DoubleC

Now you have a new wallet.....we all p;ost our things on here because we are proud when things turn out right plus for other people to learn from our mistakes and to share. I don';t consider it copying. Cheryl

I love the straps and don't care how many things you post. I make guitar straps so I opened this post. I may not open the next one of yours depending on the topic. Post whenever you want Kevin. Cheryl

Anyway to slow this to human speed? I'm gonna book mark it and try. Great wallet. Cheryl

What a pretty bag......I love the ostrich color with the tooling color you used. Cheryl

Beautiful, the stitching is awesome and the contrast incredible. Cheryl

It looks like a fish....it looks like you did Sheridan carving on a fish, I love it. Cheryl

Thanks Kid, for both Happy New Year to you too. Cheryl

I like the shine of resolene normally but there has been times when I wanted a matte finish. I'll have to try this technique, thanks Kid. Any pics of your project? Cheryl

Yes I'd like to see them because they would make good templates. Cheryl

Absolutely inspired. Cheryl

Beautiful work Hunio. I like the leather keepers you put on it. Cheryl

Hey CT, I just bought some thin foam from SLC. Before that I've even used the foam at Walmart for preschoolers that has tape on the back, and cut it to fit. I'd say both are about 1/16th of an inch. Cheryl

Hi CT. I use 7-8oz on all my straps, and then line them and put foam on them. I've used suede before to line with and never had any trouble with them being stiff. However, I use bag balm on mine after all the dye, finish etc. and work that into the leather for probably 1/2 hour and let it soak in over night. I get a nice drape out of them using this method. Cheryl

I love the design on this and for a prototype it's just great. Cheryl

Beautiful job Renee. Cheryl

Thanks so much Glen. I will take all your advice to heart. And quit worrying about perfection, but rather on improving with each project.

Since the incident at chat I'm in total panic mode. Everything I look at of mine looks like junk to me. I'm working on a wallet and just started it over because it looked like a kid's school project to me. I don't know what to do or how to stop this. If I can get this wallet to just go right maybe I'll get some of my self-confidence back, but I don't know. I'm thinking of quitting the Marketplace because I feel like such a fraud. I don't know how one conversation could have devastated me to this point. I do nothing but sleep and think about Heather's journal....have all the pieces cut out but I have to carve another aster at least on it and I do want to pick up my swivel knife. I now wonder that any of the comments I got on the last one were honest. I go to chat and I find my mind wandering and can't keep up with what's being said. So I get tired again and go back to sleep. I've fallen asleep on just the arm rest of the couch and one cushion, didn't stretch out for hours. I really want to quit leatherwork completely, just act like it was never a part of my life this past year. I am not sure what I'm going to do yet, all I see when I'm awake are those posts in chat running down the page.

I recently bought a stitching punch to speed things up although I have three old cast iron Singers and any of them would probably have worked without thread. Actually I'm hand sewing a project now and left my punch and good awl at work so I think I'm going to try that on a project I'm currently working on and see if it works. I'll let you know if it does because these old Singers can be had for a song if you don't need anything but the flywheel and needle assembly to work. Cheryl

Allen it turned out wonderful. Just looking at the lacing makes me tired because I know how hard that is in thinner leather. The inlay is really good, just an overall fine job. Cheryl

Hi Jax. I just use the parks method when I take the time Other times I just get the leather really wet (not soping though) with a sponge and let it get back to an almost natural color before I start anything with it. You can tell if it's ready usually because the leather will be really cold where as plain dry leather isn't. I don't use all the other things in mine but I don't carve a lot so might want to try some of those ideas. When you put it in the fridge overnight that just allows for the water to soak throughout the leather more evenly. Cheryl

very nice for a first project, too bad about being hooked There goes all your extra money and more. Cheryl