cmantz

I picked up a used Artisan 3000 today. Glad to find a good deal on one that was relatively close to me. Now what do I need as far as thread? Needles? Extras? It came with only the left pressure foot. It does have the roller guide and the wax pot. Do I need any of the other feet? Different plates? Where is the best place to buy industrial thread and needles? I don't think my current embroidery thread supplier would carry it. Thanks in advance! Chris

sent you a PM...very interested.

I am also new to leather work and trying to get the hang of the stains, resists, antiques, finishes etc. I quickly found out that I am not a fan of Tandy's Eco stuff or their gel antiques. And I really don't like the All-in-One from Tandy. I tried some of that followed by the gel antique on my first job and it did not work at all...the gel antique stained areas of the leather darker where apparently the all-in-one didn't protect good enough. I have been using the Fiebings Acrylic Stains and then I use the Fiebings Leather Sheen if I want an all over coat before I antique. Or I use Super Sheen if I want to resist an area. Then I use the Fiebings antique paste. I found it works much better than the gel antique. Then of course follow up with the Leather Sheen as a top coat. I am not completely happy with acrylic stains for a dye and would like to try some of the different dyes..but thats another story. Good luck...keep experimenting Chris

I am curious what extras come with the Cowboy 4500 compared to the Cobra Class 4P?... I am pretty sure I have narrowed down my choice to either one of these. If I could only find a used one!

Pete.....I have a question for you. I have a laser also (Universal 30watt) and have just starting doing leather. I cut out a noseband for a rope halter last night and included the stitching holes for hand sewing (most of my stuff I have machine sewn but this was just a small item that I figured wouldn't take much to hand sew). But I noticed my thread was REALLY discolored by the time I got to the end. Maybe my holes were too small (.035") and the waxed thread was picking up some of the burnt leather on the way through. The thread on your pictures looks cleaner than mine. I am using horse leather (as I think it lasers much better than veg tan leather) so maybe due to the coarser grain I am having to set my power/speed higher...causing more burn. I would be curious what wattage laser he is using and what settings. Chris

jealous

I have used embossing powder when doing stamping on cardstock. You use a clear ink on your stamp, stamp on the card stock, pour embossing powder on top, shake off excess. The powder sticks to the ink you have stamped and then you heat with a heat gun. This creates a raised image on your cardstock.

I went ahead and did it like #7....we shall see how it looks when i get it back from my "sew" guy

Is it possible to sew stringray that is an overlay vs. an inlay? I am working on a halter for my daughter and was just planning on doing an overlay but now I am concerned about the stitching line staying nice and straight due to those little beads. I am wondering if I should just go ahead and put another layer on top and turn it into an inlay.

I think that one that was for sale for $2000 has been sold. Apparently someone from the forum made arrangements to buy it and drove up there (250+ miles) and when he got there the seller decided to sell it to his buddy instead!

Thank you all for your input. Wish I could find a used Cobra or Cowboy out there!

I am using Angelus paint to paint a noseband for a halter. This is fairly light colored veg. tan leather. I am not sure if I am doing something wrong or what but I can't seem to get good coverage using the Angelus paints. For my current project I am using yellow, lt green, lt blue, magneta and purple paints. I put a white underbase under all the colors. But I can't seem to get the white to go on even. I don't know if I am putting too much paint on my brush and trying to lay the white down too thick. I wanted the colors to pop good so I figured I need the white underneath but maybe I didn't. As it looks now I am going to have to put on at least three coats of the colors to get good even coverage over the white. I look at items that I see on the internet that have been painted and surely they aren't doing 3-4 coats of paint on these designs...or are they? Just seems like the designs that I have seen are too intricate to have to do multiple coats of paint in order to get good coverage. For example, I have seen sugar skulls painted on the leather breastcollars...are they really applying multiple layers or are they using a paint that is more opaque? If anyone out there is painting horse tack and would be kind enough to offer some guidance on what I am doing wrong, I would be forever grateful. Thanks in advance Chris