Suze

see that didn't hurt - did it I still think that they are really neat

I stand corrected - I really should not talk about things I only know a little bit about....... I was under the impression that "rusty nails" worked the best. sorry

simple is where a master crafter shines my friend. you can hide goof ups and flubs in an intricate design - where there is no design to hide it in you MUST do the best work possiable. this is shining quite well (I read a story once about a lady buying silverware for her table and asking why the plain set cost more than the fancy-dancy one. and that was the answer she was given)

well you HAVE to have a photo album or five.... with baby's name on it. But that might have to wait for a wee bit later. How about a little leather mallet and some "tools" (for the giggle anyway)

Ok Ray - I had thought of something and didn't really know about the tissue paper. I like the sticker idea - and remember to play with the "folding of the tissue" see what neat fold you can put in it quick. and then sticker it shut. and weren't you supposed to post pics of those 3 legged stools? Hummmm? >grin< and I will - over the weekend post some pics of a "learning in progress" (as soon as I find out where the cat took the "crap braid" too) It's not leather but I thing you will be amused by it. making cloth pouches is really easy - you just need a friend and two sewing machined and two sergers.....chain them from one to the other and end up with a garland of pouches. (no, I've never done that before. why do you ask?) (just 300 of them for event tokens - one afternoon and a bunch of giggles later)

Well the glop has been "cooking/rotting" for the better part of a year..... Last years walnuts in a big bucket outside. the ones at the bottom were already in water and the water is pretty black. the mordant I was talking about is what is in the fabric that we will be dyeing. Don't know how that will affect it on leather. You know it would help if I got some leather -- thnk?

Hi all I am part of a group that is doing a fiber thing a couple of weekends from now. We will be doing "natural dying" with walnut hull "soup" (BLECH, the smell while it is cooking is NOT good) I was sort of wandering if any of you all had used this for leather? (I;m pretty sure "somebody" has done this here) any tips? I was figuring on bringing home a jug of "glop" from the dye pot. Maybe take some out before it got boiled. After it is boiled with fiber I know it will have mordant in it (alum and something else that I can't remember right off) any hints? After all wouldn't want all that good "glop" to go to waste >grin<

It is an "old time" dye for leather made with vinager and some sort of steel --- steel wool (no soap) nails (rusty works better) the vinager desolves the steel and when you use it on leather it is a very rich black. Hope that helped - if you search around there have been several threads about it.

