DoubleC

it's beautiful Renee. cheryl

Thanks WinterBear, that would be, uh, tonight Cheryl

This is me last Saturday at the Marketplace 'Showing off' the article that just came out in Cider Mag plus my 'new' stitching horse. Still selling things, still covering costs so I'm really happy.

can you just wash it? With detergent and water? I know it may mess with the carving some but maybe not much if you're careful. Then if you can go over it again with an alcohol dye....that dries all my projects out so much I have to condition them. Sorry that's all I can think of to do. Cheryl

I usually forget to mark mine so maybe I shouldn't comment It's not that I'm not proud of my work, it's just I'm forgetful. When I do mark it usually it's in a place unintentionally that ends up getting covered up, like on a guitar strap, I'll mark the back end then when I put the adjustment straps on you can't see it. I just have the strap process down in a certain order in my head, and I've never quite incorporated that in the order that things are made. So mine is haphazard at best. I'm in the process of doing a bookmark for a friend that I KNOW wanted it marked, yet I was so intent on getting the color right I forgot my stamp. Now I'm going to hear about it because I forgot Oh well, I don't mind seeing it on things I look at here but don't think I'd like a 2" stamp front and center....would depend on the stamp I guess. Cheryl

Oh Mikey, it's coming TODAY. And I have a ride to the marketplace tomorrow to take it. AND on top of that the marketplace is going to be open 4 hours FRIDAY night along with the 4 Saturday for the same price, so I'll be working two times a week through December. And the Saturn strap is almost all done. Waiting for the antique to dry really well before adding the second coat of resolene and adding the hardware, this one comes with a buckle. Today has been a GOOD day, LOL

I was supposed to go after it today and had saved back $35.00 for the gas and aggravation of my friend having to drive me to Bellows Falls and pick it up. She works until 2 and it was going to be dark by the time we got home, which neither of us like to travel after dark. Come to find out we have a thing called Green Mountain Messenger service and she told me about it a few minutes ago, and it will be here tomorrow, put inside by my mail box should I be at one of my meetings. I started 'buying this in August but it took forever to find a shipping service I could afford to get it that far. It took 22 days by greyhound to get it to VT from PA and it's sat there for 2 weeks waiting for me to arrange to get it. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. Pics of it can be found here..... http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=42241 Cheryl

Hi Becca. I use waterbased dyes by fiebings, called their institutional dyes. I like them because they can be lightened with just water, and you can mix them together and also you can add acrylic paints to them to get just the color you want. Browns are tough because a lot of them will have the orange or reddish tone in them. Chocolate seems to have the least but to me looks black more than brown. I like the plain ole dark brown although it does have a reddish cast to it, but I often make my guitar straps two toned, a tan (also with that red color to it) on either the main body or the adjustment straps and then the dark brown on the other. I really like it when a customer wants something BESIDES browns but that doesn't happen a lot. I have two antiques I've tried, and use the medium brown the most. I bought a light brown to try on carved or stamped areas when I use the dark brown on the main strap, but it looks like a yellowish orange on that, so not my favorite. I have a ton yet I still want to try to get more consistent results. A friend of mine just tried to Tandy pro stains for the first time in black and loves it. Goes on, covers well, no bleeding, etc. And it's hard to get black to do that unless you use vinegaroon, which is a whole DIFFERENT topic of a home made dye. So when I reorder dyes I'm going to try the pro waterstains. I do almost all my ordering from Springfield but if you want something from Tandy they literally walk down the street and get it for you I realized I just said a lot of nothing to help you, sorry. My point I guess is after a year I'm still looking for that magic formula of light and dark browns that works consistently every time for me. And although it is rather expensive, well not compared to all the other experimenting we do, I think you'll find you're just going to have to try these things until you find what works best for you and your projects. Cheryl

I can think of a couple of things that MIGHT have happened. I would have cleaned it before tooling instead of after and made sure whatever you cleaned it with was removed completely. Did you let the stain dry overnight? A picture would help...Also I use resolene so I don't know how super sheen works with these things. I would really like to see a picture. Cheryl

David I have decided it's not really going to change anything about the way I do business. And Cheryl, thank you so much. I haven't spent a day on just them in a long time so maybe I should work on something I love just one day and get my photo situation straightened out and get some more up. And Keenan, I think you are right, I think the stress is com ing from simply not knowing, so that goes on the back plate for now, and I am going to get down to the business of the business. Thank all of you so much. Cheryl

"My main purpose in life is to make enough money to create ever more inventions.... " A lot to be said for just that. The bureaucrats call that a hobby but I call that art. If I was just interested in making money I wouldn't have started down this path of leatherwork because it's not a tried and true means of making money here because no one else does it. So I'm forging the path in a way and although it may not add to the bottom line, since January I have two local popular musicians wearing my straps, I am attending the marketplace which I would have found impossible last January, I have an article about me coming out this month in a mag. with a distribution of 15,000 in this local area, and I have this place to help me keep learning. I'm not quitting Mike, I'm sure by Feb. when the marketplace ends I will have enough orders to keep me very busy locally and more of a presence on Etsy. I intend to work out then how I'm going to do the summer farmer's market which already has a place saved for me. I don't drive so a lot of craft fairs people travel to are not within my reach but I will squeeze the most out of local resources that are. I got some sleep last night and things don't look so dim today. I will survive if for no other reason than to show them this IS a sustainable business, LOL. My bottom line is not always the same as a reasonable person and when I said I had a lot to think about I meant ways to do it without the grant money. Even a mule won't chase a carrot forever! Cheryl

There is a lot of truth in what you say Bill. I have a lot to think about over the next month. Cheryl

I think that's a good idea Mike, and will start the new plan forthwith. Even if it's in my head. Cheryl

Thanks you guys...I know I shouldn't be so discouraged but it's been a year this month. But I'll just keep doing what I do Mangle some leather. Cheryl

I had a meeting with BROC today and the target date for submitting my business plan to Voc Rehab is Dec. 31st. After that it could take a week to months to find out if I'm going to get the grant. So I've decided to continue to do the Marketplace and try and get my name out there, but I'm not buying any new supplies, will only order if I have custom orders. I was disappointed especially since this was the first month I'd shown a profit, but these things take time I guess, and since I've worked on this since January I'm just plain tired and out of time. I wanted to write each of you individually but I am truly exhausted from a lack of sleep so I'll be back on after a nap. Thanks you folks for all the support you've given me through this process. Cheryl

nice looking belt, Cheryl

Some people just oil the leather and don't put a finish on like resolene. I'm going to try and make a couple of leashes for a friend's lab puppies and I'm going to put neatsfoot on them in case the pups chew them. Even with resolene it will absorb some things, I know I can have a piece of leather I used an alcohol stain on that will be stiff as a board, and put bag balm on it and work the leather and it relaxes and absorbs the bag balm over night. Cheryl