immiketoo

I didn't see a separate workbook.

So, I haven't even finished the first page of that book and it talks specifically about transfer of knowledge and how best to go about it. Teaching directly. This is why I teach, and I have found that in doing so, it makes me understand what I do more fully than if I just work. Good suggestion!

That does sound like what happened. Im all over that book! Here I go!

Inspiration is different. I carved this piece very early on in my career, and I have tried several times to repeat it, although not recently. I was in the zone when I did it and all further attempts have been unsuccessful. I can't even remember how I did some of it, but I do remember the feeling I had while carving it. Driven. Inspired. Almost like a runner's high. Weird. Now, looking at it, I can see all the flaws and areas I'd do differently, but I still feel like this was a milestone in my carving career. I was truly and unequivocally inspired. I exceeded my knowledge and experience with this piece, and I believe that is why my later attempts at this piece were failures.

Ok, so its an exacto knife. It clearly works for him. Cheap too!

Ive often wished for the mind meld, or brain plug in to be real. Like the Matrix. Apoch, I'm gonna need a program on pattern making and Mexican braid. Insert digital noises and pictures of code flowing, and boom. I know braiding as well as Bruce Grant! Sadly, we all pick up things in one of the three forms of learning. Auditory, visual or haptic. Some are better at one or the other, and I believe a person needs all three to full understand a concept. Like you said, downloading what I feel under my knife or what Peter Main feels under his would probably be drastically different but imagine if you could have that kind of zero loss transfer. We could build the pyramids or the acropolis in Athens again. We could discuss philosophy directly from the Greek philosophers. What a world it would be. got it figured out and probably added some new knowledge through his experience, and that of others ^^^ This, is something that I will expound upon more very soon. It's interesting that you mentioned it, because I have some very strong feelings about this specific point. Personally, I'd download from Plato, DaVinci and Nikola Tesla. Add Mozart and I'd be set.

Glad it helped. As you get into finer detail and more intricate work, your BK bevelers will become invaluable.

Pretty sure you're describing a Japanese leather knife... https://goo.gl/images/kMjxFm

While technology has advanced, I am not convinced that society has evolved. In fact, one could argue we have devolved, and you'd only have to look at the writings of Plato, or Aristotle, Benjamin Franklin or any of the great minds throughout history to support your argument. Most people now days have very specialized knowledge but lack experience. For example, I know someone who has earned her doctorate, and calls herself a genius, but she can't figure out how to remove the monthly train pass from the plastic backing it came on. Or whose sole conflict resolution skill is crying and slamming the door behind her. Genius.

What you're talking about is common sense. I don't need experience to know I don't want to be shot, however, If I am shot and survive, I'll have experience in dealing with it should it happen again Yeah, I can see how real flight is better than video flight I love it.

This will sound counter intuitive, but take your bevelers and run them on a strop board or very fine sand paper to take some of the sharpness off of the checkering. Bob Beard told me to do the same with the bevelers I bought from him and I refused for a while on account of the idea of taking sandpaper to my new tools. Once I worked up the courage, I did a few light swipes against my finger holding the sandpaper. It didn't take many passes, and I tested it every few swipes. Now I can run them smoothly and there is no perceptible difference in how the checkering looks on the leather.

Knowledge vs. experience. Throughout life, you've heard the terms book smart or street smart. These are equivalent to knowledge vs experience, and I believe experience is the greater of the two. Don't get me wrong, knowledge is important and I'll go back to that in a bit, but experience pays dividends in ways knowledge can not. An example I read recently illustrates this perfectly: Who would be the better musician? A man who knows all there is to know about music, composing, theory etc, but has never played an instrument, or the man who has no formal education in music, but has been playing the instrument of his choice for years. The man who has been playing will have learned from experience how to match pitch,tempo and rhythm, and more importantly, he will have developed ability to feel the music and the stamina and muscle memory required to play, where the man with only knowledge will not. Now, imagine being able to combine these two men into a single, well trained musician. Knowledge PLUS experience is the key to mastery. I believe the same can be said for any profession, especially leatherwork. I have purchased and read many of the books available about leatherwork. One in particular, Making Cases Vol. 1, was one of the first books I read. With my newfound knowledge, I set straight to work and much to my surprise, I failed to apply that knowledge to actual leather successfully. My project had so many flaws, it could only be considered a failure. However, I now knew how NOT to do it, and I had gained experience. As time passed, my failures became less common and my successes increased specifically because of experience. The knowledge from the book was exactly the same. The words hadn't changed one bit. But then a strange thing happened. Because memory is fleeting, I happened to re-read one of those books and very much to my surprise, I had a substantially deeper understanding of what was written. The words were the same, but my experience allowed me to see more of what I believe the original intent of the author was. The practical application of both knowledge and experience resulted in MORE experience, and thus, a greater understanding of the knowledge. It sounds like a chicken or egg scenario, but its actually more akin to a symbiotic relationship, in which each element needs the other to reach its greatest potential. The point, if there is one, is that I encourage you to try something even if it's outside your comfort zone. I was reminded of this on a recent order, and much to my surprise, I found that I enjoyed the project despite my early misgivings, which were based on a lack of experience. Maybe I'll read that book again...

Thank you. That is exactly what I meant. Blank just meant the fabric. Ive never heard of these before.

That's fantastic. Can you post pics of your equipment and some of the blank products?

You are correct in being concerned that dye can soak in to surrounding details, so you just have to be careful. Never put a fully loaded brush against any part you want to leave another color. If it were me, I would dye the red first and then carefully dye black around the remaining area. If you chose to paint, you will want to use acrylic paints, and the techniques are the same, except that acrylic paint will cover dye. However, I find its best to leave any area that is to be painted un-dyed. Dye can leach into the paint and discolor the paint so that you need more coats to cover the dye.

I just bought a glass cutting board without texture from the grocery store. Its the same size as my slab and it works for most projects. I have also been known to use brass weights or my leather weights to hold pieces flat til they dry.

Nice clean work!

Are you sure they didn't say crisp enough? A crisp impression is dependent on the tool maker. Some stamps suck, while others are much sharper. I wouldn't recommend sharpening them.

Oil before dye will help the color set better and reduce streaks to a certain degree, but I don't know about the potato chip effect. When dealing with thin leather, I place it under glass or weights to prevent curling.

Looks like natural calf to me too. Here's how I do mexican round braid. I think it looks better than other braids. One in Kangaroo, the other in Natural calf lace.

If you moisten them from the back and then slick them, you might get some of the size back as they will stretch while slicking. Just make sure you don't over do it or they will be too big or not square anymore.

Yup.

That is the oddest bicycle I have ever seen. Love the bag though!

Bill, You nailed it. In the museum in Athens, there was a LOT of bling, and a lot of gold. There's another design that was my first choice, its called a meandrous. Sort of like the wave pattern but spirals. At the price point for these, hand carving it was out of the question, and the leather wouldn't have supported it anyway. Greek clothing and are was very detailed and their metal work was astounding. So much precision in their surviving jewelry. I just tried to channel some of the feeling of the things we say rather than recreate a specific piece. Hopefully, the client will like them.

Thank you. I like to use friction for straps and retention. In this case, I just put two cords in one hole and there's enough friction to keep it tight. And in the keepers creating a sharp bend and it won't move unless you want it to.