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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/

Do you not have a picture of an item you made with this leather? It may help identifying similar products. The information you gave - soft, not thick and black can be so many different types of leather.

You can make them for free from scrap leather that would otherwise be tossed out. You have probably already purchased the leather. The parts that are too small to do anything with - take a punch and start punching! I got three round punches on Ebay for $9.00 including shipping - sizes 3/4", 1", and 1.25". The center hole I make with a punch set I got from harbor freight for $6.00. (9 sizes from 1/2" down) With this set up I can make any size I need, and how many I need, whenever I need them. Just a thought! Karina

I use washers on the waxed canvas bags I make all the time. Although they can still be seen, they are usually on the interior of the bag used for added strength in attaching the leather handles to the waxed canvas bag. I am sure you can do the same for snaps. I simply use one of my round punches to punch holes in scrap leather to use as a washer. I make them all different sizes and keep them in a baggie for when I am ready to use them. Unless someone is using a round punch that is not round, they are pretty symmetrical in shape. Karina

I was told sometime ago that Hermes use to make their own zippers but now have them custom made by a company in Italy. I have two Hermes bags and the zipper has RIRI on it. Research lead me to this company RIRI Group. My mother has a Hermes Birkin Bag and that one has the name ECLAIR on it. I have the LV luggage set and the zipper just has LV embossed on it so I couldn't say who makes it or if it was made in house. My guess custom job in-house. Here is my take on this. Most hardware on high end brands are custom made specifically for the item being created. When they sit down to design an item, they also design the zipper that will be used all the way down to the color of the zipper tape and the polish being used on the metal teeth. If you notice, the zipper tape and the color of the leather bag are a spot on match. That is because they are custom designed that way. I couldn't say who has the best quality brass or metal zipper, but YKK has never failed me. Good luck in your search! Karina

The bid for this machine is now $610!!!!!! Ouch!!

Mine is a Franklin and I got it for $180 including the shipping. It took me three weeks of bidding on about 10 different auctions before I was able to get one that was in my price range. I already had type that I was using with my arbor press so all I needed was the hot foil. Didn't know there was different type for different machines but luckily my type worked with my machine. Early this year someone on Ebay was selling full unopened sets of type for $10 each. I got 6 different fonts and sizes. That Kingsley that is currently being bid on now would be a great buy IMO for $149, but I am sure by the end of the bidding, it will be much more than that which is what killed many of the deals I was bidding on. The ones I lost the bidding on, not one sold for less than $350 which was more than I wanted to pay for one, and it seemed that everyone waited to the last possible minute of bidding to throw in a bid that ran the price up. (I do that also - so I can't blame them ), but the prices have been on the high side these last several weeks, and if they are selling the accessories along with the machine they have been even higher. Karina

Yes, get a hot foil stamp machine, some letterpress type, and some hot foil and voila! I got mine off Ebay. The foil and the type were easy, the machine at a price I was willing to pay was a bit more difficult.

Ditto it's hot foil stamped.

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Can't wait for the finished product. As usual I am sure it will be awesome! Karina

That's just an easy way to round your corners. You lay a round object at the edge, and continue to cut straight lines all the way around and you will have a perfect rounded corner. Of course there are other ways to round your corners, this is just one easy way to do it. Karina

Awesome list, thanks for taking the time to share with us. Karina

For those in the Atlanta area and may not have heard, Tandy opened a new store on the Westside on Monday the 18th. (Thornton Rd.) I went and checked it out Wednesday and it is a pretty large store. Leather prices off the chart as usual with the new pricing structure, and this was the first time that I actually walked out of a leather store with no leather, but it is a really large store. The Manager said they will carry items that the Norcross store will not carry. Didn't see any - would love if they carried some Buffalo. I did load up on Hardware and dye - just no leather this go around. Karina

Welcome to the forum.Glad to have you!

Very nice, and my favorite would also be the black one. Karina

Do you mind sharing a pic of the edge done with the Carnauba and Angelus paints mix? I actually have the same tips I picked up from the same Ebay seller last year. **Edit: actually that was not the seller I got mine from, mine were much cheaper for the set. Here is a link to the ones I got: http://www.ebay.com/itm/321112978613?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649 Actually I got my set for $35. He had a "Make me an Offer" button at the time last year and I offered him $35 for the set.

There is a post on here where the member discussed where he used rubber stamps and archival inks (The inks you but at hobby stores) as well as the rubber stamps with dye inks to make his designs. The post is still up, but unfortunately the pictures have been removed. Here is the post - scroll to the bottom to read his process: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=46247 Good Luck! Karina

Nicely done!

I got a side of Buffalo Leather when I was in Argentina last month and wow what a nice piece leather. I looked at the usual places Stateside and didn't see any Bison leather so thanks for the link. Also the url in your post is incorrect, just in case anyone else is interested it is http://buffaloleatherstore.com Thanks, Karina