Milton Penflick

Ah, that does, of course, make sense!

Cool, thanks for the feedback guys. By pulling the thread to the inside before burning you mean kind of to the middle of the hole? Also I don't know the SPI measure other than it's stitches per inch, no need to explain I can google the translation. The pricking irons I used are the 5mm ones from goods japan, I.e. It's 5mm between each prong. I've order a 3mm set which I'd like to use on these smaller projects and leave the 5mm for guitar straps etc. but my main question is about thread sizes. Up til now I've only used Forellenfaden which is a German waxed thread, which has served me well, it's 0.7mm thick. Should I also then use thinner thread for these kind of works and if so have you got recommendations on thickness and where to get it from? Thanks again for your advice!

Oh, and the photos...

The new wallet I made with the help of a pattern that I've modified slightly from the kind Ian Atkinson of Leodis Leather. The customer wanted a loop to put a chain on and he also wanted to be able to close the wallet completely, so those parts of the design is mine. I'd love to hear what you think of it, and also what size pricking irons you'd use for a job like this as I have the feeling that mine were a bit too big for this job. Thanks in advance for your comments

Thanks Bob. The leather i used was quite heavy veg tanned leather. Not sure how thick though but at least 4-5mm, whatever that is in ounces. I then glued another thin piece of leather to the back to make the lining. Thats it really :-)

My first two guitar straps. Any comments would be moßt welcome. I am blagging it a little bit as i am quite new with leatherworks, so any tips and tricks would also be most welcme. Thanks

Well i thought i could maybe case the leather and then stamp the area with a "background" stamping tool to get the recess for the hinges. I like the idea of rounding the corners of the hinges to soften it up a little bit. The french bevelling tool is what i usually use, but i can't seem to get all the way into the corners. Thanks for your feedback!

New design idea of an ipad Mini case. I wanted to bevel the inside edges of the frame that holds the ipad, but couldn't work out a good way to get in to the corners, any ideas? Also the closing straps are just a try out, hence the not so neat edges, gonna change them today. I also like the rugged look of using actual hinges on the case, but would like to recess them into the leather so they sit flush, but no idea how to do this! Any comments welcome, thanks!

Thanks for all your input, i've continued with the design and done thin layers of acrylic and then finished it all of with some super sheen. So if understand it all right then you can block out stains and antiques quite easily, but if i wanna block otu a dye then liquid latex is the best way.. Here's some pictures of the result. ...not bad for my second ever guitar strap me thinks!

Cant tell,if you're being sarcastic with the black,white thing, but the customer is loving it anyways :-) So with the resolene or block out etc can you use it with any dyes? Or is there different techniques for different dyes?

Hey guys, as a fairly recent beginner of leather works (but man it does turn into an obsession pretty quickly huh?) I was hoping i could ask some advice abut dying. Here's the problem: i was making a guitar strap and wanted to keep the pattern in the original leather colour and dye the rest black, but as predicted the dye bled into the pattern area. I've read quite a lot about block-out but no real explanation as to how it is done, can smeone help me out here? Are there certain dyes that works with certain block out methods etc? Also after the failed attempt i ended up painting the pattern section with a very watered down acrylic paint (thinking behind it that if it is a bit wetter it will absorb into the leather better and not just sit on top). Is there anything i should do to treat this paint to prevent it from flaking or cracking or should i not worry too much? Below is a picture of how it looks so far, would love your input on this! Many thanks, /milton