DavidL

How many people visit icraft every day? Demographic? Do a pro and con, price comparison. You can come up with a conclusion just by this. Etsy is I believe mostly women, so even if you sell mens wallets a part of those purchases are from women buying for boyfriend, presents.. so this should be considered. Etsy is probably the best right now in terms of home made crafts type goods as far as I know. If you can slowly earn a good reputation you can make profit (It will be a good learning experience).It definately wont be fun, or even time effective in the beginning. In comparison it would be easier to get a small following on etsy vs from your own online storefront (of course the disclaimer: in my opinion). There wont really be a shortcut. At the end of the day you need to hustle, no reasonable entrepeneur would avoid putting in hard work. Regardless of where you sell you still need to "get your foot in the door". No sales or reviews (etsy), no online magazine reviews or no advertising hits (online store) it wont happen without your input. My advice for what it is worth is to do both etsy and icraft (if costs are reasonable). If it fails it fails, move forward. Never be afraid to fail, its part of the game

Thats the one. I find it doesnt stick well once the pieces are dry. I will retry it.

Fantastic. Did you add a metal bar between liner and outer shell for the leather that holds the d ring? Do you think it is necessary? Also does the d ring for the handle suppose to be used in that orientation? What stitching punch do you use? One piece of information I read on handles, only on the inside piece (touching the actual D ring) is to have the grain side touching the ring. Because it is a very high stress area it would need the most strength, so naturally the grain side is the first option. Grain is stronger than flesh.

You can do it with a regular stitching chisel/ pricking iron. I've done it before but can remember the exact way. I did cast the thread forward or I casted front and back to create a straight looking stitch.

I think some coloured compounds can't be used with certain steels. White is usually jewellers rouge, green is the more aggressive compound (still not as aggressive as sharpening stone).

Great job. You must have hands much larger than mine. Reminds me of the spinning tops that I see when I visited malaysia.

Great tips. I will try the wet rag, that would help out with overspill.

This happens a lot. I would think to switch to water based dye would be easiest. I stopped using dyes altogether and pick up pre dyed leather (the only one that dye rubbed off was thoroughbred latigo which use natural finish). I don't believe I could get it as nice by myself compared to factory dyed leather,although I seen good fiebing dyed leathers. Even if factories dye by hand I think they have better dyes and better processing. Maybe let the dye fully soak in and evaporate then rub off, let it evaporate again, apply resolene multiple times.

I used a plastic scraper to wipe the white glue near the edges. The white glue always spills over the edge when I clamp down. I assume If I go with contact cement this would be less of an issue? What do you use to accurately paint glue for items like card holders where there is a small strip that needs glueing?

Il try wetting the leather after cutting it out. I have seen a brush been used, similar to ones used for shoes, only larger.

So far the books I own leather working handbook valerie michael 2 japanese leather working books leather good manufacture by g c moseley (on the way) Leather connection manual 1,2,4 Books I have my eye on for future purchase Design and construction of handbag w c double art et technique du cuir (french) Any books you can suggest on just tricks and techniques or books that helped you. Also on books on small goods or large goods intricate detailed w/ pictures.

Im glad you liked it.

I grooved a wallet thinking it was good to go. Had water put on the leather to wash off some dirt and the grooves were hardly visible afterwards. Probably heat applied with the groover would be best.

you did not ask for contact cement but lepage low odour water based is supposably comparable to the regular kind. Strong like barge yet not strong smelling. I did not try this glue yet since the white glue I own works okay.

Heres an interesting strap making video I saw that I wanted to share it. Mixes wet moulding alligator and veg tan or chrome tan (can't tell) all done by hand.

It needs to be more than the one you would sell online. The cost of what it takes to keep the brick and mortar store going needs to be added. as long as it is not unreasonable it should be ok.

I like the shapton waterstone 1000 grit (japanese rating somewhere near 400-600 grit). 30 ish dollars from leathercrafttools.com. I sharpen my awl on the side of the stone or the bottom. The stone never dulls like a regular home depot stone does, it sheds the grits and fresh grits will be on the surface. You do need to flatten the stone with something like a DMT extra extra coarse or atoma 140 or carbide grits on glass. The DMT diamond stones by itself is good too since (I have the coarse) it will always be flat w/ no maintenance unlike waterstones.

What grit do you use? 220, 400?

I just purchased manual number 1 and number 2 from theleatherconnection.com and it has enough information for 1 - 2 years worth of solid work (10 hours a week). Even then I believe in the 10,000 hour theory where you still have to put in the hours, the manuals get you in the door. There is a strong chance there is more information in both manuals than you would learn in person (fundamentals). It would make sense to buy manual 1-2 then take a 2 month course to learn hands on. To me personally I work better when I can work things out myself through trial and error then the hands on schooling can be absorbed from a deeper understanding. The manuals are written exactly like a university textbook. Which ever way you decide to go I wish you well.

I will keep that in mind. A horizontal sander w/ an 90 degree flat guide.

Going to school (1 - 2 year course) would require thousands of dollars, similar to a 2 year college course plus housing. If you have the money and more importantly the time for training it would be worth it only if you decide to start a business where you sell leather goods. I have a copy of manual number 4 from theleatherconnection.com and it is very in-depth, written by a english leather working teacher in England (he also will provide online help) . His past clients are very impressive, including royalty and large brands. These manuals I believe will cover 90 percent of the craft, where 10 percent of it needs to be taught in person (critiquing your techniques) or where you personally need to analyze the way you cut, stitch, skive, put together pieces. The seller of the manuals is older, so theres no guarantee if the manual will be available 5-10 years from now.

veg tan leather. I would prefer to flatten the entire hide once, roll it up to store it then flatten it every use. A way without water would be better as I wouldn't have to wait 20 minutes for it to dry. I've seen brushes for shoes being used and baby powder. Any one go that route?

snubby those are great edges. I will check out a sanding drum. I redid the edges and they came out fine with sanding block this time. For longer items I will pick up a sanding belt

How would I flatten a piece of leather that was rolled up from storage? I've tried ironing the leather (towel on top)but the leather is still slightly rolled up. Anything I tried so far hasn't gotten the lester edges to stay flat. Any suggestions?

When dealing with leathers like horween has anyone used a belt sander? The leather may be too soft? Also, How do you get all the edges squared? With multiple pieces its hard to get the piece square and flat. My pieces have a lot of dips and valleys and takes forever to sand by hand even with 80 grit.