traiven3d

You may want to experiment with some interfacing to add some structure to the bag. Interfacing comes in a variety of weights, so you can still keep the bag soft and maleable.

I'm looking to find some good suppliers for quality top/full grain, chrome tanned leathers in a variety of colours in Montreal. I prefer skins thicker than garment weight, for use in creating bags and small leather goods. Thanks!

I received my order for the woodburner 10 in 1 set, as well as my temperature modulator. On the lowest heat setting i'm able to use the tool to burnish the edges of chrome tanned leathers and smooth down the flesh sides very quickly. The burner comes with a number of tips, including a flat angled head that fits the bill for shaping and burnishing very thin (.6-.8 oz) leather edges. Its a big improvement over trying to use burnishing tools on these flimsy pieces and allows me to get a rounded edge that's very smooth and ready for application of edge paints. It makes easy work of hard-to-burnish edges such as those that are short or those areas in corners. The tool is also very capable of laying down linear details into the leather. I have found that the Fenice edge paints sold by Tandy are not the best consistency for working with a hot iron. They seem to melt and peel away from the edges, instead of melting into them. I was able to shape some areas without them lifting off if I worked quickly, but the results were inconsistent. I'm not sure if I have the technique correct, or if there is some way I can further reduce the heat to enable me to shape them instead. I'll have to take another watch of Peter's wonderful video to see if I can glean anymore wisdom. Over all, I'd say that this kit is a great starting point for those who don't want to invest in $600 + shipping in order to burnish and polish chrome tanned leathers with an iron. I'm certain the higher end kit will allow for great control of temperature (which may be the ticket for being able to shape and smooth edge paints), but this is definitely going to provide me with another way to improve my craft. *Note* - Even on its very lowest temperature I've found that the tool scorches veg-tan leathers. Similar to wood, it burns and creates a black mark. I was able to work it over a gum-trag treated edge and flesh side, and it didn't burn, but I was working very quickly, skimming the tool over the surface. The results were mediocre. I could see someone using the tool as a way to blacken the edges of leather for a unique finish, or burning in details on tooling.

So I found out yesterday that my local Tandy is actually going to do this at a local creative fair. They're planning on selling kits at far below usual retail cost. I like the idea of it, but they should also be giving people the heads up that they need to purchase more tools to than what are included in the kits into order to complete the work as it's shown on the box covers. Ie. Dye's, dye applicators, finishes, any colored stains, etc. It can easily add $60-100 to the actual price. Nothing would be worse than for a kid to spend his allowance on a kit only to find out he can't really complete until he gets more cash. I have to say that selling leather working supplies must be a tough business. The tools are so costly that just getting into it as a hobby can be a very expensive venture. It's tough getting a younger generation into it when most of them from urban centers are rarely exposed to handcrafted leather goods. I was lucky to have watched my grandfather do it while growing up. Speaking out loud, I wonder if selling and promoting armour kits and such at comic and RPG fairs might be another avenue for them. They could have a few promotional models decked out in "Epic" sets of armour and the like.

Beautiful work. Thanks for sharing this. When doing this sort of work do you glue elements in place first and then complete the stitching, or is using glue a poor method of working?

Yes, I'd love to know if the order went through and what the result was. I'd be interested in being involved in future orders.

If Tandy could do one thing to grow their business, I think they should focus on community development. On the small scale, helping leather workers develop can only increase sales. The more skilled a leather worker becomes the more likely they are to purchase tools that rise in cost as their work increases in complexity. Maybe some community outreach, or partnering with different sites or organizations. Here in Canada we have a "One of a Kind" show twice a year where artisans can sell their goods. Perhaps the company could rent a booth and promote their local leather artisans, as well as selling kits, doing demo's and getting young people interested in taking up the craft. I think in the modern age of social media a company of this size needs to start connecting more to their customer and fostering growth for the industry as a whole. I also get the sense that they spend more effort trying to sell people their branded stock, instead of selling the best tools you can buy. I thought they'd have a bit more range. I can understand that offering affordable tools is absolutely necessary (I've easily spent $800 on tools and leather to just get started), but certainly some top quality items might be a good option. I could see them offering more dye brands, more thread choices (more colours than just black, brown and white), and perhaps partnering with an industrial sewing machine company. It seems that most artisans eventually out-grow Tandy and order elsewhere. Tandy's focus seems narrow, and targeted at one or two specific audiences, with a mostly Western outlook on leather goods. I personally am really interested in the work of men like Peter Nitz, who do "European" (not sure if that's the right name for it) leather goods. There's lots of talk on these forums from people who want to create this style of work and end up spending a lot money ordering tools from Europe, the money that Tandy could be making if they offered it up. All that said, i'm glad Tandy is around. Without it, I wouldn't be on here writing this.

I'm wondering if a simple tool like this might be an inexpensive option: http://www.woodcraft.com/category/2001813/complete-woodburning-kits.aspx The temperature control looks like it drops the supplied power by a percent, and the multiple tips on the iron, while not exactly what Peter Nitz uses, contain one that is flat sided and another that goes to a point for making creases and the like. Whether this can be dropped low enough to work on binding fibers and melting wax without scorching is the big question.

Thanks for all the quick feedback, it's greatly appreciated! Any pointers on getting these dyes here in Canada? Looks like there are a lot of places that will only ship to the continental USA, including Fiebings. Up here Tandy does carry the Fiebings oil dyes, but only a limited number of colours. The lack of development of our leather industry here genuinely surprises me given that we have such a large local farming and cattle industry.

Hi, Firstly I just wanted to say a big thanks to everyone on the forum. I'm at the beginning of my journey with leather crafting and this has been an immense resource for learning. I'm looking to find an alternative for Eco Flo Dyes that offer a similar breadth of color choices. One thing I'm focused on right now is developing my own dye color mixes, and I've found myself using a lot of the non-nuetral colors available, such as blue and yellow to tint the existing blacks and tans. In order to apply these dyes evenly I've purchased an airbrush, which made a massive difference in terms of evenness of application. All that said I'm now finding that 1) Tandy does not sell the non-nuetral colors in large enough quantities 2) It now appears that Tandy may be phasing out the Eco Flo dyes (there's a thread regarding this already) I've spent quite a bit of time and money developing a series of finishes that I'd like to make my leather goods with, and I'd like to make sure that if I do switch things up I'm going to end up with a brand that I can rely on being around in the future. I have tried one of their Eco Flo waterstains, which applied a lot more evenly, even with just a wool dauber. I find the stains seems to cover a lot of the natural look and depth of the leather, and I'd rather work with dyes that fully penetrate if possible. So to sum up, are there any other brands of dye that offer a range of colors beyond black and tans, that can be purchased in quantities large enough to use as part of a business? Cheers, MJ