DavidL

Theres another section to the website of behind the scenes. Cool to watch how the craftsmen work and the inner workings of hermes. http://lesailes.hermes.com/us/en/no_comment

First, is this bag dyed with aniline dye or oil dyes? If it is aniline dye where would this be sourced in larger sizes. Martin aniline dyes come in small containers less than 100ml that I believe can make something like 1:4 ratio, so 400ml (i could be wrong). It doesnt show in the video any finish added, the finish step could have be taken out of the video or does aniline dye not require finishing since it adheres better, resulting in no dye bleed? How would I go about making semi - aniline, is there something I need to add to regular aniline. Oil dye vs aniline dyed vs this product below - Is there an upside to using oil dyes, the most popular out of the bunch. Can this furniture stain work as a stand alone dye rather than the typical cover up. - A sort of stain. Looks to be like oil dye without as much dye bleed.

thanks Macca.

what tools are you buying? Tandy's been known to overprice items

Found out that 40 percent of my education dollars goes straight into street entertainment, free food vendors, promotions, live events, as my university is right in the middle of downtown. This was told in an assembly by one of the faculty staff while explaining how great our program is. Felt like I was spending money for grade 13. Probably, not too far off. Decided I wanted to take a year off. I had to take the rounds and get signatures. Same guy that boasted about how my education dollars was being spent wisely on street entertainment, went on for 10 minutes stealing almost the same dialogue from a TED TALK on youtube trying to pass it off like he made it up. Also went on subtly saying how i messed up someones life since that guy could of been enrolled instead of me, taking my spot. Which has nothing to do with me since I wasn't going to stay so why lecture me about something that isn't in my control. Also said I wasn't paying the school money since my spot can't be filled if I left, which makes millions. Should of known since my specific school building was named after a company brand name. Wasted time, effort and money. Some university courses and college courses are great, but others are just there so people can fit in seats, pay school fees and say at least I got a degree in ___. Also told on an assignment where we got to visit a place we could potentially work, that basically his industry over the last 10 years has decreased by 50 percent. Still were opportunities for jobs, but schooling isn't direct enough and like jeremy said is starting to be misleading. Trend now for people to start going back and doing jobs like plumbing, building, mechanic, police, ect. Much more entrepreneurs and small business owners in fields like leather working. Also, Sorry for the rant.

Wow. I would of thought it would be 65k euros starting at minimum. Makes a lot of sense because it takes a long time to produce the end product. very fair. That course would be beneficial to someone wanting to start a one man business, given they have the marketing skills for that task. Im going to send an email when I get a chance to find out where the graduated craftsmen find jobs or started their own business.

I think your right. The amount they make for the company isn't way great than 100k. Their bags are 5k-40k, the grands craftsman the one who checks every piece of work probably makes 100k euros. Maybe 40k euro starting and more as you work on more expensive purses or wallets. How many purses do think one worker can make in a whole year? 40 hours was a quote from a video by hermes, now they do most of the stitching with machine and the rest is hand sewn on the handles and smaller parts, so it could be less.

really expensive for sure. But the upside its only one year long course and you don't have to otherwise pay for an expensive flight and stay in France or wherever you take your apprenticeship.Only legitimate school for fine leather goods like wallets, purses, luggage bags in USA. You can end up working at hermes overseas or start your own business like peter nitz did. If you aren't in it to start a career then I agree its too much. A degree is rewarded too. In Singapore where I'm visiting now there a craftsman who makes in the 6 figures and struggles to keep up with production making exotic watch straps (self taught). Another guy I was talking to earlier today briefly owns a small workshop in Singapore, including an upstairs portion where classes are taught. He makes a good living as well, also self taught, worked with timberland and other big labels for small collaborations. So apprenticeship isn't a must.

looks great. The stitching on the back looks good for the brown on brown. I think it would look cool if the stitching on the back for the two straps is \ for left / for right then have the stitch end right underneath the large rivet cap by having the line of stitching go back the other way. The clasp that you used you hole punch the leather, place the clasp in, then twist on the back with chicago screw type bolts?

two years of training at a leather working specialized school in france, where workers learn the basic of the craft, graduating with the knowledge of hand stitching veg, bridle, chrome, box, ect and learn every type of stitching and every trick of the trade. Workers from this school go out to LV, hermes and other big name companies that need these sort of skilled workers. There is no official school in USA but a former hermes worker opened up a school in SF. You can learn the trade the same way it is taught in france at around 14 grand for a single year course. Im thinking of taking this course but only after I start my leather studio up and make some revenue and want to expand. They offer a half course as well that stops short at luggage cases, and more advanced type projects and doesnt teach machine sewing for under 7 grand. around 10k to learn advanced projects, 14k for machine sewing. Im curious to find out how much a hermes worker makes a year. My guess is 100k euros a year. This type of information they don't disclose though.

If you happen to make any card holders let me know if its suitable. Been thinking about making wallets like bellroy styled with both edges folded in using upholstery leather like the one you bought thinned down.

Id also like to be able to check out hermes too, maybe il tell them i want a crocodile bag with diamonds on it they will let me take a look around first . I know hermes has a mandatory 2 year schooling that cost 20k+ euros then an apprenticeship if they are chosen. Could be an option for me to work In America hand stitching shoes first than take a 1-2 years in other countries. Would love to hear input if anyone has some insight.

