Johanna

Hello, Ben, I think I met you and your wife at one of the shows? We're glad you finally found your way here- kick off your shoes, make yourself comfortable. There are lots of great people here. Welcome to LW! Johanna

If you need to run ccleaner (formerly "crapcleaner") be advised it's a powerful tool and you can break things if you use it incorrectly. If you think you are having problems with malware, spyware or any infections, go to http://geekstogo.com and post in the forums there for expert assistance. Tell them Johanna sent you. The malware team on the other side is outstanding. The malware removal specialists go through special training in an online university, and they will hold your hand and give you explicit directions and guidance the whole way until your computer is pronounced squeaky clean. You have to register to post, but all the technical help is 100% free. If I sound like a commercial for them, it's because I am in awe of the enormous jobs they do, ridding the world of malware, one computer at a time. (plus I work there, but on the tech side of the board, not the malware removal. I'm the mod named (surprise!) "Johanna".) AdAware and Spybot are only as good as their updates. Make sure you allow them to call home and get updates. You can clear cookies and temp files safely on your own, through Tools> Internet Options>General Tab in Internet Explorer. I prefer to use a third party firewall on any computer I have to share, but that's because the prevention is easier than the cure. YMMV Johanna

If you get a chance to go to one of Jim's workshops, just take the day off and go. He's a thorough and patient teacher, and even an experienced leatherworker is going to learn something. That pic of him on the Tandy flyer has to be the worst one of Jim the marketing department could find! He's very handsome, with the gray at his temples that makes men look distinguished and women look old. *sigh. And, Kathy, fess up...you never doodled on the bulletin during church with one of the little pencils in ther pews? C'mon, tell the truth... Johanna

I read an article in Shop Talk today about cheap imported "lightweight" saddles made with hollow trees. The author of the article cited professionals who felt this was unsafe and dangerous. Did any of you read the article, and what did you think of the responses from the people quoted? Are these things really that unsafe for the casual pleasure rider? Type slowly- I don't know much about horses and their accessories, and I don't even ride a horse on TV. You'll have to explain it in real simple terms. Johanna

The LC & SJ has an article by our very own Yaklady, Kathy Flanagan. "Through the window" where she does some fancy tooling and demonstrates how to carve wood textures. I did see a lot of outdated guild info listed in there, though. Better to use this site to find a guild contact. Shop Talk is a magazine for leather business people, and I was tickled that Dan Preston, the publisher, decided to include a mention of us. He made an offer in another thread, in case you didn't see it, to call or email him for a complimentary copy- just tell them you heard about the offer on leatherworker.net. Shop Talk is a magazine devoted to being a resource for leatherworkers, retailers and manufacturers. They publish The Big Book every year, and it lists suppliers and contacts for everything a leatherworker could need, indexed and categorized. http://proleptic.net for more info. Johanna

Did anyone notice they published an article about LW this month? Way to go Shop Talk! (Let ST know you heard about their magazine from LW if you call!) (thank you Dan!)

Yep, it's leather. Ink on leather. I'm gonna let someone else explain it. Billy does more than that technique, though, he is an excellent carver. He stumbled into a Hobby Lobby on his first trip to the US in 1995 for the IFoLG show, which was my first one, too. Billy won a slew of awards that Saturday night for his carving. The ink technique didn't come about until after he got the fabric transfer back home to South Africa and played with it. Then he made the video. The video explains everything, and you get a glimpse into the 2shews way of doing things. Johanna

If anyone is interested in Billy's DVD download, click here. Clay- I'll be sure to tell Billy you liked it. Johanna

We could, but they won't. Getting guilds to give you info and pics to do newsletters or websites is difficult- and I should know, I do the websites for 4 different guilds. All the classes and events we know about are on our calendar- scroll down the first page to the bottom "Upcoming Events". Click on anything for more information. Anyone can list a guild event on that calendar, or use the chat room to hold a meeting. Private rooms are available. LW tries to support leather guild efforts 100%. Johanna

Bree- you look terrific in blue! Thanks for contributing to LW. We couldn't do this without help from people like you. I don't have to explain hosting costs to you- you already know. You also let it slip that you are a web tech...hmmm...if you suffer from a moment of boredom, watch out! I have a list of "things to do" that you could probably do better than me. Thank you for the kind words and for chipping into the kitty. Johanna If I ever write my autobiography, I'm gonna have to call it fiction, because no one would believe this crazy ride!

