MonicaJacobson

This is the problem with getting past the beginner stage. If we could just be satisfied with achieving a reasonable saddle stitch, we'd all be way happier. I guess that's why some products don't have a finished edge at all - at some level, it's almost better to have a completely unfinished edge than something that gets fuzzy almost at once. I've tried gum trag, I've tried wax/paraffin, I've tried resolene... I don't know. I'm selling anyway, because that's how I get money to continue experimenting.... but I rationalize it by saying that there's a price you pay for perfection, and I'm not asking that price. Have you tried using fenice Edge Agent before edge paint? When I first tried fenice, I gave up pretty quickly because I was burnishing the leather first, then applying fenice. As it turns out, it doesn't stick to saddle soap. I think it was Ferg who posted about not burnishing at all first, and applying fenice edge agent as a first coat. It's worked way better. I still haven't gotten it down, but the adherence seems pretty good at this point. As an experiment, I put a single coat of fenice (not even with the edge agent) on an unburnished strap last year, and there's been absolutely no peeling. Granted, the wear on a strap doesn't compare to the wear on a wallet.

Redochre, what do you do instead?

It was fun to see what you could do with a small figure carving like Hank. Nice stuff.

I'd be interested to see a picture.

I cut out belts for my kids and let them tool whatever they wanted on them. The 8 year old did an edge pattern, and the 6 year old and 5 year old wanted stars, go figure. They wear them all the time and the messy tooling isn't a problem for little kids.

Very nice. Thanks for sharing your method.

Wow, very nice.

Really nice job. It looks slick.

I think the design came out pretty well, actually. Nice job. Is the inside lined?

lol, saw me, huh? I was all over the fun debate.

That's a cool idea, Tannin - the jazz archtop guitar with f-holes is my favorite guitar look.

Nice, snubby.

There is a specific part of the forum, but you're not missing anything. I think there's been one thing posted (that I saw) in the past three months.

Ha, I bet all those fiddly tiny pieces were a pain. Nice job.

Check Springfield Leather or Maverick Leather for colorful leather. They've got a lot of options, especially Springfield.

Great tutorial, thanks for taking the time.

I love the ribbons. + 1 on Colt's idea. It seems the cleanest, as long as your glue bond is sturdy. As a side note, I grew up just outside of Springtown - my grandparents are still there, and my parents live about fifteen minutes out.

Cool, looks like it's going to be a nice bag.

Ha, super cool. My kids went as Indiana Jones and Han Solo this year. But we just fudged stuff together, we didn't do it all special like that. We were on our way out of the door for a trip, so I cut out a piece of leather for them, and had them take turns saddle stitching it together. It was quick and sloppy, but it did the trick, and they were pretty proud of helping. Great idea on the 3d printing - I'll have to show my husband. He works with 3d printers - we'll have to keep your idea in mind for future costumes.

Wow, that's a lot of purses. Nice work!

Sweet tooling, anyway. :-D

Ha, I was wondering how you lucked out finding a color that looked like a perfect color match. Smart.

That's an awesome bag! I love how you closed it, and also the buckles on the gussets. Super cool. I can't believe you cut out the outline and the treble clef. That's ridiculous. Just tell me this, are you ever going to do it again?

That's a challenging project. Pretty cool. I agree that magnets are probably not the best choice for a bag that gets picked up by the flap. But if it works for you, it works, right? You should try using a divider to give yourself an even stitching line all the way around. Also, you should try using smaller movements when spreading your dye. And re-apply until you've got it as even as possible.

Nice. Is that the edge paint from buckle guy?