MonicaJacobson

Good to see you back, Tom! Good luck with the purse and with your work-load. I'll look forward to seeing how the purse turns out - I have a hide of that same leather that I haven't had time to use, yet.

Wow, TL - so sorry to hear about your accident. Awesome idea and cool wallets.

You've got some nice stuff, there. Keep up the good work!

Welcome to the forum, Micah! Funny, I have a brother named Micah, and while he and his wife live in Plano now, the rest of my family live just outside of Weatherford.

Very, very nice. Love the tooling, and the inside is great, too.

These are your first two projects?! Really impressive. I've been too intimidated to try a doctor's bag. Great job!

I've had pretty good experiences with people on etsy wanting custom items. I make it clear to them that I have a waiting list, tell them when I hope to be starting, and take payment in advance (or half, if it's something I can easily sell if they back out) when I'm ready to start. I tell them it'll take 1-2 weeks, send them pictures as I go along (people love that), and send it the day after they get completion pictures. Granted, I do only as much business as I can do in 2-3 work hours a day, so all that talking back and forth works fine for me. Someone with more customers might not be able to spend that much time. The fees are a pain, though. You'll have to pay both etsy and paypall fees, so you get something like a 7% fee. Etsy charges 3.5% of the price, and paypal is basically the same.

lol, thanks. I can't take credit for it, my husband made it for me (really, it's a wordpress plug-in), and he's an industrial designer, so he knows what he's doing. I have a few wrinkles I haven't bothered to iron out... the pictures of similar items on each product are very pixelated, and my brand is inconsistent... oh well. At some point, the webpage is unimportant (as long as it's clear, uncluttered, and everything is easy to navigate), I think the pictures are the most important. Also, no credit to me - my husband also dabbled in professional photography, so I have all of his camera equipment.

Very nice, as usual! Love the little fox.

Likewise! This one's going to be fun. Rlkey beat us to it by almost two weeks.

That's a nice looking wallet. I love the airbrushed look, and I see you did the "magic" slot version. Very cool.

Chris, I got YKK zippers on etsy for a really good price. Not saying you should get some, but they're well respected, and might be a cheaper experimental zipper than Riri. Speaking of sacrificial experimentals, and Tinkerton's very nice comment (thank you, btw!).... lol, the zipper I installed in that bag failed, I found out yesterday. After a month of use. So.... lucky me, I get to put in a new one. I'll probably buy a Riri from buckle guy just because I want to try them, and because it's a very heavy use bag. So, as I'm sure you guys will want to know what exactly caused it to fail, I think it's because I used a pricking iron to make holes in the actual zipper tape. In retrospect, idiotic. I only did it the one time (fortunately), but it caused the zipper to fray out. Now, my question is... should I have backed up the zipper with a thin lining leather to give the fabric extra strength? I have no idea.

From the little I can see, your wallet looks very, very nice. You should definitely put a little extra money into buying nicer leather to compliment your stitching skills.

Sweet bag!

Just in time! The braiding looks nice and tight!

Thanks, Tree Reaper, I'll look it up. Matt - yes, that's what I was trying to convince her of. Maybe I'll buy the pre-made Riri zipper from buckleguy, lubricate it, and tell her she'll be much happier in the end. As for the bag... yes, I did, thanks LOL, Avg - that's the one.

LOL, Bill. Quick thinking. Agv - good to know. That was exactly what I was worrying about - spending 100 - 200 getting set up for Riri, and then not solving the problem. I'll still probably get all the stuff eventually, but I'm going to try paraffin on YKK first. Thanks, CG - I did just try paraffin wax, and it did help a lot. Probably not enough to satisfy the tastes of someone used to a nylon zipper, but that will help a lot with the normal zipper usage. Thanks guys, I appreciate the help!

Hey Tom, No, I've never tried lubricating the zippers. I had no idea that was a thing! I'll definitely try that out on the ones I have. I'll try working outwards from the middle. Usually, I cut a slot in the leather, glue the zipper in flat (with it closed) and stitch, also stitching down the ends of the tape. Is that incorrect? (The attached picture is for a zipper pocket, not a gusset)

I put a pull on the YKK zippers, and they still are sketchy. They catch. Nylon zippers zip like butter, but the YKK ones I bought are rough. For reference, I put a longer, loose pull on at first, and it worked really badly. Then I put a stiff wood pull on it and that worked much better. But it's still not very smooth. Maybe the size I bought is too big?

Hey guys, I have a customer who is used to cloth purses with plastic zipper. The ease of zip is very important for her. I have only used YKK zippers so far, and they can be a little rough. Using Riri zippers is a bit of an investment (buy the tools, by the tape), and I've never used one before, so I don't know if the experience would be up to her expectations. Alternately, I'm considering a delrin zipper, but I don't want to put in a zipper that won't last as long as the bag. Any help or experience would be appreciated.

Cool! I really like the wave you tooled.

Nice, Realm - love the card slots.

Wow, that's very impressive.