back for round two -- this is probably going to go all over the place -- hang with me folks. (my best ramblings are just that -ramblings) Ray, about the tissue paper, is there any chance that whatever you wrap in it could "stick" to it? I would hate to get one you your high end purses (yes I went to your website) and have a big hunk of tissue stuck to it somehow. or am I wrong in thinking that? the care instructions are a great idea. maybe you could make little cloth pouches to keep it all together? Nothing worse than finding "half" of what you need to care for a product. And I have noticed that most of the really high end products DO come with a cloth bag to put it in. for when it needs to sit in the closet for a time. Maybe a cloth bag and then tissue? ABOUT THE "QUICK NICKEL VS THE SLOW DIME" HAVE that $2500 pool cue case on the table, make ONE- showcase it - put it on a pedastle (really) mark it "limited edition" (they don;t need to know that your edition is limited to what YOU want to make. (well it doesn't have to be a $2500 one - but one that is significantly higher than most of the things on the table) My Mom did crochet work for the dollhouse - she worked on what we called "Evelyn's boredom factor" when she was bored with a pattern she didn't do it anymore. (with 40 years of crochet books in the house - she didn't NEED to repeat if she didn't want to) She always had something on the table that was in the couple hundred dollar range (big bucks for what we sold) Perched right over the display of the crochet that varied in price from a few dollars to about 60.00 with the mid range in the 20's We also sold a lot of things that were in the ONE dollar and under range. But each item got our full skills. People would stop and "OH MY GOD" at the tablecloth and BUY the $20.00 doily. Enough of them and you have "sold" the $200.00 tablecloth, and in the rare cases of her SELLING the tablecloth.... well we ate goooood that night. Yes, you have time invested in it - but getting people to STOP at your table is worth it. Otherwise in a group of like minded crafters you have nothing that "stands out" and draws people IN to the booth. They walk by - and in this day and economy You need that something "bling" to attract attention. You can do this with set up and display as well. Example- we sold "toss pillows" for your dollhouse these were about as big as a cotton ball. One inch and a bit square. one dollar each. There were other places that made the same little pillows and made with the same quality. two for a dollar. Ours sold - theirs not so well. Difference? we put each and every one in a little plastic bag and put a hang tag on it and put them on a rack. Theirs - tossed in a shoebox and put on the table. you had to dig around in the box to see what was there, and they got dirty and grubby from all of that. Ours - they could see a selection right off. KNEW they were clean when they brought them home. AND they saved TIME at the show. When you only have a set number of hours to "see it all" rooting through a box for a 50 cent item WASTES time. ( it got to the point that I was using rubber stamps and putting "codes" on the tags so I could find all the "teddy bears" or Christmas quicker) We started that business on a "knotted shoestring" but we still had bags for our items - lunch sacks with a rubber stamp "business card" on it. Displays that Dad found "somewhere" ABOUT "QUALITY CONTROL" Ray I don't think that there is a craftsperson out there that looks at what he/she just finished without looking at it and going - I should have done "this" it would have made it soooo much better. Sometimes you have to let the baby bird fly come what may. It is not easy to do. I know that I have a scad of stuff here that Mom and I made that wouldn't make it to the table for some little reason or other. (I was grumping one Christmas about not having anything in my dollhouse that Mom made that DIDN'T have a goof in it somewhere. I got a crocheted animal that year for Christmas with a note attached that said that there were NO goofs in it) some examples of "goofs" the Christmas tree skirt in one room was supposed to be a cape.... the stockings had a hole in them from the finishing process. I worked around it and you can't tell - but you can't sell that either. A sweater has a "glich" in the pattern - It really doesn't show, but it is still a mistake. And if I know a mistake is in an item and I can't work it out It won't be sold. (I've been braiding string lately and I know there are some issues with some of them BUT - I want to cut this 8 yard string into necklace lengths and I can cut out the parts that are not well done - I reversed the pattern somehow - cut it at that point) Boy do I go on or what. This is an intresting thread. Let's keep it going.

I'll see your and raise you a and add a please tell me you were a leather worker in another life....

Well Ray If I am buying a piece of handcrafted "whatever" first it has to call my name. Which lately is not hard to do (I want one of just about everything on this forum) I want pride in workmanship to show in the item, well designed - form and function are important - a purse should have a top that you can get your hand in, belts shouldn't be made for "runway models" it must look as good in my hand as it did from across the room. It was the design that drew me in, but if it is poorly executed or sloppy, I am not going to be reaching for my money. As you said threads clipped, edges burnished, the little things. Oh and if it is dyed in a pattern (like a celtic knot) no runs. Is it even from side to side. ragged cuts are a turn off. Consistency of work - is it all "even" or does it look like the items on the table were made by several people of varying skills. (if there are things that just won't sell - look at them with a "new eye" and the question "would I buy this?" If the answer is NO - does it still belong on your table? Or should it go to dusty corner of the workshop to make room for other things that ARE selling) If you are trying a new to you skill, I feel it is ok to put it out and mark it a "prototype" and get feedback. Do you have people looking at it and going "when are you going to start selling THIS" or are they looking at it and "sniffing" the former says to start making it, the latter says that it is not ready for the table YET and it needs a bit more pratice/polish/tweaking to be the best it can be. Presentation on the table is also key to selling. A jumble of purses in a pile is not appealing. You put a lot of work into them, treat each one like the "Crown Jewels" Racks to display "little things" like keyfobs (which can be simply cardboard coverd in cloth - or a bullentin board, also cover the cork with cloth) I see a display set up as another extention of "pride in workmanship" The item that costs a few dollars should be treated the same as the one that costs a hundred - I won't root in a box of keyfobs. Not worth the bother to me, I have a keychain. But displayed so that the design shows - I will probably buy the one with the unicorn head one it (I'm a "dumb" girl what can I say >grin<) to give you all a little example of what a change in display can do - My Rennisance Group did a street festival, among other things that we sold were "Maid Marion Halos" I am sure that most of you have seen little girls running around with a piece of tinsel on their head with some curling ribbon hanging off of it.....we sold them for one dollar. The first year we didn't sell very many - we had them hanging on some hangers around the booth. The next year we sold over 400 of them - the change? We stood on the outside of our booth with an armload waveing them around. Two people sold that many- we got them out from the jumble of the booth and where all the little girls could SEE them better. (DADDY - Daddy - pleassssse) But the best display in the world is not going to make up for shoddy workmanship. Pride in your own apperance - Ok this is a stretch, but hang on with me. If you are sloppy in apperance at a show. I see that as a sign of "sloppy" in more than dress. dress neat and clean (even if it is jeans and a t-shirt) - TRY to get the dye out from under your fingernails. ..... (we have a person who sells leather at some events that doesn't WASH often enough - I know he lost sales because he STINKS and nobody wants to be in his "aura" - and since our shows are not juried, we can't keep him out >sigh<) I could go on and on and on, but right now if I don't go feed the cat she will dry up and blow away >giggle< If you have read this far thank you for reading the ramblings of a person on the "other side of the cashbox"

