NakedDog

Hi everyone, After coming home from the festival in my town, I question the best way to store the completed leather jewelry I've made, mostly cuffs, bracelets and pendants. I've always kept them loose in the art studio so it wasn't an issue. I'm hesitant to wrap them in a ziplock bag without air flowing and don't want Mr. Mold to visit them and screw them up. I also don't want any dye to splash on them or tools etc. I confess, when I'm creating leatherwork I am oblivious to where I set down my tools that I'm using at the moment. I try, really hard to set them to my right, stay organized and save myself some time hunting for whatever the heck I just had in my hand, yet I'm still guilty of tossing it out of my way to complete the setup of whatever, admire my work and then either add more chrome or stamp it more and duh, where the heck is that stamp I just used?!?!? So, I don't want to be tossing tools at the completed leatherworks, which I'm sure I"d easily do. Yes, I have a custom built rack to store my lealther tools and some 2x4" boards drilled with holes for my stamps, but that creative process is like sleepwalking, I guess. (No, I don't sleepwalk, whew). I was storing them on pvc pipe hanging off of shelves, not too efficient. I transported them to the craft show in zip bags, but am questioning whatever may linger in the leather that we can't see, mold, bacteria, whatever and if it would start growing in a clear zipped baggie. Whatcha' think??? Ilene

LTC your advice on how to use it was awesome! I never considered doing it that way. Thank you. I don't have big girl hands or big girl strength to squeeze it, which is why I was leaning over it when I broke my finger. Totally all my fault, I know. I love the stand I made, it works great. So, I'm having the same issues with my double capped rivets and my domed stud rivets. They seem to appear well attached but if I go to wiggle them they seem snug and then there are a few that make a noise as they slightly move. Then I pound them again with the concave setter tool and the anvil, and sometimes I end up hammering too much to get them set and mark the 8 oz. leather with a slight mark from the setter tool. Very disappointing. I'm thinking it's my strength and I know I need a machine to do this. I'm good at using a mallet for tooling, but this rivet and dome setting is another thing. Perhaps my fear of whacking my hand prevents me from using more strength, I don't know. There are a few rivet setter machines out there, and they seem to me to nice, but I'm not sure which direction to head on this. The ones I like cost hundreds and hundred of dollars and I wonder how efficient the less expensive ones are. I've read the archives on here but not sure which way to go with this. Advice appreciated.

I know I wasn't using it correctly, it's I said, it's an awesome tool and I do highly recommend it. Just don't hold it weird and lean your body into it like I did to get more leverage. Here's my holder...

Careful, I have a press n snap tool... It's awesome, but three months ago it broke my finger! Seriously! I love it but it needs modification. I now call it the "break-n-snap", since it snapped the end of my fingertip bone on my middle finger like it was a piece of chalk. Terrible analogy, I know. Lately the tool won't completely press the lower snaps onto leather, the parts it the flat bottom that you don't see on your leather item, not the nice domed cap side. I always have to take a snap setting tool and hammer the bottom snap so it sets tight otherwise it's not completely set at all. So, I have to press really hard and even lean on the tool with my body to try to get extra strength into my press action. So I sit the tool on my bench, mouth part up, holding the top end with my left hand, the squeeze handle with my right and I'm leaning into it but it still won't press the darn bottom snap. So, as I let go do the top of the tool with my left hand to reach around and loosen up the tensions he tool wasn't balanced well in my right hand with me leaning into it and I was still pressing down hard, and suddenly the day ended as it flipped to the right to lay flat down, rather quickly, SLAM! Somehow my middle finger ended up in the way, well actually the first three fingers, but the middle one was the target. The next two months were very painful, but I did get to show everyone my finger cast on my middle finger, that was fun! I now have a homemade stand for the tool, still have to hold it but I swear that baby isn't going anywhere. It can be lifted out if needed and it's far better than the stand they sell. I'm going now to take a few pics of it and post it right away. Easy to make and a finder saver for sure! I still can't get those bottom snaps to seat properly.

My Vinegaroon is really working great! I love that it goes into the entire piece of leather and if I decide to trim a piece off, it's still black underneath. How long does it continue to smell like vinegar? I've rinsed well and will oil today, I expect that will help cancel out the vinegar smell. Also, I'm making bracelets and need a flexible finish that won't crack with the action of wearing the leather around your wrist and repeatedly taking it off. Suggestions....? If nobody has ideas on this I may just need to oil the leather with neats foot or Lexol and leave it at that.

Angelus is one I've never heard about before. Is it in a can like Minwax? I'm making a guitar strap, too and would love this type of finish on it. It's an antique look that I really like and often prefer over the beautiful, just made, perfect look!

