DoubleC

OH ok, I didn't know that. I got so frustrated trying to tie those from two different directions, but not cut :-) Thanks Mike

Thank you Kustom, I can at least do that. A friend and I are going to redo everything. And I bookmarked the link above and trust me, my grades weren't good :-( Cheryl

Well mazo for just smooth wallets you'll need thin veg tanned leather, and very thin lining leather, and a way to sew them after they are dyed. So you'll need leather needles and awl, and waxed thread. Springfield will cut you sq ft. of leather so you don't have to buy a whole side or shoulder. If I was going to start I'd get: (this is looking at least expensive but still a nice product while you practice) a veg tanned belly from them, 5-6oz Maybe 25.00 Black glazed pig for lining (I just bought a whole pig for around 18.00 because they have it on special) Tell them to put a straight edge on both for you Strap cutter Dyes of your choice, if you want I can explain some of the difference in them or Springfield will be glad to Resolene to finish and protect them Package of leather sewing needles, not harness or lacing needles GOOD awl, very important, you'll use it a lot. waxed thread, usually comes in black, brown and white. And there are tons of tutorials on wallets and threads in 'how do I do that' or other places. I doubt all of this would cost $100.00 with the shipping and it will give you plenty to make mistakes on and practice on. For a pattern? Go to goodwill or someplace like it, get a used wallet and disassemble it, and you're in the wallet business. I hope this helps. Cheryl

I only know of the term from tying rope halters, they are put in positions of pressure points on the horses face. And they are used simply because the double overhand looks neater than two singles, and applies a little more even pressure. I'm not sure what kind of knots the OP mean actually because I've made a rope halter with it and it didn't involve a cutting tool :-) And I think you would have to be very big, and probably use a solid post of some kind to ever raise blood on a horse with these. I use a rope halter with my horse because when I rescued her, she'd grown 'into' her nylon one, actually embedded into her face and left dents, and she could drag me to Texas and back without a rope halter, the knots work like the nose button on a bosal. But she's never been in any pain from it or even so much as put her ears back with it on except perhaps at first. She knows she can't get in front of me now and bull through it so she doesn't bother. And I do use the same thing on my fishing line but just realized it was the same concept from Mike's response. Oh and when someone on here accused me of being cruel to the horse and said he'd seen horses in cross ties actually bring blood when spooked, I explained I used a nylon halter over it for cross ties. It's just for getting her from one place to another. Or ground work, not to be flogged with or whatever consenting adults do with that stuff. Can some 'wise' man here twll me how you get cut tying one of these? Thanks, Cheryl (bandaids right next to me)

I think you only get that at the gallery and they're working on that. It doesn't happen other places. I have pictures in the gallery at the top of the site and I get the same message :-) It's just a tech glitch, nothing to fall apart over. Cheryl

Thank you both, great suggestions. We have a local college here. And I do need to work on an about me page, didn't even know etsy had that. Unfortunately the light box won't work much until I get a camera capable of closeups which I'm working on doing. and I have a thread saved here about light boxes and also tripods bookmarked. thanks so much for helping. Cheryl

Hey mezo, that's kinda a tough question without knowing how you want to make your wallets, I mean as far as design. I would recommend the basic 6 that usually come as a set, you can make just about any design with them you want with practice. Then you'll need a swivel knife and a mallet or maul. I'd suggest a strap cutter, and then some leather and dye and you're on your way. I'd stay away from Tandy for any of this. They have poor quality tools these days and charge more than other places. You could easily get all that from Springfield leather company and if you call they may think of something I've forgotten. They have veg tanned bellies for around $25.00 and will put a straight edge on it for you so your strap cutter can cut a straight piece of leather up to 4 inches. The belly part of a cow is a little stretchy but not bad for the projects you mentioned. Also they tool really nicely. Good luck, Cheryl

Very nice. I really like the design on the brown one. Cheryl

Thanks Kustom, I will. I'll play with the about me page off and on over the next couple days. I've made more things but locally. I'll see if I can get pics of them too. My pictures I'm kinda stuck with until my grant goes through. My camera just won't do close ups, and I don't have a light box yet but I know that's a real problem with my stuff. Thanks so much for taking this time to help me. Cheryl

I am getting between 250-350 visitors a month at my Etsy shop but other than my Mare Stares I haven't sold anything. I know some of my prices are too high and I think probably all my ads are pretty bad because my eyes glaze over when I try and describe these things in a new and different way. I've thought of Etsy more as a way to advertise my things than I have being about selling, thought I'd keep that local. I've suddenly realized I'm letting a ton of potential customers leave my shop with nothing. If anyone's willing to give me some advice on these things I'd be happy to hear it. http://www.etsy.com/shop/DoubleCCowgirl Plus I'm getting around the same amount of people at my website I just found out tonight because I dislike this side of the business so much I haven't been there in so long I couldn't remember my sign in. Now that's bad. I know I have to find a way to make this as important to me as creating and any pointers would really help. Thanks so much, Cheryl

Hi Chris. You can buy all kinds of commercial conditioners but I just use bag balm. I put it on the finished leather, use a blow dryer to liquefy it, then rub it in by hand. The more you work the leather the softer it gets. By the time I'm done with my guitar straps they just drape over. Hope this helps. Cheryl

Thanks guys. I didn't get notified of your responses. I finally asked Twin Oaks and he said the CT is designed to be pretty weather proof. He tried putting some resolene on it and when it dried, it peeled off like rubber. But I'll read up on the bag kote and see if it works for CT. Cheryl

