DoubleC

Your first project was a bag? It is beautiful, and to pick that first was pretty gutsy. I tried to make one months ago and totally messed up the design, it flipped all the time. Now 6 months later I'm doing a second one that's working out well. I love the simplicity and work of yours. Cheryl

Beautiful work. cheryl

Chief as you may or may not know, most of my work is custom because I DO enjoy that. I know people have a hard time conveying things at times, but I think it's like us, as we work through the process of a new project often times we'll think of something else we'd like to do differently the next time, or get too many ideas of new projects we want to do. But of course I've never had a custom order of that magnitude and I'd have to think long about taking it. None of my items are alike, they are all one offs. Not the most time efficient way of doing business and often I have to do a project twice because I'm so new I may not have done anything similar before. The thing I like the most about custom work is I usually surprise the customer by interpreting their ideas that may have been nebulous to begin with into something they hadn't even imagined. When they show off what I made them, knowing no one else has something just like it, and they think I did something magical it's just really what keeps me interested in the work. People have different ideas of what custom is. I was researching guitar straps last night and found custom straps for $110.00 that actually were identical. You could choose to put your name or initials on it, and choose from three colors. That's not a custom order to me. They were very nice straps but not custom. The last strap I finished the guy didn't know what he wanted. Finally he said he liked oak leaves because he used to live on Oak Street. That's all he could come up with. So instead of doing a traditional Sheridan style strap I carved and tooled oak leaf 'litter' on either side on an oak tree. He was delighted with the way I did it, and he'll never go somewhere and see that same guitar strap. I attached a picture so you could see what I mean. Maybe that's why it's so hard for me to let things go sometimes. My new strap I'm working on the guy wanted the state of VT on it and a tree of life. I listen to his music a lot and he has a lot of songs about the plight of family farms so I cut out a farmall tractor to put on it as a leather overlay along with the state. The rest will be carved and tooled. He'll never walk into a music store or go online and see 'his' strap somewhere for sale. And that really pleases me. And gives me incredible freedom when I do a project. Sometimes too much because I get so many ideas sometimes I have a hard time making decisions. Cheryl

I've had trouble with that although I haven't sold that much and am still pretty new to this. I have a hard time finishing projects sometimes and I think it may still be some regret that they are leaving 'home.' I get better with new projects, well some of them and it makes the whole thing like it's all new again. I'm doing a lot to push selling locally and maybe I think it will give me a chance to 'visit' some of my things. When someone buys something from you it's a validation of your hard work and effort and an appreciation of your art. So suddenly you want that art back. I don't think you thread jacked so much as brought up a complex subject and I know I really had to think about what some of these feelings are. Anyway, maybe all people who create things feel that way, I don't really know Mike. Cheryl

Congratulations on your sale. I guess it's already too late to tell you to run, you've got the bug. Let's see, I'm up $93.00 on etsy and down over 1200.00 in NON consumable supplies, don't want to talk about the consumables, you know the little things like leather. You are seriously having too much fun. And I wont tell you what I charged for a handmade dog collar black with nickle hardware and pyramid spots. Lined and sewn so the spot stays don't touch the dog. It was SO not as much as yours I feel even more foolish than I already have been because I can't get the guy to even pay the pittance I charged him, LOL. They call that 'stupid tax' here. Man I've paid some serious stupid tax. Your collar is beautiful. Cheryl

Nicholas, I'll try and answer your questions the best I can. I think a beveler on the edge on your leather would help a lot and are readily available. They make a ton of them but when I need one I tend to use the french beveler or 'edger' as they are sometimes called. It's just a matter of practice and preference. Usually stitching involves two pieces of leather so if you run out of thread while doing it, you go out a hole and leave the thread in the middle of the two leathers, and when you start back you go in the hole you didn't complete before and leave the end of the thread in the middle. The sewing makes the leathers tight and holds them although you can ad a spot of glue to them too. Then at the end, just poke your thread down between the two leathers with your needle and again use a spot of glue on it if you want to. I can't say if this is right, left or wrong. I tool, carve, stamps and punch holes before I dye. That way you can get inside the holes with the dye too or if brave do a burnish and a darker dye on the hole edges to give a more finished look to your project. Also score your stitch line before that too. Then dye and then stitch. That's how I do it. And I find a brush the hardest way to put dye on so I use damp sponge. I hope some of this helps. Cheryl

