Sylvia

Hi Andrew: Nice find. Could you please post a picture one of the bobs you modified and perhaps one of how the burnishing turns out?

Bob: Did you intend to post a link or something?

Oh man! Greybeard that was an awesome strap you made. Most kids who play would kill for a nice strap like that. PM me if you want to get her back into it. I have the perfect place for her to take lessons online. I can give you a code for 7 days free membership to try. It's normally $19.95 a month. Sylvia

Ha! When I did that... I got out the Bedazzeler and put a stud in it. :D

Ha! I call these Map Weights. We used them to hold down the USGS Quadrangle maps on the hood of the car. These work great for holding the pattern down while you are cutting too.

The old post was under "Sizing Leather" I'm glad it worked out for you. I replied to the PM with my ideas. But I'm sure the pro's here will make some good suggestions as well.

Yes, the dye is spirit dye. Has wonderful stuff like denatured ethyl alcohol, and Glycol Ether. If you get your Angelus Dye from http://www.dharmatrading.com you can get the 3oz bottles for 2.89 per bottle if you get more than 5 bottles. They have the "paints" too. Also your first order gets a free gift... check the main page for that. ) It's the least expensive place I've found. I think it cost me just over $11 to ship it UPS to me from Cali to Idaho.

Bedell bought Breedlove? Wow that's news to me! I like finding orphans and fixing them up again. I've managed to get some great little gals for nothing that way. Good for you getting a good case.. don't forget the humidifier. I have a knock-about guitar too... but it mostly sits in the case except when camping. I really like the cherry sunburst on yours... such a rare color these days. So many guitars have that tobacco burst on them. (blech) Have you ever recovered an amp with leather? I've got a Marshall Valvestate that is tempting me to recover it

oh yeah, know that feeling. The trouble is when you have so much stuff you can't find anything. I have a guitar strap kit somewhere.... I knew where it was then cleaned up that area... and now I can't find it! I'll find it eventually... but cripes it would be nice to find it soon.

Millionaires are over-rated. It's much more fulfilling (and much more happy) living a with modest means I think. Awesome job on the saddle... the though of attempting something like that makes me hyperventilate. :D Your son is definitely a little cutie... when are you going to get him a little guitar... now is the time to start him playing you know!! Merry Christmas to you and yours too.

Man that looks awesome! But the guitarist in me cringes at all that metal that can bang up and scratch your new baby. What brand of guitar is that? I have never heard of Great Divide before...how does she sound?

LB.. that was very generous of you to offer to get these for the original poster. Just thought I would say "good on ya!" I wonder if there could be a way to set up a buying co-op for the little guys? One person would have to coordinate it I imagine.... and each of the buyers would have to pay for the extra shipping.

oooo ouch! Thank you for posting... now I know not to do that! Can you try a little deglazer on a cotton swab on one of the splotches and see if it will remove enough so you can get some stain penetration? Maybe somewhere that the splotch is small-ish so that if it doesn't work well, it wont' be that big of a deal?

Hi Aaron: They have a term for that type of personality. "Life Long Learners" I am very much like that. I like the learning process, collecting the tools, and all that stuff. (This is probably why I have 15 guitars, 1 bass, 2 mandolins, and 2 ukuleles... LOL) I find my biggest problem is the mess I create. So after some nagging to myself, I put things way... and may or may not return to the hobby until much later. Case in point, I got most of my tools and kits in 2006, I cleaned up and put them away and didn't touch them again until hubby needed a new belt after his old one ripped apart. But I'm back to it now and have found that some of my other crafting things work well as "tools" in this genre.... I'll probably continue for a while... at least until I can't stand the mess anymore. ha!

Hi Erin: I come from a regular seamstress area of crafting and I have an idea that may help some. (at least until you can adjust, replace or modify your feed dogs.) When I have issues with things like this I float a piece of tearaway stabilizer under the item and over the feed dogs. If you don't have tearway, try some butcher paper... the kind with shiny side. On a test piece run, try it shiny side up and shiny side down to see how it affects your leather. Then when done stitching, just tear away the paper. (you may have to adjust top tension a little) Tissue paper is far too thin because the feed dogs are so aggressive on this kind of machine, you'll need something more substantial... and lots of needles. I've used this method on Velvet which gets crushed easily. It might just work for you as a temporary measure. Good luck. Sylvia

UH OH!! ha ha ha. "Diamonds.... that'll shut her up." - Ron White. Only suggestion I have is... buy her a bigger diamond for her engagement ring.... or point out that you can't use her engagement ring to make money. I'm very envious of your new machine. Congrats.