We had to retitle every doggone lost post...we had the posts this whole time, just no way for the forum to know how to "see" them. Then Kate made a nifty little tool that has a half a dozen of us up late at night...but that's another story. My question is: did we remember to PIN the seat tutorials? Johanna

Are you folks noticing the old posts are coming back? Okay, they all have different titles now (we lost the original ones!) but all but less than a thousand are back in place. Check your topics and make sure we didn't mess up your titles too badly, and let one of the greens know if you see anything that needs attention. Thanks. Johanna

The map is probably the best we can do, because not everyone is willing to disclose their state in their profile, or maybe doesn't know how to set up their profile, or worse, not know what their profile is! Click "My Controls" at the top of the page to change a profile, and click someone's name to view theirs. We don't use this feature enough, esp the folks trying to get more work. Johanna

We're working on it, Harvey. Sorry I didn't see your other thread (been working on restoring the pre crash posts! ) Our plan is to have Wiki arrangement where members can contribute things to share, and members can download what they are interested in. It's a good idea- and I'm glad there is such an interest in it. If the members all support it, it will be awesome. Johanna

>snicker< I still have his cool guitar. It's an old Guild, and I love to play it. Jon reminded me more of "The Pawnbroker" song by Tinsley Ellis. ("Collected unemployment, swore I couldn't find a job, been too busy holding up this bar stool when the bill collectors came to call..." Good to know there is another Jimmy Thackery fan here! Johanna

Hey Bree- once upon a time my first husband got drunk, went to jail and I sold his motorcycle. It wasn't a very nice thing to do, but I had bills to pay and deposits to refund, and it had to be done. He begged me never to sell the tools, ever. He said as long as I had the tools, there would always be food on the table. I never had to sell the tools, and didn't think too much of it at the time. But now years have passed, and I have kids to think about, and I look at the shop and smile to myself knowing that, no matter what, I will always be able to put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads because I have my tools. I would hand sew a thousand belts, or whatever, if that's what it took to keep my kids in warm clothes and sturdy shoes. Know what I mean? Johanna

Just out of curiosity, what kind of browsers do you folks who are affected by this use? Do you have any third party cookie controls installed? It may help someone down the road if we can figure out a pattern. rdb, the DNS was my first thought, too, especially since it only seems to bother some computers, but it's gotta be in the cookies somehow? I think I'll make cookies with my kids this afternoon. The choc chip kind, not the computer kind. Mike Craw- tell me again how the kids move out eventually? I need to keep hearing it so that I have something to hope for in the future. They can eat all the cookies they want in their own beds at their own houses... Johanna

I had another member report a similar problem, but I don't see anything amiss in the forum, and I can't duplicate the issue. I will look around the IPB forums today and see if I can figure anything out. Dickf makes a good point about checking your bookmark- the URL to the forum is http://leatherworker.net/forum/ Johanna

If we put a 'stolen saddle section' in the forum, it would be easier if the saddlers would link back to it from all their sites. That way a victim of a theft will only need to submit their info once, not try to daisy chain to all the saddlemakers individually and then hope the saddlemaker updates his site. I could ask the Monkey to make a banner people could click. I have no objection to it if it would help reunite saddles with their rightful owners. It would be up to you saddlemakers to use your sharp eyes to make it work though. Johanna

If we don't educate the public, how are we going to get the prices for our work that we deserve? When I was introduced to Leather Land, I didn't know leather could be tooled, or how to tell leather from vinyl. And I was managing a fabrics and notions store! Johanna

I've got a messed up right wrist. I would be very interested in a custom made brace/splint! Velcro is the easiest way to fasten it, I think, and would allow for some adjustment when my wrist is swollen. Looking forward to seeing what others have to say. Johanna

90% of the time when I call or write to someone and ask if we can have permission to use something of theirs here, they say "Yes!" and are tickled to be asked, and that other people noticed that they are trying to do the best work they can. Collectively, there are hundreds of years of leatherworking experience here. People take the time out of their busy day to answer questions and exchange ideas. Some folks will go way out of their way to help someone else. I don't know what kind of magic there is here at LW, but I like it. Whoever sprinkles the fairy dust, thank you! Johanna

Kate- you left off the most important part of your resume! Kate is the other Admin on LW! I am a housewife and mother in Ohio that does websites for leatherworkers, local history buffs, and pretty much anyone else who has a check that will clear and a little patience. I do other computer work, too, and am the sole tech support for every Grandma in our church that wants to get email, as well as leatherworkers around the world. In my former life, before the kids came along, I was a retail manager for Books-a-Million, Tandy, JoAnn Fabrics, & 7-Eleven . Oh, yeah, and a home-based custom leather business paid the bills for a few years, too. I liked being an entrepreneur when we had the leather shop. If we wanted something, we hustled some extra work. If we needed a break, we took it. Many of the activities we enjoyed (from bike runs to Pow Wows to reenactment events) were also business opportunities. Our friends often stopped by, and we drank coffee and smoked in the shop with the music turned up loud. Gettting paid to play was the best part about the leather shop! Sometimes I go bang out a belt or something because I'm in the mood, but the shop closed ten years ago. LW keeps me from missing it too much. Johanna

Carr52- Clay Miller (Bert) is in charge of the contests and challenges, and if he hasn't already accepted your generous offer, I will for him. Thank you for thinking about the members here- they like prizes! I've been a little distracted- we've been restoring the old posts from the great server crash last year. About half of them are visible, and you should see the rest in a few days or so. I've been waxing nostalgic, then Kate whacks me with a stick and tells me to get back to work! We've been tossing around ideas for the next challenge, so I'm sure Clay will announce something soon. (We have to give him some slack- he has a full time job and a bunch of kids!) Thank you thank you Johanna