cem

Thanks for the info Chris, it's definately helping me though the overseas suppliers for Hermann Oak are definately looking to be out of my price range. Not their fault the shipping is so high but for me to have spend about $17 sq foot combining the leather & shipping is just a bit too much to bear. Thankfully though it looks like one of the Australian distributors carries A grade so I'm hoping their postage is fairly reasonable even though they are still on the other side of the country. Clair

Hi Kaff, I remembered someone had done a bicycle seat before it just took me a little while to find it though http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=22217 and the link for the step by step guide http://www.lfgss.com/thread22715.html Hope this is of some help Cheers, Clair

Thanks Chris, sounds like the W&C will be better than what I can do now but looks like it will be Hermann Oak just for that colour. Though I've to get used to casing when I first joined up here I couldn't understand why everyone did that and why it took so long to get the leather ready for carving but after using the Hermann Oak I can definately understand why it's alot firmer than what I'm used to. Cheers, Clair Hi Jason, no I haven't I usually buy my leather from Leather Direct in Perth (NSW Leather agent for WA). I was put off buying from Lefflers due to high prices they have on everything else they sell. Have you tried it ? if it does go that golden colour I might give it a try though. Cheers, Clair

None of the leather I have bought in Australia has gone that nice golden colour after oiling, I was given a sample piece of Hermann Oak when I bought my Leather Wranglers swivel knife though and I finally got around to using it and after oiling it woo hoo nice golden colour. So I just wanted to know does Wickett & Craig go that colour as well after oiling or is it just a Hermann Oak thing ( still trying to decide which of these leathers to go for). Thankyou for any help Cheers, Clair

Ray you might want to do a search for Rex Lingwoods work he makes alot of leather bowls more art type than functional though, I believe he has a book as well but I'm not sure if it's in print anymore. Cheers, Clair

Like Tony said Lefflers are the only ones that sell the high end tools which is why they probably have them so overpriced, all the other stores only sell the cheap Tandy stuff which would be classed as mid range here not beginner due to price they charge for them. Anyone here wanting better quality tools is buying from overseas. I buy mostly from the US, UK and Japan, they have a few different tools that the US & UK don't have. Clair

I'm not too sure about Resolene I've never used it, I use either Satin Sheen thinned with water or the sealer from goodsjapan which are acrylic based. Cheers, Clair

No you don't buff acrylic paint what you paint on is what you get, buffing is only for dyes to help remove the extra pigment that comes to the surface. Yes you can use acrylic paint in airbrushes it needs to be thinned though with water to about the consistency of milk, one type ready to use straight from the bottle is Createx Transparent there are other brands around but this is what I use when I need to use paint. Cheers, Clair

I don't think he is a member here I believe he's been invited but as he is quite busy he has stuck to his main haunts of club chopper and the jockey journal. He hasn't updated his main threads at those places in awhile though either. I think he has a Facebook page though but I'm not a member so don't know if he shows work there more often now. Clair

Looks great Andy, well done will be cool to see it all coloured up. Cheers, Clair

Adam I do a bit of carving,what I'm doing is a bit different though and I haven't worked it out completely yet my day job takes up far too much time I'm changing my hours around though so I can actually do more leatherwork and hopefully turn it into a partime thing though I've only been saying that for the last few years ha ha. Yeah I know a few people who went for Fitzroy they went back to the WAFL after they merged. Leather Direct is good for leather and they usually have some very clean sides in stock I don't think they have many tools though (my husband usually picks my leather up for me as he is over that way more often than me). Cheers, Clair

Very nice reddevil very clean only have one problem the snake skin gives me the the heeby jeebys can't stand the things which is great living in Australia hee hee. Anyhow keep up the good work, I'm sure you will have some great carvings as well to show off soon. Cheers, Clair

Yay another west aussie welcome Adam, another couple of stores to check out are www.leatherdirect.com.au and Western Leathercraft (their site doesn't seem to be that active anymore though) there at 297 Lord Street, Highgate. Cheers, Clair P.S I hope you go for the Eagles and not the Dockers hee hee

Wow what a find, I'd love to get my hands on that many old Make it with leather mags. Clair

Ferg, I think mine was about $1300 don't have the reciept handy at the moment, that was in Australia and from an Australian supplier though so will be higher than the American price, we get charged a higher price on everything in Oz. For the amount of time it has saved me from tracing by hand though I think it has been worth it there are cheaper models around, but I thought this one looked the most robust for leather and being able to import directly from Illustrator was a plus. Cheers, Clair

Hi Ferg, They are cutters but can also be used with pens, stylus etc whatever fits in the holder for marking, there is an option in the software for swapping between the knife and a pen. They have a pressure setting so you can determine how dark the tracing is. Heres a pic of a tracing Before anyone asks about cutting the knives are tiny so aren't suitable for cutting leather, I did managed to cut 1.5mm thick leather once but definately wouldn't try anything thicker. The flatbed machine they do would cut through thicker leather but are over $5000 I think, definately not something I could afford they use an air suction system to hold down the piece. My model uses grip wheels to move the mat back and forth and the leather needs to fit between the wheels as they are textured and you wouldn't want them to run over the leather, I use double sided tape to hold the leather to the mat. Let me know if you would like any other info. Cheers, Clair

If you are used to Photoshop, Illustrator won't be that hard to pick up most of the Adobe products work the same way in regards to layout you can get some good online videos for it from here though www.lynda.com I think it's $30 a month, you would probably only need a month to learn what you want to do. Illustrator works with measurements you can type in what size you want circles, arcs and lines are all easy to do. Images can be imported and turned into line art and altered as you see fit if thats what you mean by image manipulation otherwise you can use it in conjuction with Photoshop. Illustrator also has layers and you can turn them on and off for what you want to print, I'm lucky in that I have access to printers that range in size from A4 to A0 (office paper to movie poster) Illustrator can handle any of these sizes with ease. Adobe does a trial version of Illustrator that you can download from their website, the only other program I can think of that may suitable for you would be Corel Draw I've never used it but they should do a trial version as well. I believe lynda.com do training videos for it as well though not as extensive as those for Illustrator. For patterns under A3 size I work completely digital I use a machine that can trace directly onto the leather www.knkusa.com if you want to check it out I have the 13 inch model but considering your space contraints I'm not sure if you would want another machine but the option is there if you wanted to go completely digital in the future and not have to use printed out patterns at all it uses it's own software which is similiar to Illustrator,Illustrator files can be imported into it though. Hope this is of some help

I use Illustrator and a Wacom Cintiq, I don't really see the need for a full on cad program for leatherwork unless you are manufacting alot of stuff that needs very precise measurements. If you can't afford Illustrator look for a program that is set up for vector artwork, I've only used Illustrator so aren't sure what else is around. Most programs will allow a Wacom as an input device it's the pressure sensitivity aspect of it that normally won't work, but for patterns you wouldn't need that anyway.

Thankyou for the info King's X. Cheers, Clair

I've heard back from Gingher they don't do that model in a left handed version oh well, I'm getting used to the ones I have though so probably won't go for a specific lefty version now. But I'll get back to the rep and ask if they have any other models suitable for cutting leather in a left handed version in case anyone else is interested. Cheers, Clair

Springfield don't have them and their distibutor doesn't carry them anymore, so have I've tried the Gingher link Winterbear gave just waiting on a reply. Kings X could you please ask your friend as well, there has been a few views of this thread so some others might be interested in trying to locate some too. The model I have is MODEL: 9080C-8, 8 INCH BLUNT UTILITY SHEARS Thankyou, Clair

I've done the pasta maker thing works well, a vice should be just as good though if you have one with large jaws. Clair