Hermes? Dunhill? Louis vuitton? or any other brand in brazil, Japan, italy, North America, Mexico, france. 1.Requirements? Schooling (how many years?) 2.Paid an average salary per year?Or paid a percentage of every piece? 3.Hours a week?

I have a few samples of the first link from Springfield. The front is smooth but not fake feeling like other upholstery leathers and the colour is vibrant. The back of the leather has some grid like pattern like it was sanded, not so much bad quality but is odd. Originally I thought it was some good quality artificial leather, but the people at SLC replied to my email and said it was real leather from italy. Good quality from the sample and price.

japanese leather crafter finish flesh side of objects w/ finishing past/flesh paste.

the embossing machine is the one used in the video to put the JNK logo on the case. Where can one find this machine that can have interchangeable logos, interchangeable letters for custom names and a jig set up to align the item. I've got no idea what to search for or who can custom build this. Id also wouldn't mind taking suggestions on a simple hand tool that can hold max of 10 letters and the individual letters can be swapped out so it can be used for customers names. Any suggestions on small square stamps that are a few mm wide (alphabet) w/ different selections of type fonts. How much would option 1 or option 2 set me back

thanks for the link, all I know is that its one of the tanneries in a list of 20-30 tanneries from italy found on a website. Does anyone know if this interior colouring was done during tanning or done afterwards like acrylic paint from angelus that was airbrushed. I've seen a video of someone explaining aniline leather. He says the tanning turns the back of the leather a certain colour then they add aniline dye only on the front so they have contrasting colours, or something similar to that effect.

The one below. Can this be replicated by hand? Can Horween or WC, HO do this sort of thing for a charge? Any stores in USA that stock regular italian vegtan or British bridle as well as the leather below.

Regular acetone and contact cement should be use with a respirator. The red can weld wood may be okay without a respirator.

It depends what your selling, which in turn will create the most response from FB campaigns. IF your selling wallets then a large portion are potential customers. If you sell saddles then less of the people there are potential customers since many people may not even live in a place where they can have access to a horse. Best way now is through google adsense where the advertisements go directly to people that are potential customers. If you ever seen an ad on youtube its specifically targeted to you. One second you searching for jobs and on youtube a specific ad comes up before a video for jobs.com. Same goes for your company that will come up in specific websites for example "horse forums.com" then your ad pops up for saddles. It takes time and money to get this type of ads to be done professionally and properly. Facebook fortunately is easy and mostly everyone is on it.

if you go to your car or couch there is a way they do it where the have the invisible stitch then the inside has a lot of extra leather and its flattened and then saddle stitched on both sides of the invisible seam. You can add a liner too before you sew. It shouldn't be too weak if done correctly and should add strength. The alternative (in this case for the vest it won't work too well if its too thick) is to add the liner so it matches the piece exactly. From there another single piece of leather like a rectangle will folded length wise into itself so flesh and flesh sides touch (the end is also rounded so it doesnt wrinkle around the bend. So in the end it will be the excess of the invisible seam, then the liner and over top all will be the rectangle folded lengthwise to cover the edge, much like a turned edge on both sides where the rectangle is stitch saddle stitched from on end to another. Both ways are more advanced and require practice. The first way is easier, where the second way needs proper measurements of the rectangle, the curve of the rectangle and stitching between several layers. The second way is harder to do well on a sewing machine unless its a tipmann boss or one that can handle 1/4 - 1/2 inch of leather.

I'd strongly suggest you don't buy any of the tandy tools since I can first hand say with confidence they are terrible, the equivalent of a toy hammer to an actual hammer, maybe not that bad, but you get the point. After a month with the tandy tools you will want an upgrade and since you are spending a couple thousand (baht? or dollars?)it would make sense to buy some well priced professional tools. If I could go back with my original budget and get to choose again I would do it differently. Over 50 percent of the things I bought would be cut out and I would get some quality leather instead to make some projects, so I can see where your coming from wanting to just get the tools first all at the same time. For one stop shop goods japan or leathercrafttool has passable tools that are better than tandys and also oils, cleaners and antiques that your looking for without the tandy markup and also with shipping thats not too far from where you live.

selling it too low will make people think that is the going rate for these goods. You can't just go from a piece of leather is this price and it takes this long to do it so thats my price. The fact that its a wallet gives it some value, well made gives it value, handmade gives it value, and made not in China gives it value. If you don't charge for that its the same as your leather costing 10 dollars and you write it in your costs as 5 dollars, your throwing away money that people are willing to pay, which also hurts you. It gives consumers the thought that made in USA by hand is the same price as made in China.. I've seen this done from a seller on etsy which is based in thailand. The redeeming factor for him only is that the currency of their money is less so they can sell for that price and still do really well for themselves. However it sets the standard so low that its almost ridiculous for others to compete and some do compete and have to charge the same price. So etsy is more known now as a place to find cheap stuff, like 5 dollar jewelry and 15- 35 dollar wallets, 5 dollars socks and what not. You can still find some places that sell at 120 a iPhone case or 150 that do well, so theres still that.

What type of goods would you sell? How much are they priced? How many people would work for you? Where would your goods be made? What company would it be similar too? Would you own a store? where? all over the world? Also could be leather related like a knife maker, tool maker or leather retailer.

Its probably the tricky part of the plan. If you can take a pic of your work and of the instructions some one may know.