It's beautiful, honestly it is. Cheryl

Oh man I hate when my leather turns brown :-) Oh wait, you mean a darker brown? I'm just kidding, gave the best advice I had. And learned something myself. Cheryl

I've done inlay and overlay work Murphy, although when it comes to inlay in my opinion Katass does the finest work I've ever seen. If I were going to do what you seem to be wanting, I'd cut my window, and then some strips of leather from the same leather that will fit through your beads. Then I'd dye the belt, and the strips (same leather so they'll be same color if that's what you want) then burnish the window and strips and dye the edges of all that. Make your strips longer than the window. Put your beads on the strips, and if I was doing it I'd saddle stitch all the way around the window, not just the ends where the strips are underneath the leather. It would look more professional and draw more attention to your beads. Then you're going to have a choice to make when you line it. inlay needs lined to protect the inlay and keep the stitches off of you so they aren't irritating. Helps cover lousy stitching on the underneath too so you can focus on the top that is showing. HOWEVER your inlay isn't going to be solid like most, so I'd use a thin liner and double it, have the hide side up where it shows through the window and hide side down where it shows on the back of the belt. I'm sure there's probably other ways to do this, that's just the way I would approach it. Cheryl

Kayak, I just bought a whole black glazed pig from SLC and it's long enough to line twice that length. http://springfieldleather.com/32394/Lining%2CGlazed-Pig%2CBlack%2CSqFt/ Cheryl

I recently glued 1 and 1/2oz pig to the flesh side of veg tanned leather then use a rotary cutter on it. Mine moved around too even glued, it's very stretchy. So I used a box cutter with a new stropped blade to get the excess off. I don't understand your question though Highland. If you're going to line it, you have to sew it. I used barge and bricks laid on mine while it set up and it's still pulling away in places where it stretches and the veg tanned isn't. You don't have to line a belt, but if you do I wouldn't recommend you depend on glue alone. Just my opinion, others may have a different opinion. Cheryl

Well, when I came today I PMd a friend to see if it was supposed to look like this or if my computer was acting up :-) I hate change, would still be using windows 95 (what I learned on) if I could, but every time I get a different computer seems no one will put 95 on it for me, LOL. I'm finding my way around pretty well so far, and like a new windows program I end up loving it once I know how to use it until the next new one comes along and then it's grumble, grumble, whine again for a while. I'm sure I'll love this once I get everything down pat. Cheryl

I don't know what would have caused the smell but I think the least invasive way to try and get rid of it would be a baking soda bath. Me, I'd use my tub, warm water, and a LOT of baking soda mixed in and let it dry good and see if that fixed it. It takes away the vinegar smell from vinegaroon so it might work on this. Hope it helps, Cheryl

I'm making a messenger bag out of this leather and I'm pretty sure it must be chromium tanned and I want to put a finish on it to protect it from the bad weather here in VT. Can I use my usual resolene on it and the glazed pigskin I used in the gusset? Or does it need something special, haven't worked with this type of leather before. http://springfieldleather.com/33869/Desert-Rough-Rider-Sides/ Below is the front with the gusset sewn on, I apologize for the picture I had to scan it. Thanks so much, Cheryl

I apologize, this is a scanned picture, since I moved I haven't been able to find my camera battery charger. I did the gusset on the front panel like Sylvia suggested but I could still use some answers to my other questions. I'm done for the night, or at least my fingers are.

I think that will work just fine An. I like that soft look, feel too. Cheryl

LOL, CTG, I'm not stuck, I grew up in 'British' units and I'm old enough I don't have to change. I'll leave that to the younger kids. If it all converts to oz and inches why would not knowing mm get me ripped off? Besides without knowing how thin that was, I told her to double it which would come out to about, what was it you recommended? 6 oz, which would be uh,, 3/32 of an inch or 2.4mm. Odd, seems we were talking the same language all the time. Cheryl

Well I can almost certainly say you don't want to use quilt batting with leather. I say almost certainly because I learn something new everyday. Try just pinning a couple of the edges together, edges that will need trimmed and put it down. Does it puddle? If it is too soft a temper you could just glue another layer of your leather like I did to it, but instead of all over hiding the suede, just to the gusset. It will hold it's shape that way, still have a soft temper and allow your suede to show. I jumped right over the 'bind' to you wanted to hide the flap. I'm not exactly sure what you mean by bind it but if you don't want to do that you could dye the raw edge with a dark color. That gives it a finished look. Some people just use permanent markers for that. I mean there's a whole tutorial on doing edges here but I'm not sure how well burnishing would do with your leather. Could you post a picture of it? And if you have made bags before from cloth I think you're going to do fine with this.

Hi An. I'm making my first messenger bag too and I can answer some of your questions while I'm waiting for some people to answer the questions I have about mine on another thread. First I haven't a clue what 9mm is like so that will hinder me a tad :-) It really depends more on the temper or stiffness of the leather, type of leather and if you want a drapery look to it or a stiffer composition if you're meaning interface and lining as the same. I was working with 20z and 3oz so I lined mine with a stiffer veg tanned. I wanted it to be kinda drapery looking but not puddling on the floor. The first thing that comes to mind for hiding the flap closure is either a magnetic snap attached a lining on the flap or you could use a guitar end strap type method. Sorry I can't be more help. Cheryl