience the wire biting into the leather dangerously. However, I choose 26g wire as it was a bit larger than the smallest stuff (which was pretty thin and "sharp" looking and I intentionally eased off on snugging down the stitches to prevent the wire from pulling through the leather.

Yup, the gentle bends are fixable, but those kinks you can't recover from. Of course the kinks seem to occur after you have made it 3/4 through your stitching.

I picked up some 26-gauge jewellery wire and attempted a small stitching project. It didn't really go to well, mostly due to the rigidity of the wire. The wire wasn't difficult to bend, but once bent, unbending it was not an option. If the wire becomes kinked or develops an unfortunate bend, it isn't coming out and can look pretty horrible. To be honest, I have only made one attempt and probably did not exercise additional care in handling the write while sewing. With extra care it may be possible to effectively stitch with wire and perhaps the results will justify the extra effort. I have a couple of small projects coming up and I'll give it another try. If I can complete the stitching using the wire, I'll post the results.

Will copper get a patina, or will it vertigris? And do you think jewelry wire is too soft to use? The cost of the wire is cheap enough that I can try some experimentation.

Although I have no information on the wires ability to resist oxidation, I would hope that oxidation would be minimal as the wire is intended for jewelry and beadwork. Of course jewelry isn't always subject to the same use and environment as leather frequently is. And thanks for the welcome, Michael.

Anyone ever used wire for stitching in place of thread? While window shopping I came across this wire. Obviously stitching isn't the intended purpose for this product, so issues like wire flexibility and diameter may prevent its use in stitching. I thought it might provide a nice accent for a piece to have gold, silver or copper stitching.

Thanks. This seems like a quicker and easier alternative to gluing to cardboard.

When you say packing tape, do you mean that you adhere the plastic packing tape to the flesh side and that prevents shrink and warp?

I have no doubt that it cuts leather, but I am trying to figure out what the limits are when it comes to how thick it can cut. What I have found out so far is that it can definitely cut up to about 3 Oz. anything thicker is an unknown. Thanks for trying, though.

My girlfriend is interested in getting a die cutter for scrapbooking and to make our wedding invitations. After doing some research it appears that some of these cutters can cut leather, but the maximum thickness is a little unclear (I am trying to reach the manufacturers). Anyone have any experience with leather and non-industrial die cutters? Specifically, we are looking at Black Cat Cougar and Boss Kut Gazelle. The specs seem to indicate that it will optimally cut 1 mm, and there is some indication that it will cut up to 3 mm with multiple cuts or passes. Just looking to see if anyone has used something similar and what the experiences have been. Matt

Just completed my first leatherworking project and although it is not perfect, I am happy with the end results. More importantly I had a great time and am looking forward to doing some more projects. My first project was a checkbook case kit from Tandy, Instead of carving the provided pattern I decided to try something different. Some of the difficulties I experienced: The lettering didn't come out as clean as I would have liked. A clearer stencil, slower hand and smaller knife would probably have improved things. The stain came out much darker than on the test piece I tried it on. I would have liked a bit lighter, but I am not unhappy. A section of the leather's surface or perhaps the finish came off while I was rubbing the dried finish. I suspect too much elbow grease was applied, but their may be other contributing factors. The guts of the kit didn't quite line up perfect with the outer leather cover. I tried assembling it different ways for the best fit, but ultimately I think is due to mass production and quality. A small crack has developed along the spine...through the finish and dye. Oddly enough, I think my favorite part of the entire process was the stitching (although without a pony my knees and hands did get a bit achy). Matt