Johanna

Dear Bill Gates, We need Java to use Live Chat, so sorry, we ain't dumping it . Hey, Dan's advice is on the money. Don't forget the reboot hementioned. I don't know why, but it's necessary for all this to work right. Same goes when you need to update Adobe Flash to watch You Tube videos. Uninstall the old, reboot, reinstall the new. I don't know why updates aren't cumulative, but they aren't. Johanna (part time computer geek)

I don't think it's a good idea to make a baby rattle out of leather that is actually going to be used by a baby and put in her mouth. A special one that mom can put away with her baby things to give to child when she is older (in other words, a work of art, not a teething toy) is a better idea. You have no idea what the leather you use is tanned with, or what chemicals it has in it. I don't let my dogs chew on scraps in the shop because they get sick from it, and I sure wouldn't let my baby gnaw on a piece on veggie tanned. Nice thought, but not a safe one for baby. Johanna

Jon always said you have quoted the right price when the customer looks pained, but reaches for his wallet. That said, you have to figure your time into your work. You are limited to what you can produce with your own two hands. If your time isn't worth enough to ask enough for fair pricing, you're going to be out of business and getting a day job. Anyone who is trying to make a living from leather has got to figure out their bills, and charge enough per hour to cover them. The alternative is "You want fries with that?" and a uniform. (shudder) Johanna

Marlon got me the pics (he is far more computer savvy than he lets on!) and I will get them up and in a formal gallery ASAP. Thanks for everything, Marlon- you're a star. Johanna

Okay, let's clear the air first. No one is stepping on my toes. MS has a good idea, and he may have the technical skills and the time to pull it off successfully. If so, great- more of you leatherworkers get work, become rich and famous and invite me to spend a few days at your vacation place (vacation place defines to anything OUTSIDE of Ohio). So far so good. What you folks don't see is that, behind the scenes here at LW, you have a team of people dedicated to making your LW experience worth your time, and we are always working on project or two ahead. We're a tight community, and resources are limited (how many rich and famous leatherworkers do you know?) so LW gladly partners with other groups, guilds and associations that are trying to achieve the same goals. When something comes along that LW can support, it helps the staff to have a heads up before it's discussed and decided on the open forum. This particular situation possibly duplicates the efforts of a similar project that LW has already committed to helping to establish, promote and provide the hosting. When I first read about it, my reaction was, "well, let's not reinvent the wheel, let's get MS involved in making the original idea a success using his expertise." Before I had a chance to run this past the staff, MS arranged the catalog, and that's great, but LW isn't going to be able to be involved in this one, except to link to it and talk it up where appropriate, of course. We wish him every success with it. And I have to throw this in for all those of you who have not filled in your profiles (click "My Controls" at the top of the page.) People are shopping here. They search the board, read the posts, look at the pics and check the profiles. If someone likes your work, let them buy it easily. There is a place for all your contact info and websites and anything else you want to tell your customers, the googling public. Fill the sucker out! Keep me up to date with how this is going, MS. I hope it takes off- a leather Etsy. How cool is that? Johanna

I just looked and I have about 1500 bookmarks. I have folders. Accounts, Forums, Reference, Newspapers, Music, Computer stuff, Leather is divided into artists, suppliers and other. I have one folder called "Check" which is stuff I want to look at but didn't have the time at the minute. I don't save things in two places often, so I usually get a prompt if I'm trying to save something twice. When I want to save a bookmark, I edit the title to something I will recognize- "Welcome to Joe's Leather House est. 1910" will become "Joe's Leather House" or whatever I need to do to make it quickly identifiable. I alphabetize my favorites in my folders, which makes it easier to find what I'm looking for because I probably already know a bit of the name. I put my favorites folder on my flash drive for when I'm out with my laptop. I also found a nifty piece of software called AM- deadlink that works with Vista that keeps the favicons and sort through the bookmarks for outdated ones. Johanna

