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You are absolutely right. I couldn't even tell you what I read when I commented, but now that I am fully awake, I see that I completely misread that post. Please except my apologies. Karina

Trust me my previous comment wasn't intended as an affront to you, your machine, nor you business. Your understanding of why I would choose the Singer over your machine is immaterial to me, but in short I choose the Singer because it was my money that I was spending and the Singer was the better buy. I believe I stated that in my post and I quote "To the seller that is having success with selling these units, and have hundreds of happy customers, I say congratulations on your success, and I wish you many, many more sales, but again for my money - it's the Singer all day, any day! ( JMHO.)" I also went on to say "The original poster asked for opinions about a machine being sold by leatherpatchers.com, I gave my opinion of it. This is simply my opinion, others are free to do as they wish." Also I wouldn't buy the machine from the China seller instead of supporting you, because I wouldn't buy that machine period! How about you read the full post next time. Karina

I have a leather splitter and if a piece is not smooth as I would like, I always run it through the splitter to clean it up. I can't remember if I did that to the original strap but I definitely did it to the replacement strap.

I am aware of that and I did state that the strap was burnished first with water and a glass slicker then a coat of gumtrag. More reading and research on this forum as well as other forums tells me that the gumtrag was the culprit. I am following Cybertrasher's advice and leaving the gumtrag on the shelf never to be opened again. For now, a simple burnish followed by tan kote seems to do the job. I have a few other finishes I tried on scrap just to see which one I like best, but going forward, I am laying off the gumtrag. Karina

If the flesh side is nappy, I will run the piece through the splitter to clean it up, but the back side of the strap was pretty smooth to begin with before I burnished then gumtrag'd it. I would have never thought it would have turned into what you see in that photo. But now I know to leave that gumtrag alone.The new piece is from the same hide, it is 6oz veg tan. I thought of adding a lining (I have some 2oz kip from Waterhouse Leather) but I don't have a piece in the shop long enough to cover two 30" straps and I told her I would get it back to her today, so I had to toss that idea out. Yep, it won't help with the pup, maybe keep the bag out reach? That is exactly what I used on the new strap!

Ha.ha.ha. I hear ya!

Thanks Cyber, I will try that. The folks over at Tandy & Springfield told me this is what gumtrag was for but I have several other finishes on hand I can try. Thanks again. Karina

Thanks for replying but I am not talking about the edges. I am referring to the flesh side of the strap. More Info: This is what I did to the old strap: I wet with water and burnished with a glass slicker. When that dried, I put one coat of gumtrag on it and let that dry. should I have done anything else to the strap to keep the flesh lying down? Again not talking about the edges. I started with a rather smooth back side to begin with so didn't think it would look like this after just a few months of use. Karina

OK I have a customer that I sold a market tote to a few months ago. The bag was not taken care of in that time. Wow she beat this bag up. She is paying to have the straps replaced as her new pup chewed through one of the straps. Now the straps look like she dragged them behind a truck to me. Here is a pic. The strap on the left is a new one from the same hide I made the old one from. I put gumtrag on the flesh side of the old one but can't figure out why it looks so nappy. I only put on one coat, should I have put on more than one coat? Is there anything else I can use to keep the nap lying down? Thanks for the help Karina

Black River Laser is a member here on the forums - many members here use them. They do have some nice templates, I have purchased several. I also ordered a custom template from them. They knocked it out and got it in the mail rather quickly. Nice people to work with. Karina

My shop has plenty of half completed projects and mistakes - but as stated before quitting never enters my mind. I have only been doing this for 13 months. I am bound to make a mistake daily. But what I have learned is NOT to make the same mistake again, and how to turn that mistake into a different product. I finished a iPad sleeve just yesterday and I went to put my mark on the flap and I stamped it upside down. The stamp was a brass stamp that is clearly marked showing the direction and because I was not paying attention and distracted, I stamped it upside down anyway. Now I couldn't send that one to the customer so I cut the flap down and added a strap closer instead and listed it for sale. The lesson I learned from that mistake was to kick your freeloading, always begging for a bag sister out of the shop when working on customers orders. Karina

During the Holiday break I finally got around to making me a proper pony. By proper I mean one that I didn't just throw together. I actually took the time to measure my cuts instead of just eyeballing it. Very easy and simple to make. I made this one a bit taller to allow longer/wider pieces to fit, and I mounted it so that I could turn or angle the piece if needed. I have one of those cam clamps on my other one so I will swap it out with this one, and I want to make two more holes for the bolt so that I can adjust up or down based on the size of the piece. I was sewing an A4 case for a customer and the bolt being towards the top made it difficult to sew. I ended up having to remove the bolt and use a clamp to hold it all together. This size eliminates that problem. Karina.

