pepin1948

I come from Majorca, an island of Spain,5000 miles away of your country .I´m carving leather two years part time, and near a year full time.Its a short time but I work hard and a bit obsesive

Hi from Spain. It is my first post It was an special order from a customer with some conditions: 1-the strap has to be the same widht than the sheath.2-The strap has to be high enough to protect his side from the crown stag when is carried on the field.3-The sheath has to be wide enough to wear this knife who has an extra wide guard, more than 5/8 on each side of the blade, without deforming the back of the sheath.I thing it´s a curious result.Hope you enjoy.(Excuse me for my bad english)

Paul, Thank you for your knowledge,that is a fantastic tip.I live 6.000 miles far away but your advices arrives like I live you were my neighbour.Thanks for share that amount of knowledge.Please consider me your follower

Clear and didactic Nice center background

I'll try to take a pic when I get back home. I have one kit left to make - one that had gotten damaged (the solar panel of the calculator shattered). I'll try to sell it "as is". Basically, the part with the design flips on an axis - it has a basic calculator on the flip side. The interior of the folio has a pen loop in the center and a lined notepad on the right hand side. The folio I myself use is one that has the pad on the left inside, as I'm left handed. The pocket for loose papers is thus on the right.

I've made three of these now as Christmas gift orders - two with the dragon, one with an eagle stamp. Here's one of the dragons...

I'd only add: Blood on leather really messes things up...

Found someone who thinks he can help me...thanks again all!

I appreciate the tips, and man those are gorgeous cases! I knew Dale sold cases too. My dilemma is that I really like the panel on my current case and want to put it on the same style case again. That's why I'm looking for the Tandy ones. But at least I have some options if I don't find one...

I've made bunches of these when they were available, but can't even find one on eBay now. I need the case to replace the one I have that I'd made myself years back. The panel had come out really well, and gets alot of comments. Rather than make a different one, I'd like to remove the panel and put it on a new case. The case I have is coming apart at the stitching by the latching mechanisms. If you have one you'd be willing to part with, please let me know.

ooooh, I like that color! I don't have that one yet...got a bunch of the others for my youth group...

Being also on the East Coast (NJ area), I can tell you there's a major shortage of classes hereabouts. Even finding a major show is unusual. There are on occasion shows in the Indiana and western PA/OH area, but that's as close as I've found.

I've always applied the sheens (Satin and Super) with a damp sponge, but have heard a dauber or wool scrap works. They tend to dry pretty quickly (couple hrs max). I've not used it in a while though, and not since they went with the Eco Flo variety.

That one, I used white crafters glue. I posted a note back to you in another box post on how I go about the gluing.

Here's my favorite that I have.

They are both gorgeous but I really like the first style/coloration the best. Lucky customer! And I know exactly what you mean about "unscheduled practice"

I have Grabowski's model and it is WONDERFUL. I highly recommend it. Actually, I recommend anything he makes. I've bought several of his inlaid boxes for covering. While I've had a personal falling out with the man, his workmanship is excellent.

My folks used to raise ostriches. People would say "how can you kill something you've raised" and Mom would say "it's not a pet, it's meat" or something to that effect. Ostriches are NOT nice birds, the adult male tried to kill my mom once. Every time she looked at him she wanted to see him on her dinner plate. BTW, ostrich is very yummy. As to the cow, I really don't think about it when I tool it. I look at the piece and think to myself: "what does this piece of leather want on it?" I guess THAT'S weird....

I buy them at craft stores like Michaels and AC Moore. I try to get nicer ones - alot of times if I find a quality supplier (i.e. another fair vendor) they charge too much for me to turn around and sell it after I add my work on top. Holly

Sell it to me and I'll use it for keepsake box liners...or something...I'm a sucker for blue!

WOW! That's a boo boo alright. I'dve cursed over that for sure! I did a recent one: I was convinced I'd done the design on one panel out of a strip of four (tissue box cover) upside down - so I chopped the strip into four separate panels (thus needing to stitch every corner instead of just one) After consulting the master pattern again, I realized I'd had it right to start with and just gave myself ALOT more work for nothing!!!!! That was, however, second to my worse: I was making a tri leg stool pair for my parents' horse show stalls. I'd finished the first one perfectly. I was using a resist on the horse's body. When I got to the second horse, I forgot to paint his chest and forlegs with the resist before hitting it with stain...uh, suddenly a two tone horse! That was my first experience with dye removers/strippers.

Pics look good to me as far as lighting goes - but you might want a different background than sofa cushions. I lay my stuff usually on a contrasting background, like you, but something flat and usually at desk or table level. I've been known to put it on the floor if it's something large and I need more distance between me and the item. But flat is good.

I'm adding to my stock for a holiday bazaar next weekend (Dec.1) and just finished this box. The photo came out a bit brighter than the box really is. It's an oversized lid on a 5-1/2 x 5-1/2" square bottom. This is the first time I used dye instead of acrylic paints for coloring. I was REALLY pleased. I used the new EcoFlo stuff from Tandy for the color, and a bottle of their old Tan antique for the background. The knot is a modified version from that huge Celtic knotwork book that's out at Tandy (can't recall the title...)

Those were my thoughts as well, glad to hear them verified

Here is the buckle I did in the class I taught the kids this week. I laced it today at home as I was busy showing them stitching there. It was very quick and basic, but I was disappointed to see how spotty the leather was after staining - just something that happens sometimes...anyhow, my question is: should I color the knot and if so, what?