MonicaJacobson

It looks good. The black edge is really nice.

Wow, it was awesome seeing pictures of this. I've seen several in-process pictures of Western saddles, but none of English. Thanks!

I agree with Cyberwolfe - makes it make more sense. Cool idea!

Cool, thanks Matt.

Cool! I like how the carving wraps around to the back side.

Awl (diamond shaped blade, not round) needles (John James are good) Edge burnishing supplies (saddle soap (or gum trag), sandpaper, and burnishing tool, or beeswax, paraffin, sandpaper, and burnishing tool) - see tutorial thread edge beveler pricking iron (6spi for belts, 7-9 spi for wallets) - for marking consistent stitching, or even going all the way through thinner leather. Compass Box cutter or utility knife Some sort of skiver If you're planning to use veg tan: Dye resolene (or mop-n-glow) or other finish Good luck! I spent $1200 the first year (including leather), and I was depriving myself of a lot of very helpful tools. Don't worry, you can make it back pretty fast if you end up liking leatherworking. If not, sell the stuff on ebay!

Ha, thanks - I still haven't gotten up the courage to make a briefcase like the one on your blog. I was looking really closely at the gusset to see how it went together.

Nice job, Frederiek, it looks practically tasty.

What they said. I love the horses, and that's a cool and interesting way to close the bag.

I tend to think David is right about the name... you could masculinize it by coming up with a tattoo-ish, crow-like magpie. . . or start making some products for women, too. I also agree about the pictures of process and tools. If people are going to pay more, they're paying, in part, for the experience of something hand-made, and knowledge of the artisan. If they don't care about that, they might as well buy from Wal-Mart. Your website is about as impersonal as a shopping center right now, but it's a very easy fix.

Shaun, you should also branch out a bit in your product line. The more variety you have in your products, the more interest you gain.

Wow, and the braiding is awesome!

Thor, I just ran across this and saw what you're planning with the sax case. I'm very interested to see how it turns out, as I've thought a couple of times about doing the same thing with a mandolin case. At the time, I thought I'd muff it and ruin the leather, but I'm very interested to see how you manage all the details on yours.

I love this one. The green and two browns look really great together.

It looks lovely, Frederiek. I like how the stitches are almost completely invisible on the outside.

Hey Matt, the webpage and the pictures look great! I agree about picture difficulty. Each leather is different and needs a slightly different pictures. I like the pictures on the wood better than the ones on the carpet. Also, it's really fun looking through your process pictures.

Cool design!

Ha, that's awesome.

I'd be interested to see what other people use, but in my (somewhat limited) experience, the quality of leather and the way it is used is related. As an extreme generalization, it seems to me that the higher quality the leather, sometimes the simpler the design. Or, conversely, the more complicated the design, the cheaper the product. Of course, that's absolutely not true. But it does seem to be true as long as you're under the $800.00 mark. If something is complicated, it requires thinner leather. There are a lot of complicated patterns being used and sold for $100.00, but they're all made with cheap, thin leather, and only last a few years. Most truly complicated products with thin, high quality leather, are over $800.00. It's like the "fast, good, and cheap; pick two" scenario. If it's complicated and cheap, it's almost sure to be sub-par leather. The exception are a lot of the USA workers who start with extremely good leather, but because they're not being marketed, have to sell their products for less, at first. Though never as cheaply as mass produced products. I know this wasn't really what you had in mind. I simply don't know another way to actually discern good leather from bad except experience, working with it, or perhaps buying a lot of it and using it for years. I'd be interested to see if anyone else has any advice on the subject.

Really nice work! I like how you designed the back of your girlfriend's bag. Pretty much everything is ridiculously nice.

There's a discussion of some of the terms here: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=63308&hl=%2Bgenuine+%2Bleather There's certainly a cheap leather look. The leather looks thin, unsubstantial, and characterless. Just look on ebay, etsy, or anywhere else - there are lots of bags for $100.00, and a lot of them have a very similar look, even though they come from many different sellers. A lot of what you are asking depends on what you really mean, though. Are you asking how to tell the difference between good leather and bad leather or machine sewing vs. hand sewing? And just because something isn't sewn by hand doesn't mean it's inferior - I believe some of the highest end bags have hand sewn and machine sewn elements.

Quite cool. I've always been intimidated by the idea of making something that's actually supposed to fit somebody.

Cool mask! I like how you added the second layer ridge line.

It looks like it's going to turn out to be a very nice bag. I'm enjoying seeing all the pictures, thanks for posting them.