MonicaJacobson

Cool! At some point, it doesn't matter how terrible the leather is, if you get something useful and cool and out of it.

Thanks for the kind comments, NAT and Bill! Much appreciated.

Thank you, Feraud, Bill, and Bdunne!

Heh, David, I did that to someone else the other day. I estimated 40 hours, and they said it was 100. Whoops, I thought. Thank you, Joe!

I'm a little unclear about the difference between the two - I haven't been able to afford super high quality tools yet, but if I'm right, and the difference between the two is that Japanese are diamond shaped, verses diagonal, then I have a European style pricking iron. Thank you! Maybe I'm a slow stitcher yet, but just the stitching took me more like 15 hours, with all the pockets, etc. Unless, of course, that was an ironic comment. I did feel a bit silly stitching 4 oz. leather together by hand, since I'm pretty sure someone with a machine could have zipped through that in less than the 1.5 hours you mentioned.

Thank you, WScott, that is kind of you. I spent a year doing things without books, help, and trying to not buy tools, and when I finally joined this forum, I felt bad for wasting so much time. Seeing what you guys make is so helpful! I haven't really seen much of your work, but I did like the laptop case. The lining looks like it was a real pain. I haven't had the gumption to try something with any kind of lining, yet.

Yeah, the blue is awesome.

That's a nice looking belt, Chief! I once tried grey on black, and that worked about as miserably as black on black. But I still like black belts, even if you have to look closely to see the tooling. It gives it a quality texture. Nice pattern! It looks a little like a dinosaur backbone or something.

Thank you, Duane and WScott. WScott, I was really convinced to use Tiger thread when someone (WildBill, I think), could actually tell I wasn't using it from pictures. Heh. And I'm glad I switched, it's literally twice as easy to sew with. And not really more expensive, either.

I love the tooling pattern. Very nice!

Thank you, Renee and Yetiusmc! Bluesman, I started using Tiger thread, and it's everything everybody claims it is. Very nice to use, and knitting together in a herringbone pattern. I've never heard of Texas thread, but that doesn't mean anything, as I haven't heard of a lot of things. if you mean these bags ( http://www.herz-bag.jp/webshop/products/detail51.html ), yes, those are quite amazing! Thank you for bringing them to my attention! Monica

My latest bag messenger bag. There's definitely something terribly convenient about working with pre-dyed and finished leather! 4 oz. oil tanned leather, all hand stitched. Any criticism welcome; I know I've made some mistakes in the design, etc. Cheers, Monica

Wow, that is an Extreme Bag. Very nice, and thanks for all the pictures. (LOL, about the pictures being in Russian, electrathon...)

Very, very nice. I love the coloring job, the inside pockets, and pretty much everything else about it.

It looks really clean and nice!

Really cool! Love the artwork.

Looks great to me!

Horse hide? Huh! Looks good!

Your inlay work is really, very good. For that alone, I like it.

Yeah, I guess I can see that. The lining itself (which I have not attempted yet) probably adds a fairly large extra time percentage, and you have a lot of little details all over that thing.

I really like that, nice work! P.S. Wild Bill, we need to learn how to pick our own locks for the next time I lock us out of the house.

Sweet! I love the hawk theme. The hawk head is amazing. My favorite themed motorcycle equipment, to date.

LOL! I'll tell him. By the way, I used to live in the DFW area and all my family still live there.

Cool! Now, was that fish hook in the original fossil, or is that artistic license? My husband and I were arguing about it when you originally posted it a few weeks back.

Thanks! Yes, I carved and then beveled the scales. Now that I am a little better informed about casing, I wonder if it could have looked a great deal better. I guess I'll find out next time!