JustWakinUp

First off let me say hello to all the folks that i knew back when. It's been quite a long strange trip over the past few years but i had the itch. As for all you new comers the short story is.....It was just around 10 years ago i packed up all my leather gear, shoved it in rental truck and began a new chapter. It was time to get back to an old chapter and start stitching again. So here's the latest off the bench. Enjoy ! Elephant w/ orange stingray inlays & orange contrast stitching. Interior is a green Brocade.

Hello everyone, It's been quite some time since I've been on or touched anything dealing with leather. (19mos to be exact) Anyway, I put this together yesterday for my new watch. It's a Cuff watchband with .925 silver skull conchos. The itch has begun! Now it's finding the time to scratch it.

Thank you to everyone for their support. I hate being the dull bulb of the forum but I needed to hear some of the things that everyone said. I have to say though, the one that sticks out is Saddlebags post, you are right, i wasn't paying attention, I didn't look for work hard enough etc etc, the unfortunate thing is as humans we all make make monstrous mistakes sometimes. And through my marriage im sure I made plenty of them but, now that the frying pan has hit me over the head I'm more aware now than ever. Sucks that way sometimes that it takes a big slap in the face to wake your ass up to life. INTERVIEW TODAY, EVERYONE CROSS YOUR FINGERS AND SAY A PRAYER FOR ME !

I don't know why i feel compelled to write tell this story but I know there is support here and I need all I can get. For the past 6 Months I've been unemployed and at home taking care of the kids. We've used up our savings and things have gotten financially stressful. 2 Weeks ago my wife who has a breaking point just snapped. She's brought up divorce and methods to transition the children ( 4 & 6 yr old girls) into just living with Mommy. A couple days ago my wife said she needed space so that she could stop the emotional roller coaster she is on. ( She started this mess, shouldn't she have expected it?) So anyway, I've slept here and there for the past few nights, I'm away from my kids, I'm pennyless and my heart is cracking. I think I'm headed for divorce and it's not the direction I want to go. All my leather tools are still at the house so I can't dig in and do some projects. I'm so confused as to what has transpired let alone what may happen. It all seems so sudden and without warning. I can't see any light at the end of this tunnel and I've been praying like nobody's business lately. I can't find peace in the things I've done or places that I've been. Somehow the strength to let go eludes me right now and I'm reaching out to you leather folks for support. I'm the only footprints in the sand and trust me when I say I'm not being carried.

I really like the Crog skin, how many square inches is one skin and what's the cost PSI ( Per Square Inch ) I think the crogakeet would be great too but there's not alot of skin to be used, it's more saturated with feathers.

Well keeping with tradition of the Show Off section I'd like to say , I Love it! The carving looks clean and a great design flow, and the color is absolutely out of this world. Mind telling me what weight leather that is you used?

I'd like to preface this post a bit. I had no earthly clue how to set out on this project. Now that I've done it I've found quite a few things that conjour up questions. Hopefully some can be answered. 1) Laying out the strap holes to be punched - HOW IN THE *#&@! do you do that before you put the thing together. If you notice, you don't see the back in these pictures because I totally have the strap holes punched in the wrong place making the bag "ALMOST" hang upside down. 2) I had punched holes on the flap to do a lacing job but the single cordovan looked like a bunch of knots tied and didn't look very good. David if you could lend some info on what technique to use I'll give it a go. I asked Ian about a tutorial and he made a killer video but I had the urge to give it a go while he was in production of the video. Well this is what came out and if anyone could help me with the layout of these things before they are put together I would surely listen. Anyway, here's my attempt THanks for looking !

Ian was gracious enough to make a video for all of us to take a look at. Here's the link if you'd like to view it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R-FwpGxXFY...re=channel_page

Hey congrats man, the tannery did a fine job on that piece.

Non-adhesive binding:Books Without Paste or Glue Vol 1 Written by Keith Smith?

Unbelievable, great stuff... Boy the questions in my head just grew to a million

Oh man that's beautiful, I love the aces and being able to sit on a pair is always nice too.

Hey guys, i tossed together this quick and dirty shop journal to keep notes of all my projects. Sorry 'bout the shabby pics, i want to get started writing down all my mistakes on this joker so i don't make the same ones when i make it for someone else.

Looks good, what did you end up using for the interiror fabric to stick to the shark?

Oh it's defnitely functional reasons.

Does this slip over the dogs head? It's a killer design but the 2 D rings together like they are have me a bit thrown off.

I feel so inferior now, HOLY MOSES all the tools

How has this turned into meat smoking? i'm curious about using powder dyes on leather, has anyone ever done it?

no no , it's a powder base dye. It has nothing to do with sticking your leather in a smokehouse and letting it cure for a half a day.

I just came across something while doing some research that I'd like to try. If you have any information of the process please enlighten me. THanks in advance

Thanks a load Ian.

Hey everyone, I wanted to try my hand at making a tool bag for my bike. I've not one clue where to start besides the fact I'd like it to be about 11" wide and 5 inches high. So I guess the question is this, How big of a gusset and how long would the main piece of leather need to be to achieve this ? any info on how to create a template would be great. Thanks in advance everyone.

ohhh that just looks mean ! I love it.

3M 90 is the best way, just don't overspray but get enough on the piece to hold it and also as you're putting the fabric down pat lightlty so the glue doesn't penetrate the fabric. You may want to wait a few seconds 30 at most before applying the fabric to the shark.

Are there any conventions in the chicago area this year?