They are all very nicely done!

LOL

Very nice bag! Karina

Hello Mary, Welcome to the Forum! A lot of great information can be found here, as you have found, and a lot of kind helpful members that are always willing to help. Karina

Awesome work!

Ditto what Dwight said. I suffer from allergies as well as suffer from Chronic Sinusitis so everything bothers me. When I finally went to my Physician, he sent me to an Allergy Specialists and all I had to pay was a $40 copay, so don't think it will be expensive as it just may be covered by your insurance. The test I was given was an allergy skin test. I was pricked by a ton of different allergens and the locations that swell, were what I was allergic to. Turns out I am allergic to everything but food. I am even allergic to Prednisone which is a medicine Doctors prescribe to relieve allergy reactions. (Go Figure) I take weekly allergy shots in addition to a cocktail of pills to keep things at bay - and it is time for another sinus surgery. (This will be my 3rd) Everything I use must be unscented. I make my own bath soap, body lotion, and laundry detergent to ensure it's all natural or I get those whips all over my body. I can't even use dryer sheets in the dryer, nor perfume as they will severely irritate my skin. I haven't had a reaction to leather, but I always wear gloves and a mask. I would definitely go get this looked at by an Allergist. Not sure why your Doctor didn't recommend it, but I would go back in and ask for a referral. Allergies can be serious, don't doubt it for a second. Karina

It is odd that he never contacted you about the package. When my customers don't receive their order, they will give me a call or drop me an email inquiring about it, however, If it was shipped with the USPS I would lean towards them not actually receiving the package, than it being a scam. This has happened to me on so many occasions I have lost count. Karina

Very nice pouch for a beginner! Good job! Karina

I handed my last orders that are guaranteed to arrive before Christmas to the postman this morning. (They were scheduled to ship Friday but I finally finished them late Sunday and got them in the mail today.) I am going to take a short break from working with leather, but since I have other businesses, I still have to work so no time off for me. Karina

Nice sketch book. Karina

I use plastic ink syringes. (like these)They are great because they have the numbers on the side which aids in accuracy when you are diluting your dye with denatured alcohol. I have a lot of them laying around my screen printing shop. They are actually for my Dye Sublimation inks and whenever I order ink they always send me some, but I found they work great here too. They help a lot because I make a mess when I pour dye into another container. I buy my rubber gloves from the dollar store and I always wear them because I always to seem to get dye every where. I also started wearing a apron because so many pair of my light colored garments have tiny dye spots all over them. The card board under the piece of leather, I do that also. I usually just reuse the boxes items are shipped to me in. If I am out I can always use a free postal shipping box. I airbrush my dye on so I will use my card board pieces many, many times before discarding. But if you get dye on your hands, use cold water to clean it off, I am told that hot water will set the dye and make it more difficult and stubborn to remove. Their is also a product I use in my screen printing shop for when I am tie dyeing shirts that helps it come off a bit quicker as well, it is called ReDuRan. I once had a tiny pin hole in one of my gloves and the tip of one finger was purple, this stuff cleaned it up. I did use a nail brush to get around the nails, but this stuff did get it all off. Karina

One of the many hats I wear is as a Graphic Designer and we all run into design blocks from time to time. When I run into this problem, I just simply step away from the project. I will work on leather, go to the museum, visit the Botanical Gardens, or even just drive around town taking pictures of old buildings and things that interest me. The key is to step away for a while and come back with fresh eyes. This website I am building for a client has been a PITA for the last month, and a few nights ago, it came to me while I slept. I hit the floor at 2:30 in the morning, went to my computer and put in the missing piece that tied the whole thing together. It was a simple element color change. I didn't know it at the time but it was in one of the pictures I captured. I get inspiration from everything around me, and sometimes I will just go back and look at pictures I have taken, or flip through my old design books, but if I try to push through it, I found that I get nowhere. But if I walk away for a few days, focusing my brain on other issues, I have a better perspective when I come back to the project. Good luck with it all and let us know how you progress. Karina

No it would not be para cord. It is thin cord that stretches and bounces back when pulled. It comes in several sizes and if you have a Hobby Lobby near you they carry it in 3 different sizes. If it is the elastic cord you are looking for, here is a link to it http://shop.hobbylob...ad-cord-596007/