Very well said Spinner. Thanks. I've said it before, I'll say it again. "The devil is in the details." AND "Say what you mean,.... and mean what you say."

Well jeeze... I wasn't trying to be a smart aleck! You asked how to make the look but didn't say you wanted a dying method. I'm gonna go pull this knife out of my heart now........

Hi there: I was wondering about your choice of making a circle then trying to cut it. Here is one video that shows the tandy lace cutter and how it's used on "raw hide" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXKAFsNFuB0 Here is tandy's video. I find it interesting that in the first video, the guy uses rawhide dog chew toys to get his rawhide. Sounds like a good idea to me. Good luck I hope you get the cuts you are wanting.

You could do a few things to get a new piece to look like that. 1. Roll the un-dyed, un-treated leather toward the smooth side over and over and over. It will give a wrinkled look to the leather. 2. Take a trick from "shabby Chic" designers and scrape, sand, bash with chains. 3. Drag it behind a car on a gravel road. This would give the most random wear I think. Definitely try these methods on a test piece or two before you try it on your finished item.

Well, I finally got out to the shop with my stamps and a rounder. I chucked up the camoflager, lowered the drill press table, slid a piece of board over the drill hole in the table, stuck my rounder on the table and started "pressing." It seems to work well. But I can see where a "guide" might be necessary or perhaps I need to be seated so I can have a better vantage point to see what I'm doing because while standing I managed to get the design off the line. Good thing it was just a trial run! Here's a Picture.

Ha ha ha. Yeah that's what happened to me too. Salida Colorado huh? I have loads of Guitar playing friends down there in Colorado. Ever heard of Jim Deeming? http://www.jimsguitar.com He lives in Berthoud, I guess that's a ways north of you.

You would be surprised how many tools you already have on hand can be used for this. I'm about to go chuck up my stamps in the garage on the hubby's drill press and see how it will work as a stamping press. (no power of course) But then again I consider myself resourceful enough to use what I have and make it work through ingenuity. The Dremel tool for a hole punch is a great idea. I know a gal at my local leather and fireworks place. LOL uses a hand drill to punch all her leather. I just used a car buffer to buff a leather purse. I also found out that a Jollytime popcorn 8 pack box fits 6 bottles of Angeles 3oz dye in their boxes perfectly. That way I can label the tops and they are contained and less likely to be dashing around in my box. (Little devils) A tackle box works well as a leather tool box too if you aren't able to set up a shop area where you can leave things out. A small vise and a book makes a great temporary stitching pony. A spring loaded center punch is a great marking tool. I even use some of my map making tools for their stenciling abilities. (That reminds me, I need to make some map weights) I used a piece of a G string to de-burr one of my groovers recently. not THAT kind of G string! The G string on the guitar. lol I also discovered that my paint brush and double sided water reservoir is awesome for this purpose. it holds my sponge on one side and I have water for the paint brushes on the other side. This sort of reminds me of something that I became aware of during the past few years. It seems to me that many of our "young ones" have lost their ability to imagine the other possibilities. I think that is because they spend to much time playing with things like the computer and other "instant entertainment" electronics. I sure hope it doesn't come back to bite us. (or has it already?)

We use it... sometimes. I remember back when I was in 3rd grade or so they tried to convert us all to Metric. Ha! Frankly I don't see well enough to be certain of how many millimeters I am looking at.

Don't go buying a "stamping board." Just go to your local Granite Counter Top Place... and ask if they have any off cuts or sink cuts you can have. I got a nice hunk of Granite counter top about the size of a sink... for free. Saved gobs on shipping. This stuff is just scrap to them and it's already been paid for by the person who had the counter top installed... more than likely you'll get yours free too.