Alessandro

Hi! I am only a hobbist leatherworker. So far I made only a knife pouch and a few leather carving. But I also made a bamboo rod and noticed that in bamboo rod making circles you find nice leather artisans as well. So because I have a website dedicated to bamboo rod making and fly fishing, if anybody is interested I could add a page or a link to their work. I noticed that I like to write about craftmen in general (and their history)perhaps more than actually doing the craft on a daily/weekly basis. Regards

I made a knife sheath that I sewed with fishing nylon line to practice with. I think it came nice but for my next knife sheath I thought of using articial sinew because it looks more beautiful and "natural" (linen thread is perhaps still too expensive for the quality of my beginning projects) when I read that people also uses nylon or polyester to sew leather. Does anybody also use sinew? And what kind of nylon, just the fishing line one? Sorry if ask already answered questions but from browsing a little the forum I could not find an answer for these two questions.

Black bass, perch, etc... Actually, we get small fish, and not always successfully but it's enough for us, we like it there I will post another picture of another fishing spot nearby... Actually, if I may add something here, I am just sharing with you what I see, it belongs to you too, doesn't it! I am sure around you is also very beautiful, and so is the world, so different and rich in beauty everywhere. :-)

Beautiful Michael. I am thinking of making one as well but I have no idea how you fix it to the byke. Do you glue it? And which dyes and finishes did you use?

This is the place we go fishing regularly. We don't always get a fish but is fun, it's not far from home - we get there by train - and it's beautiful. The mountain in the center -right (left to the tree) of the picture is called Monte San Giorgio and it just became a UNESCO world heritage because it has got some Triassic unique fossils in its shales.... Ciao!

Thank you kate, I just came back from a fishing afternoon with my son. Thank you for the help! Yea, it make sense, for larger surfaces a quicker and simple gun. What kind of finish do you use and do you need to dilute it before putting it in the single-action sprayer? I was thinking if a normal acrylic finish that I can find in a normal art supply shop (basically a lacque) could do but wouldn't it mess up the gun (stickiness)?... (I am adding a picture of the lake we go fishing in the off-forum section)

That's really useful, Kathy. I will do it that way, the names you mentionned are quite famous in the field I am learning. I finally found vegetable tanned leather in Switzerland, all quite far away but mailing works well. I have the impression that the very few tools I found here are quite expensive and so I order them from the USA. I am just trying to build up knowledge of "chemical" suppliers for glues, finishing, paints, etc... for it's less expensive to avoid extra charges from customs from the USA, but US brand names are not easily available here and so I have to figure out what can be an equivalent product. Attached is a view from my balcony, taken this summer (I like the sky). Immagine you land in Milan by plane (neares tintl. airport, about 40 minutes away). you are in flat land (the plain of the Po River with Lombardy, Piemont, Veneto etcc.. basically Northern Italy) then you drive North to the Switzerland border. After about 20 minutes you can see the first mountains of the Alps, the one you can see in the pictures. These are actually pre-Alps (about 3-4500 feet), the real ones come just beyond them (Mount Blanc, Mattherhorn, Eiger etc...), about 1 more hour drive and more if you move alond the crest directions...

I know a dual action gun is better for airbrushing, but what size gun would you need for colouring knive-sheaths sized objects for instance? Do you need more than one gun?

Eh, eh, the recipee I like is here http://perso.orange.fr/yves.huot-marchand/.../recette463.htm but it's in French. Basically, you want to quickly fry in butter the (pieces of) rabbit together with finely chopped onions + salt & pepper to give it a "starting brown coating" then you gently cook it by adding the mustard sauce ( standard and coarse ones mixed together +white wine or just a little water to make the mustards a little more liquid than just mustard), lid on + little water if it dries too much. At the very end you add the cream and make it " less liquid" in about 2-3 minutes. Finished. Add salt to taste if necessary. 40 minutes. Ops, I hope I did not break any forum rules....

Ah, so you seal the leather beforehand! It's interesting. Do you also put a finish after colouring? I heard of the antique finish, but would it not pale down the colouring? The only guy who is making saddles here has never heard of carving leather, he tried to stamp a circle in front of me on hard chrome-tanned leather without casing it when I went there (I was looking for leather to practice on but he had no veg. tanned one). There is a shoes-supplies shop 15 km frrom where I am but it's closing down. The local shoemaker and repairer is apparently at the top of shoemaking but quite reluctant of giving advices (just about glue, etc...). So I was ferry happy to discover this forum. Meanwhile, I slowly build up knowledge and suppliers.....I am also member of PSLAC.org which helps me a lot. Apart from that, they say George Clooney's holidays home is just 10 miles away on Como lake (I ilve just at the border with Italy). Not that I notice this fact obviously, but maybe it's noteworthy. I like cooking as well, lasagne, gnocchi, pasta and ragu sauce, pesto, rabbit à la moutarde, chicken etc... Ciao! Alessandro

Hello to everybody! I am a newbie and I wanted to ask you in very general terms the pros and cons of acrylics and spirit dyes. Is it also the price for instance? I noticed I can easily find acrylics where I live but I can't find any spirit dye in any shop around me.... And does one spot the difference between acrylics and spirit dyes at the end? Thank you for any help! Alessandro Switzerland