Johanna, I like the board and my pages do load faster. I like being able to shut of the FB crap and that's about all that was bothering me. I don't come here to talk religion, politics, or even sex although all these handsome men float around here :-) I come to talk leather....all aspects from designs I'm working on that aren't working to the totally off topic which some how seems to be about leather most of the time. I asked for help and give it and when someone else asks for help on something I can answer I give it. What more could you ask for from this diverse group of enormously talented folk that I want to be like someday. Cheryl

I made this strap for a dear friend so if you see anything odd in the oak leaves it's because I put some hidden pics in there that were relevant just to him and the quirky friendship we have. I don't do Sheridan but he wanted oak leaves (He's doesn't even know what Sheridan is) because he used to live on Oak Street. I don't interpret them folks I just try and please them. And he was very pleased. I did my own style of oak leaves, not a traditional Sheridan but leaf litter with an oak tree in the center. So this is George trying out his new strap.

I'm with Aaron, I really like your work. And if the card slots are big enough, it's a very trim, neat wallet. Cheryl

You folks recently gave me some great advice on marketing and I wanted to share something stupid I did. I was hoping maybe as we all got more knowledgeable about Etsy or FB, it doesn't matter we could just keep this thread going with tips for other LWs. One morning before I had a business meeting I went to Etsy and changed all my titles to include FREE SHIPPING at the end. I thought it would be a good strategy and not that costly in the long run. A few days after that I found out on the site some where, I wish I could remember where now, that google will not pick up your title if it has free shipping in it. Plus there's several other things they won't pick up if you use special characters. I know I saw someone at eBay or probably tons of them typing LiKe ThIs iN AlL tHeIr aDs and other things like that. Google ignores those titles too, and the !!!!!!! etc. I don't feel like most of you are my competition but rather friends and extremely helpful people. Maybe I'm naive but I think there's room for all of us and our products. In the recent thread someone said I needed to get up more products on Etsy and that's true, but I keep actually reducing them. One was in someone's treasury or whatever that stuff is, maybe a favorite, I don't know. But I took it off because the better I get at my products, ones from 6 months ago embarrass me. Does anyone else have this problem? I can't produce fast enough to keep up with my own standards. Anyway if you folks want to let's share tips for utilizing Etsy and FB to the fullest because I'm totally lost with my FB page, don't even go there anymore. Cheryl

Beautiful, absolutely beautiful work. Cheryl

Oh I agree. I saw his reins he did. I'm just in awe of someone buying something from someone else here I guess. A lot of us, and maybe it's just we newer people seem to says things like, 'I just love that, I think I'll make one.' Actually when I first started here I was more interested in doing bosals and things like that than I was in the direction I ended up. I bought a whole cow of rawhide strips and a really great book that I can't lay my hands on right this second because I moved, that was all about making things with rawhide. It took me about 4 times reading through to realize I had one big problem. I can't figure out the knots no matter how someone demonstrates them. I can round braid all day and love doing it so use it with my other projects all the time, but I can't do the simplest knot. And even though I love working with rawhide and braiding I don't have any great ability at it so even if I had the talent to make something like he did, which I don't, it would take me a year. I used a round braid on a rhythm beads project. I had an English rein, have no idea why since I ride western, but never throw anything away, and I think it's by far the prettiest set I ever made. Well you saw some of them, I remember you asking if they were ceremonial or something like that. But that's the only tack related items I even attempt these days Bruce. Everything else seems to be just whatever someone wants. I started out with my horse eye jewelry, rhythm beads and wanting to do tack and now I'm making the eye jewelry, beads and made an epi pen holder, a coin purse, 2 dog collars, a belt, and several guitar straps. I'm finishing up a messenger bag for myself currently to carry my products in. Seemed odd for a leatherworker to carry products around in a plastic store bag :-) Could you post a picture of the entire headstall, bosal and reins when you get it put together? Thanks, Cheryl

I don't want to sound like the moron I am sometimes Bruce but I'm not sure of what your specialty area is. Or if you have a dozen of them....so couldn't you make one? Cheryl

Beautiful work, Cheryl

Tim I agree with Pete about Springfield. Tell them what you want to do and they'll see to it you have exactly what you need. Good luck with your project. Cheryl

Yes I figured it out when I thought about it a little Mike and a friend mentioned a similar method in PM. She said you can get a type of jacket drawstring elastic at a notions store. I think that would work well. And Kevin I'm sorry I was so dense before but I just could not figure it out exactly, I was just too tired by then. I had someone stop by for a guitar strap fitting in between me working on this and it kinda freaked me out. Not the person, LOL, he's a friend but the whole someone at my house type thing.