Natalie O

Thank you Cheryl! It really means a lot to me to get nice comments while i am so new at this. I did get some very good info about burnishing from a lot of people on here, and i am trying my best to apply it. I have to admit i aint doing so well though. As for the makers mark i think i will wait a little longer till i get more experience and stop messing up my projects. But i like your idea about my name! Take care!

Thanks! Yes i was a bit worried about the metal part scratching the camera. I ll just have to buy thinner leather then. I dont think mine would go through that small gap and my skiver is a nightmare. It would take hours to thin it down.

It is 1mm thick at best. I ve heard though that when i ll dye the hide and the goat they will look different. Is that true? Thank you for the site! I am already checking it out and it has some good ideas! Thank you! Thats a nice tip....i am worried though about the strap being too thick like that.

Hi everyone. My best friend graduated from art school and i wanted to make her a strap for her nikon camera as a present. I ve been looking on some of the nikon straps to get an idea of how to make it, but it seems i ll have to use the nylon ends, in order for it to get attached to the camera. All i have is tooling leather and some goats leather at the moment. How can i make this happen? I think that if i just sew the nylon ends to a piece of hide it will look bad. Any ideas? Has anyone done this before? Thanks

Thanks...i did sand it and smoothed it and dyed it and then put tan kote on it. What else do you suggest? Thanks Bill! I did use a groover for the bottom part to fold better. As for the stamp it is a nice idea, however maybe i should find a more original one. I ve seen a lot of people use that stamp. Do you know anyone who can make me a custom made stamp? Also any ideas about burnishing the top?

Hi everyone. I had done a case like this two days ago, and decided i didnt like it that much. So i went and did a new one. And for the first time ever, nothing went wrong! Here it is!

wow! Love the flask!

Thank you for the tip. i ll try that next time....I was getting frustrated as i see all this fine tooling online, with very thin designs and just cant figure out how they do it! Not to mention my work looks ok after i ve dyed it....but theirs even prior to dying looks awesome. I know i still have a lot of practice to do but just couldnt figure out what they did for these fine lines.

Thanks mike!

Hey everyone. I used to use a normal metal swivel knife and just got a new ceramic one, thinking it might be better. However it doesnt seem to be very sharp. Do i polish it the same way as the metal one? With rouge? Or what? Also im having trouble with cutting very fine lines. Like small corners or triangles. They are my personal nightmare. Cause after when i try to bevel them, the top of the leather gets wrinkly in the corners ir comes off. How do i deal with that? Would it be better if i just tooled these areas without cutting them first with the swivel knife? Any ideas? Thank you!!!

I just wanted to thank everyone for their advice. I have been working on the floor this morning (since its sunday and all stores are shut to buy a piece of marble) and soaked the leather a bit better and it did wonders. The tooling looks very good. I only have one last question. Is there anything i can use instead of contact cement to keep my leather from stretching during tooling? Any tips on that? (i dont believe i can find contact cement here).

The center does appear a bit darker. And i did the test with the water....there's bubbles coming out of everywhere so i guess it does take in water well. Jax if it is rawhide is it ok for tooling?

Hello, well to start, it doesn't have that grey line at all. I cut several edges and the color is just brown with the top layer a bit lighter. I did soak better and tried stamping on my floor and it was a lot better! Thanks! Unfortunately my neighbors where having a fight downstairs and may now think i was telling them off . As for the supplier, i did explain him what i wanted it for and told him that veg tan means that the leather wasn't processed with chemicals. He seemed to understand. I will try to find a harder surface. So if i do find a piece of marble i just put it over my working table?

It absorbs it and changes color right away unless it has a lot of water on top. In that case it takes a little while to spread. What concerns me and i havent had it with my previous leather is that when i look at the edge of the leather, it looks like the top 'coat' of the leather is from another material. Basically it looks like two different materials glued together.The top just looks lighter in color and glossy. I am not saying they are. It just looks like that. My previous leather looked even on the sides.

Now i use a heavy mallet. Its not wooden. However maybe i am not letting my leather dry as much as i should. Mike, what does that mean? If it is what you say, is it still possible to use it for tooling?

ok that may solve the noise issue but i still don't get why my tools dont imprint on the leather, even though i ve tried getting my leather cased with a sponge, spray bottle, wet cloth....everything

Well i realise it may be wrong but i read that in a leather crafting book so i thought i would give it a try..... And i dont have a rock surface unfortunatelly. Just a wooden working table.

How do i upload a picture here? i cant seem to find a way....

<p> How do i upload pictures here? i am a bit lost

Hello, and thanks for your reply. I m going to upload some pictures of it right away. You see i did that. All of it. i have a rubber mat over my working surface. and on top of that a plastic cutting board. I wet my leather prior to tooling. Could it be the thickness?

Also could it be the thickness of the leather? Is there like an average thickness that works best for tooling?

Hello everyone, I ve started leather crafting not long ago, watched a lot of videos and read a few books. However there is still something that is puzzling me. Since i live in Greece the things i can find about leather are a bit limited. I have explained to my leather supplier the kind of leather i need (veg tan tooling leather). He looked kind of confused so i just explained what i wanted it for (im guessing there aren't a lot of people here that tool their leather over here). Anyway, even though my leather looks like it is supposed to (compared to videos and pictures on the web) i have the impression that it is too hard. In all the videos i ve watched, the tooling looks like it doesnt take too much effort. The stamp just imprints perfectly on the leather without a lot of hammering and therefore, noise. In my case even though i make sure i crease my leather right, i really have to hammer my tools like 4-5 times to get a decent print. Not to mention the noise! My neighbors are starting to complain and now i need to find a place outside my house to do my leather work.Is that normal? Or do i just have the wrong leather? (I also tried some neatsfoot oil to try to make the leather softer. Results still the same. Any thoughts? Thanks!