Wonderful! So I found the Vinegaroon link online, followed the simple directions and I have two bottles in the works right now. I believe you may find it quite interesting to know that there is quite a difference between apple cider vinegar and white vinegar! The white vinegar has not degraded the steel wool and looks exactly like it did when I set this all up two weeks ago. The apple cider vinegar is dissolving the steel wool into pieces and it looks like the solution has become slightly darker. (How do I attach a picture?) Both bottles of Vinegaroon work very well to turn the leather black. At first it's a gray-black but after about three dips with about 5 minutes in between, the leather gets noticeably darker. Rinse, rinse, rinse and add baking soda to neutralize the acids and prevent deterioration of the leather. Then,...once it dries and you oil it up, it's a fantastic black! One reason I love this approach is for a bracelet that is dyed black with Feibings previously, I've left the flesh underside natural to avoid discoloration onto the skin once worn. Some people don't mind, some prefer it to be dyed all over. There seems to be a difference of opinion in my house on whether the natural underside looks professional or finished vs. the entire leather black. I like both, personally. But now, it won't be an issue anymore. What do you know about how this Vinegaroon colored leather lasts and if the color fades with time, unlike Feibings oil dye? If there is a tendency for fading then the dye could be used on the outside of the bracelet. Love to hear people's experience with this. Happy weekend everyone! Go play in your leather studio!

I have these awesome boots that are a very dark navy, almost black. They came with a waxy finish that left a white film on the boots, made them look worn in, older and more like kick around boots. See pictures below. They look like an old pair of jeans, comfy, cool looking and you didn't pay much attention to them. Perfect pair of boots. Unfortunately, while working on some leather cuffs and bracelets, I decided to rub some Lexol into the boot to make is more water resistant. BAD idea! The dusty white finish was gone, the boot turned black as can be and has a totally different look now. Instead of looking like a nice pair of worn jeans, it looks like a boot you could wear for even a formal occassion. Ahhhh, I'm so disappointed! The Ariat boot company told me it was a waxy finish that was rubbed onto the leather that left the white-ish residue and gave it that worn in look. I can only hope, really really hope that someone here has any idea how I can restore this finish. I do not want to wear the boot looking brand new and fancy, I want the worn in faded look. Gotta get that darkest navy leather somehow improved with some kind of wax to leave a whitewashed, dusty finish.. Any ideas????? http:// http:// http://

This is going to sound foolish, but my experience with a huge sheepskin rug, (four pieces sewed together) about five feet long or so and four feet wide, was a rug that my dog loved to sleep on. I got tired of telling him all the time to get off the rug and finally gave in to him loving it. Of course, it ended up with doggie smell and the dirt from the back yard. Looked bad to me and needed to be cleaned. I had a small sheepskin purchased 30 years ago, yes 30, I have washed it in my washing machine under gentle with baby fabric soap and it comes out beautiful each time. I air dry and put some lotion, whichever is my favorite all over the back and it soaks in to condition. Of course now we have leather supplies to choose from so I don't use my lotions anymore. Now, back to this dog rug, it was big. Would never fit in my machine. I took it to the local laundromat and put this dirty sheepskin rug in their heavy duty machine. Sat there reading until it was done, still dirty. Paid for a total of three washings and it was looking great. Then put it in their dryer because I had no desire to put a wet rug in my truck. After 20 minutes in the dryer under a low heat, it was no longer dripping. Took that rug home, let it air dry, a little oil on the back flesh side and it was like new. It never got back to the pure white as it was when brand new, but the creamy color now cleaned, was quite awesome. The large sheepskin rug is about ready for another trip to the laundrymat, will do it all again in March.

I've searched everywhere trying to find a FREE tutorial or article or photo of attaching chrome ball chain to leather, around the edges and such so it can make the biker gear look even better. Nothing. Anyone know how to do this? I

https://www.etsy.com/shop/PirateandGreenParrot This shop is awesome! I bought a leather stamp for our website name and I've never been more impressed! The material he uses is something called Delran or Delron... ?... and its awesome. You can wack that with a hammer and get an incredible impression, sharp and exact. The makers stamp never looks like you ever hit it. I highly recomment PirateandGreenParrot on ETSY. Ilene

I'm making bracelets and cuffs, need some advice! I've been up all night long until 3am reading a zillion posts on leather worker.net to find out the solution to using black dye and also finishes for leather that will be flexible in a bracelet but not crack, peel etc. I've discovered the oil based Feibings black dye seems to stay on the vegetable tanned leather far better than the water based one, which I think is probably useless in my line of work. I love the smell of the alcohol based dyes, but they don't seem to stay on any better than the water based. But it's 3am so I could be wrong. I'm ready to trash the large bottles of water based dye, feeling a bit ripped off on this. Finishes- I have the Feibings Leather Sheen and I have Eco-Flo Professional Finish Clear Gloss. I have to coat the leather very well, at least twice to seal the black dye and that leaves the leather soooooo shiny I need sunglasses and very, very slippery. I don't know if I like this so much yet and it looks like it's sitting on top of the leather so I doubt it's longevity. (I also have the Bear grease, cool stuff but leaves my braided work very wiggly and soft, seems like it could stretch out easily.) I'm still confused and lacking an answer, share with me what you believe that works and will NOT allow the black dye to come off the bracelet/cuff when getting a little wet from your hands when you wash them and happen to have this bracelet on, or in contact with wrist sweat. Zzzzzz Ilene