SeekingPerfection

Looks great. Glad to see im not the only one that geeks out on field notes:)

right, I guess my question is how do you keep that natural look? are they blocking out those areas?

Do you think you will be able to keep up on turning out enough product with those $20 price points? Dont get me wrong $20 is the perfect price for an impulse purchase at many shows. But if you want to average say $1,000 a day (to survive I have found this to be a good goal) over a 2 or 3 day show you're going to need to sell 100 to 150 pieces. And to sell a 100 pieces you're going to need at least 3 times that on the table. Now I realize that my example might be crazy high for someone starting out (make it a goal), but divide that number out to whatever your goal is. Even if your goal is $300 a day you're still going to need to make a lot of product at those price points. Can your body hold up to that kind of labor? You need to be realistic with yourself and what you are capable of. Sitting out at a show takes a real toll on the body as well. Loading, unloading, standing in the sun for 12 hours, ect. With all that said, I would suggest you have a variety of price points. you keep your low end stuff easy to turn out, and put some nicer pieces out where you can get more money for it. As long as the value is there people will buy whatever you put on the table. When I do shows I have things priced from $3 (not leather) up to $300 or $400 in the booth. Some people will buy the cheap $3 stuff, and others will buy the more expensive $400 stuff. I am a fairly young guy, but I will tell you selling at shows is not easy on the body. And when you're making the stuff it's even harder. Like I said be realistic with your expectations. Figure out what you're going to do if your stuff sells too good. And figure out how often you want to work. Doing shows can provide a very lucrative lifestyle, but it doesn't come cheap.

make damn sure you where a respirator if you start grinding at all on any bones. It could be a life or death type deal

Does anyone know what type of antique is needed to get the neutral almost natural look of the leather? Here are a couple of examples taken from this extremely talented artists video

are you trying to transfer the colors onto the leather? That typically comes later in the process (after tooling). You don't really want any color's bleeding onto your leather; which is part of the reason for the packing tape. All you want to do is trace the image at this point. If I read your OP wrong simply disregard.

For anyone that ever gets a letter like this, do not even reply to these guys. Anything you say can and will be held against you. The burden is all on the patent holder. He can ask you to stop and if you don't, he is the one that has to hire an attorney. He is the one that is going to have to shell out court costs. These guys use fear to guilt people into paying them off. The last thing a guy like this wants to do is go pay an attorney thousands of dollars to go out and harass people (why he was the one to send the email). Alot of these small time "patant" holders dont even understand what their patent even covers. I wouldn't even begin to worry about letter's like this until you get a certified letter in the mail from an attorneys office. The key is not communicating with these guys. Also a good reminder not to "steal" patterns and designs. Modify them and make them your own and you will eliminate 99% of the problems you may face.

I am only beginning to truly appreciate the craftsmanship that goes into these saddles. How refreshing to see someone so open, and honest. I love your attention to detail and a great saddle.

What a great piece. I love the color's.