oh giggle - I so love this I might have to steal it sometime. (I work better from visuals myself)

dumb newbie question time have any of you ever started a lace in the middle - by that I mean pull your lace through to the halfway point and then lace from both directions.

can you do the major clean work on it outside? One thing that I have done when working with something that is very dirty is find some clear garbage bags and work on the thing INSIDE the bag - that contains most of the "dirt" don't know if you could find a bag big enough for a saddle though. I was going through attic stuff that way - unwrapping dishes that had been wrapped since 1957 (newspaper date)

too bad they don't make covers for a workbench like the ones you cover the keys of a piano with..... someone comes in - plop and lock - noone touches the tools. and I don't think Art's "souloution" would work for Shorts - she'd never get rid of her hubby. >grin<

and I thought that **I** went from one thing to another in a chain sometimes my friends have a hard time "keeping up"

welcome - you won't find a better collection of people than here I think. there is a big leather show in your area coming up soon(like in the next week or two) Guys help me out here.... You might want to look it up I do the ren thing myself - (the society for creative anacronism)

well what do you know - PARTY TIME >insert fireworks here<

http://www.alliedtrading.com/shop_braceletletter.htm oh I finally looked at your first posts link.....I plugged in Bracelet letters and this is what I got.

I'm not real sure but I thought I saw something like that for scrapbooking. try looking at sites that sell the "bedazzler" and if you send for Firemountain gems catalog give someone your credit card -- it is easy peasy to run up a massive bill....

pretty I like your high tech easel too.... I think Celtic knotwork is one of my fav type patterns right now. Can't wait to see it finished

print out a sign on the computer that you can fold in half and prop on your workbench Sharp objects - your blood is not the color I want to dye this project with...... Or maybe some other POLITE words don't touch my project in the middle of it - I get nasty - nope not so polite either.....

Tom- any good scrapbook store will have the albums Jo-anns hobby lobby they really are not that hard to find I saw an album once that had two champane glasses "klinking" on it with "bubbles" floating out of them.... what about that and putting their names on the glasses. or a bride and groom.. Picture of them tooled of course

wow - just wow

I have already taken the glass - beer bottle - plate - whatever and drew around it on a piece of template plastic and cut it out --- bingo one hole template. also look in the scrapbooking supplies - there are a lot of different circle - oval cutting tools there. Or the quilting department. I like to get the plastic from the quilting department that has a graph printed on it. A bit expensive, but it makes laying out a pattern easier. This from the sewing geek - amazing how many of the "techniques" transfer over....... but for the most part if you want it to match - do the fold and cut. Or look for something with that shape.