immiketoo

That, is epic. If I had a spare pair I would do the same thing!!!

Hey Floyd, If you're like most of us, you started in your kitchen or basement or wherever you had space. Entire projects are built in one tiny space. Great for conserving living areas but potentially bad for leatherwork. For example, you finish tooling, and now its time to color. You clean up your tools (or push them off to the side most likely) an break out your dyes. You begin coloring your piece and all of a sudden you knock over a bottle of dye ALL over you finished piece. After the appropriate cuss words are spoken, you clean up your space, the floor as best you can and you try and save your piece. Then, you realize you can't save it so you start over. Whilst tooling, you begin to see little spots of color you spilled showing up all over. On your hands, on your leather, even on your face. How did THIS happen? Answer. Dyestuffs are insidious, vile beasts that must be kept caged and properly harnessed. The are a powdery substance suspended in water or alcohol that when dry can sit, invisible to the eye, on any surface, including tools. When moisture is added, they activate and stain whatever they come in contact with. That's their job. The problem is what they are in contact with. Off the leash, they lie dormant until you put a big red fingerprint on a piece that was supposed to be natural. Or black where it was supposed to be tan. You get the idea. So, the rule of separation is formed. NEVER shall dye touch my tooling surface again. NEVER shall dye touch my cutting surface again. Dye, being the asshole that it is shouldn't even know the rest of your shop exists until its time to place it directly on the piece you want. So now, I have a cutting table and tooling slab that don't ever get dyes placed on them. I have holders for my dye bottles so I don't knock them over, and the problem is solved. Dyes stay on the dye bench. Sequestered. Forever.

One of the coolest things I've seen in a while.

Or years of practice. I thought I was getting the hang of it until I watched Barry King do it.

Don't worry. We ALL started that way, and you will be amazed at how much you learn in a short time if you pay attention.

Ok, I may draw some ire here, but you do not need to stitch the open parts i.e. throat and toe of the holster. You CAN for aesthetic reasons, but it is not necessary to do so provided you understand how to use contact cement properly. To test this, I sent some of my holsters to my cop buddies and told them to destroy them if they can. Cops are notoriously hard on gear and none of them has delaminated. Even with intentional neglect and abuse. Now, if you are worried about it for any reason, thread is cheap and it just adds one more step to your build process, so why not. Its also nice aesthetically, so there's that. Don't want to start an argument, so if you believe 100% that you must, then thats fine for you. I do it both ways, and both work for me. And Katsass is legend.

Thanks how many people mark them, except they do colored bands around the shaft with nail polish for durability. Chan Geer has Red and Blue on his tools in class.

Probably not.

I certainly wish you the best, however, I can assure you that obtaining a visa for any of these countries is going to require more than just your desire to move. As a man who recently applied to live in another country, I can tell you you need to qualify for a specific visa before you're even considered, and its usually a several year long process. Leatherwork wont get you in. You'll probably need to apply for standard immigration visa and then pursue leatherwork afterward. Also, I deleted the other two posts that said the exact same thing. Good luck!

Ewww that's nasty.

Ok good. I thought I was slipping!

Do you see traces of a cut anywhere else?

I do it all the time on fine details. I didn't read his question like that though. The runes are not cut, only beveled.

Korevantes but phonetically Thank you.

Steel stamps, Sergey Noskrimny, Clay Miller, Robert Beard, Barry King can all make custom stamps. If you're looking for More makers mark style stamps, Greg Turner, Jeff Mosby and a few others can make them out of Delrin.

No way. Cop food.

I ate them all

You can always reclaim your colors in post processing. I use lightroom for editing.

It look grainy because its small. Hermann Oak A grade I am cutting it as well.

One of our customers wanted a Greek Medusa holster. This artwork is from an historical relic carving and the lettering is an ancient alphabet.

Y knot Lace sells lovely natural roo as does knotty linda. Just give either of them a call and order some.

Natural or will take any stain, dye or paint just like veg tanned cow. Or you could just get a hide from a metal roo

Having a completely clean and smooth surface is imperative. Also don't bash it about while tooling and like Ferg said, nails short.

How long did you let it dry before you put finish on it? If its not completely dry, it can bleed and the dye and finish can react to make a sticky feeling mess.

That seat is sick. Love it.