immiketoo

Absolutely sellable. Good luck at the show!

This item would be mostly useless to me. Even if I was going to make a large run of belts, it would never give me the control I want for my edges. I use the cone shaped cheapie as well, but I took the cone out of the handle and roll it between my fingers.

I use four oz lined on all my holsters. I won't build an unlined one anymore due to the strength and rigidity that comes from lining. It's almost like wood when its dry, and there is "click" retention on most firearms. That would pair nicely with your kydex paddle.

With the galvanized steel, you would most likely be looking at an avenger style holster or one that is folded at the sight channel. The reason steel is nice is that's malleable. You can lay it flat, carve your leather, stitch it inside and then curve it to the shape you want already tooled and stitched. The glue and stitch line will keep it in place. It is a process of exploration for you and there is only one way to do it. Prototyping and as you said, to wing it. IT doesn't change the overall design much, but it opens a lot of doors. Have to agree with Dwight here, 4 layers of molded veg tan can be very solid, and it will take a lot of abuse. I hadn't thought about rawhide. Good call!

If you already have a pattern, adding a steel insert should be relatively easy to adjust. I use galvanized steel in mine because its firm, thin and malleable. Kydex is a pita but doable if you have the skills. Usually, you just add a stiffener between leather layers, but if you wanted to , you could build the whole rig in metal and cover with leather.

I have seen a lot of leather art, and that tiger is amazing. The bracelet was out of his bag for 5 seconds and I said I had to have it. Fine work for sure!

This is common to colors other than brown, and the liter the color, the worse it is. The water stains may be more color fast, but they don't penetrate as deeply. I'd give them a try for sure to see how they work for you.

My true heroes are those who inspire me to do better. And those who challenge me to keep improving. As examples, Bobby Park took me under his wing at Sheridan the first time while in his class, Serge Volken and Bob Beard have mentored me many times, and Peter Main with his subtle nudges in the right direction have each have influenced me significantly, while encouraging me to have my own style. All of the above people teach paid classes at various shows around the world, and I have gladly given my hard earned money to each of them and would do so again. Why? Because nothing is as good as being immersed with a master for a few days with them looking closely at what you do and offering advice about how to improve.

Perfect reply.

What if you leave it oversized and trim after you stitch?

Ok, here's what I do. I glue an over sized piece and then trim it to the proper size, making sure I glued past the line where I want to cut. I also tap my edges where I glue. TAP, not whack, and I use a mirror smooth cobblers hammer which leaves no marks in the leather. Once it is dry, use a sharp knife to trim your piece to the desired shape and you'll never have that problem again. Tapping the seam where you glue ensures the best bond possible between the pieces and you'd be hard pressed to separate the pieces.

You're stitching too close to the edge, or you're using thread too thick for the distance of the stitch line from the edge. My suggestion is to use thinner thread, or move you stitch line in a bit further. You'll never have that problem again. You also may try cutting your piece out after stitching if possible. Then your edge will be ready for edging and no ripples.

If you make your belts slightly oversized and then cut them to the width you want after everything else is finished, you have a perfectly smooth edge. Then bevel and burnish. Theres nothing smoother than a freshly cut edge. Except a burnished freshly cut edge.

Question. Have you let everything dry thoroughly before applying a finish? Sometimes, dissimilar products react poorly with each other. I had completed a pair of barstools and the finish started to crack then flake off. I hadn't let my dye fully dry and the solvents killed the finish. A suggestion if you haven't already tried it is to pre bend the fold a little while the leather is lightly moist, then add your dye. Stops a lot of spine cracks, but you may end up with wrinkles when its open. Lastly, try RTC as a finish if all else fails. Its easily the best finish out there in my experience.

Gengado, At four months, most of us were still trying to figure out which end of the tool to hold. Your wallet is functional sound and it looks well made. You lack experience with making things out of leather, and in this craft, mistakes equal experience. Unless you have a mentor showing you how to do things, it all comes down to trying something, and in that regard you're already way ahead of folks who read a lot but never try anything. Each time you make something, whether it has mistakes or not, you learn how to or how not to do it in the future. People who are masters of the craft have made all the same mistakes and a thousand more. As mentioned above, learning how to hide them is key. Eventually, you'll have enough experience to know how to avoid mistakes MOST of the time. Nice work.

This happened because of the inconsistencies when using a dauber. They are heavily loaded at the beginning and lose dye as you move it. There are very few colors that will apply smoothly at anything less than 100% saturation. This is why people gravitate toward dip dyeing or air brush. Lighter tones are possible with thinned dye when dipped and sprayed. It CAN be done by thinning and daubering (made that word up), in circles, but I've never had the patience to figure it out. Looks like you had good luck with full strength.