MonicaJacobson

WinterBear, that's exactly what I was thinking. Bag flaps seem to be the safest bet. I'd like to do portfolio pouches, but I'm not sure how much demand there is for something like that. Laptop sleeves would also be fun, but the variation in size is so great.

Ah, but unlike drums (unless you're in a money-making band), leatherworking pays for itself. Believe it or not. And your work is very clean. Like.. seriously nice stuff. You can definitely sell it. I've found with my super-economical business plan (i.e. spend $0.00 on marketing) that if your work is clean, and if you're not in a hurry, you can basically double anything you spend. More like triple, if you count assets like square feet of leather you own and products yet to be sold. But basically, at the end of the year, not counting all that stuff, you're likely to have made back exactly what you spent and then the same amount over again. That doesn't cut it for a business, but it's pretty sweet for a hobby. It helps if you sell some things to friends and do some social networking free advertising, of course. Also, if your pictures and product don't look exactly like what everyone else makes. Try buying some leather from Maverick. 5.50 a square foot. Some of it is so-so and some of it is lovely. They're very up-front about condition and extremely helpful.

Well, I must admit that the stitching isn't always correct.. you can see an inconsistency or two in the way the stitch lays in the croc print one. Are you going all the way through with the chisel? Or going part-way through and finishing with an awl? Once I get an awl blade thin enough for 8spi, I might end up doing that as well. It's about half as much work if your awl is sharp and you have a groove or mark to guide your stitching line.

Ha, I wish! This is caiman, so it's ridiculously thick and plated. Apparently crocodile is much thinner and more manageable. However, there were some pieces big enough to do some nice inlays, so that will be awesome. Much better than the other exotics pack I got. That was mostly lizard, and wasn't very useful.

lol, Matt - maybe after I subdue the panic attack I'm giving myself with my money spending this year. Zachary, for your reference:

I've never seen that braid before, interesting variation. Your construction looks nice and solid. I think the thicker leather, while harder to deal with, looks more solid and veg tanned-ish. My husband prefers thicker, boxier leathers, for example.

That is a cool idea. You could also do a colorful or crazy piece of really thin leather in there. Or you can save up your moneys and inlay shark, stingray, ostrich, snake, etc. My favorite inlay to date is this holster by Mike (aka katsass):

Thanks guys! Just got some exotics from Springfield, now I have to figure out what to do with them. Yikes.

Yes, I was looking on fineleatherworking.... they don't have what I want in cream, unfortunately. I was really hoping LeatherWurx would have the right size (thanks for the link, btw), but they said they don't stock anything that small. However, I ended up ordering from Royalwood. 2-ply waxed linen thread at .52 mm, $16.00 for 600 ft. We'll see how it does. When I have money to spare, I'm definitely going for the Au Chinois.

Oh yes, I love it. That's what I used on all of these. The problem is, even the .6mm isn't thin enough on a single layer. On the lizard skin one, you can see it looks too big along the top where I sewed the lizard skin to the pigskin. Joe recommended Royalwood linens, but I need to chase them down by phone as they haven't answered my e-mail. Of course, the other alternative is Au Chinois, but it's $48.00 + shipping for only 820 feet! Crazy. I did find out you can get waxed Tiger thread in .4mm from Abbey England (at $64.00 + shipping) for 1000 meters. But only in "mid brown" and black. I was hoping to find cream.

25B -ha, I thought you'd feel justified. Now you just need to convert Joe. kwelna, - the 6spi is the chisel and the 8spi is the pricking iron. You're right, there's definitely a difference, and it's not just the size. Guess I need to save up for the whole collection.

LOL, I love the letters. It's good to be clear about things like that. Beautiful case.

Thanks guys! There have been a few discussions on how to get consistent stitching. I tried three out of four ways this month. 1. use a chisel to punch holes in all the pieces, then glue together. Hard to get stitching to line up. The whole wallet goes wonky if anything is at all misaligned. 2. use a chisel to go all the way through all layers at once. On the tooled wallets, I ended up getting crooked stitching lines even when I thought I was keeping the chisel completely parallel. 3. the x way - glue everything together, punch half-way on each side, and connect with an awl. I was skeptical, but this way seems to be the most consistent. I'm completely converted.

I've been practicing making wallets the last month or so. I bought an 8spi vergez iron in November, and am enjoying getting to use it. Obviously, I used my normal 6 spi on some, but I'm definitely moving towards 8spi for wallets. Just need smaller thread and needles. First to last, minus the dragon wallet I've already posted. LOL, the first one was beyond terrible: These are a little better, I hope.

I love the design! If I might suggest, your inlay work looks so nice that you should inlay something cooler than pigskin. :-D

That looks beautiful, Mike. And thanks for all the in-progress pictures. They're very helpful.

Wow, really cool. I really want to do shoes someday, but they look so complex. Ditto on the workbench envy.

Very cool! Unique and solid looking.

Nice! I'm about to get a caiman remnant pack from Springfield, so I was especially interested to see this.

Thanks for the resources, Karina. That waxed canvas is awesome, and it's significantly less expensive than leather, even pre-waxed. I'll have to think of ways to use it. How do you think the canvas by itself would be as a liner? I've been thinking about what to use, but I guess I should get some fabric samples from somewhere.

Nice, Chris. Someone (maybe Mike?) suggested when I made a knife sheath that I should put an extra layer of leather under the stitching on the back of the pouch. Or you could form it. Or do neither. I've only made one sheath, I'm totally not qualified.

Beautiful tooling. I love the flower styles.

Nice wallet! I love that geometric stamp, too.

Sweet! At some point, I'm going to have to track you down and take pictures of your stuff myself! Where are you getting your waxed canvas? I love the idea of canvas and leather bags. Do you use a jean needle, or does a normal needle work just fine?