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cjartist

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Everything posted by cjartist

  1. cjartist
    All good advice. Tandy's Leathercraft Library has some free patterns but not much to choose from. The user JLS here on this forum has some great free patterns for holsters and wallets too. It is the raw material and tools that cost the most. Some people will strip leather sofas they see on the side of the road. Not very helpful for the kind of stuff I make though.
  2. cjartist
    Yep, sounds like some of those oils and tallow the hide is stuffed with (according to the website). Perhaps they fed it some synthetic crap too. Or something left over from the tanning process was allowed to be preserved by the over saturation. Really strange though.
  3. cjartist
    Thanks here too. That is pretty much what I have minus the lanolin. Now I'm going to get that and add it too.
  4. cjartist
    Yes on lanolin. I did not use it only because it is kind of pricey. My favorite leather conditioner is pretty heavy in lanolin and after making this concoction, I think I may buy some and add it to the mix.
  5. cjartist
    Very nice, I love the intricacy of the pattern. Beautiful.
  6. cjartist
    I would try a spray on acrylic sealer available at craft stores, or even Walmart. If you apply a thin coat, you could then go over that with a natural conditioner like a neatsfoot oil and beeswax mixture, or even resolene once it is set with the spray on.
  7. cjartist
    No, I did not. In it's raw form it just sank so that is a good idea.
  8. cjartist
    Very Nice. I am currently working on my second ever notebook cover. For a project that looks so straight forward, these sure can be tricky.
  9. cjartist
    That is awesome. A lot of that stuff looks really old and probably hard to come by these days. My Grandmother did some leather work in the 70s. I got a couple of purses she made but nobody knows what ever happened to her tools and stuff. Too bad because I think it would be incredible to have her old swivel knife just for sentimental reasons.
  10. cjartist
    One thing that all of those trunks have in common is straps. Practice making some dog collars or belts to learn how to properly finish the edges. Will your trunks be wood lined? I would think that would make it much easier to attach certain hardware and also hide some seams. You may want to learn wet molding for the corner pieces like shown in the first and last photo.
  11. cjartist
    Very nice. How broad are the tips? With the angle of the arrows, it seems that the bottom right corner is just unfilled space. You might be able to save some $$ with a slight redesign. Or is the shape traditional? I like it though.
  12. cjartist
    Nice. I have been working on my stitching. What a difference a a little practice makes. I owe my improvement to some proper (although cheap) new chisels and a video by Ian Atkinson. Your stitching looks very good.
  13. cjartist
    Very nice indeed.
  14. cjartist
    PM Sent
  15. cjartist
    Very nice. As Yin said, a whole lot of stitching. Is it by hand or machine? I can't tell from pics.
  16. cjartist
    I recently had an issue where my cat painted (with acrylic paint) footprints across I project I had just used Eco Flo antique on it. I got the paint off using a damp magic eraser. I found out it removes antique really well too. Be careful though and use it lightly. I had to scrub to get the dried paint off and it did damage the surface a bit. The antique comes off much easier than the paint. One caveat here though, I had used a resolene blocker before applying the antique. So it may not work as well on raw leather.
  17. cjartist
    If you saturate the top with water, you might be able to stretch it enough. Wouldn't hurt to try. I would probably fill the bottom with something rigid to help hold the shape while you are working with it. If that works, then work some neatsfoot oil back into the leather to rejuvenate it.
  18. cjartist
    Very Nice. I kinda like the splash of black provided by the keeper on the brown side. I guess it all depends on what your customer wants.
  19. cjartist
    Please share pictures when you are done. Sounds like quite an adventure.
  20. cjartist
    Very nicely done. Looks like you have someone to take over the business???
  21. cjartist
    That is one expensive shopping bag. Looks nice though. Are you concerned at all about how those rivets will handle the weight? It might be worth it to stitch those strap points down to the body for some stress relief. Really nice looking bag though.
  22. cjartist
    Didn't mean to offend. There are many different opinions on a lot of things. Just look at the recipes in this thread. But I will take your word for it. Early on I was interested in masks. Mask makers often wet mold and then dry it on low heat in the oven to stiffen it. So that is where my belief comes from. The entire purpose of this thread was to gather varied opinions and hash out the best solution. Now the stuff that I made is still much firmer than margarine. I did use it today and had to use a hair dryer to melt it in. I am used to using Belvoir leather balsam where you let it set for about ten minutes and then buff it. So I will work on my consistency with the beeswax and NF mix until I get it right.
  23. cjartist
    Very cool. Mine is cooling now. I used a little more neatsfoot than 50%. I stirred it when it was molten and then cooled a drop on the counter to check consistency. My fear also is that it will not absorb. I guess there are a couple of options with that. One is to oil with neatsfoot first and then use this as a sealer. The other would be to heat the item to melt the wax in. I never wanted to go that route though as I feel heat might stiffen the leather.
  24. cjartist
    Today's the day. I went to Walmart yesterday and was going to get some vitamin E, but found tea tree oil. So here is the mix I will make today: 45% Beeswax 50% Neatsfoot Oil 4% Carnauba Wax 1 Tbsp Tea Tree Oil I will update this thread with the results.
  25. cjartist
    I Think I'm going to go ahead and use it. Smells similar to some pale yellow neatsfoot I have. I did try it on a scrap and it seems to be okay. This particular oil is going to be used in a beeswax conditioner mix.
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