Church services were conducted here in High German but stopped around WWI. The beautiful building has German inscriptions all over. At our church it says "Blessed are those who listen and heed God's word" in German on the dome. I wonder how many people have noticed this when the sermon is taking a long time? School here was a mixture of German and English until WWII when German was stricken from the curriculum. It wasn't even restored as an "optional" language until the late 60s. Most of the early paperwork and gravestones from here are in High German, but the people used Low German and the small towns took on their own dialects. In the 70s, a group of people from our village went to the town of Ladbergen (not much more than an exit on the autobahn now, from what I can tell) and visited with relatives. The relatives laughed at the "German" spoken by our US villagers- calling it "quaint". The dialect froze in time around the 1840s here in America, so the German relatives understood the Americans, but noticed how old-fashioned it seemed. Our school, K-12 in one building, built in 1922, does not offer Spanish or French classes. My kids started German lessons in the first grade. People my mother's age remember parents and grandparents using German when they didn't want the kids to know what was being said. During and after WWII, kids were given instruction in English only, from school and church. If anyone knows anyone who is capable of this kind of translation work (the letters) please put them in touch with me. I have most of it scanned and cleaned up, and of course we are very curious what Carl and "Charlie" had to say. Johanna

My mom and I do a lot for the local historic associations, and we are always interested in our family history. We know very little about this ancestor other than he came over the ocean about the time this area of Ohio was settled. Family anecdotes relate that he was a shoemaker, as well as an accomplished singer. My mom sent me some pics- haven't seen the actual book yet. Edythe is our cousin. There are many letters from him and his son to other family members, some here in the US and some in Germany. Some are in High German, some in Low German, and a few in English, but the fancy german script is hard to read, and we haven't found anyone who can translate the ones from his son yet. His son left Ohio and went west, and the English letters tell a fascinating story, but the German letters are a mystery. Meanwhile, I'm going over to Edythe's and taking a look at the book to see if there is anything that can be done to preserve what's left of the leather. Kinda ironic- my gg grandfather was a shoemaker, huh? Johanna

Please don't double post.

I have met some deranged ignorant people in my leatherworking years, and you can imagine the hate mail admin gets now and then when some PETA member gets all riled up. I have had fake blood smeared on my shop windows- Jim- it wasn't the real thing, they just do it for attention. There is a section here called "leather is a byproduct of the meat industry" and that is true for 95% of the leathers we use or more. Anything else is covered by what UK Ray had to say. I lived in PA where they refused to let hunters take more deer, and they trampled the suburbs, starved and were hit by cars. It was pretty stupid, considering there were food banks lined up for the meat. PETA people are not reasonable. If you can be polite, just say, "That's an interesting assumption." and walk away. if you can't be polite, call 911 because they will get violent to "prove a point". A fur dealer had his store burned down. PETA people think they mean well, but they are often badly misinformed, and it's like they have been brainwashed. Most of them can't tell leather from plastic or vinyl or pleather either, and most of them are not vegans. So they have sweaty feet so no cows are killed for their skins while they eat a hamburger. Makes sense, huh? Johanna

AMD Athlon 64 X2 dual core processor 6000+ 3 GHz w/ 3 gigs of memory running Vista Ultimate Avertec laptop AMD Athlon 3000+ XP Pro Olympus Stylus camera, multiple MP3 & 4 players, cell phone, etc 2005 Dodge Durango with a Hemi

Mark, that is what I've been trying to do with LW- bring customers and sellers together. Maybe you and I should pool our resorces and come up with some plans to help all leatherworkers and their related vendors. I think we'll do more working together, you have the expertise, I have the contacts and webspace. This site is all about keeping people from having to get day jobs. It's why I encourage them to fill out their profile- Google really does love this site. Would it help you to see site stats? tell me what email you prefer in a PM. Johanna

I fixed these pics- made them bigger and took off the writing that was there by mistake. Enjoy! http://leatherworker.net/ifolg08OHIO/index.htm Guild display room pictures, Columbus Ohio 2008 Johanna

This pic is about two years old-but it's the whole family except for Wade's oldest son Travis who was living in Florida then. These are my kids to John Henry- Jane & Jack. Here's Wade and me...why this man puts up with me I'll never know, but I am grateful! This is Wade and our grandaughter Olivia. She's perfect, of course. When she's not, we can give her back to her parents. Perfect. Johanna

The piece has to be made in between the shows, and have no sign or use or wear. You can enter yourself in any division, but remember the competition part? The reason for the automatic bump is so that people don't always try to enter in a lower division than they belong in. If Chan Geer or someone entered Open every year, well, people would get discouraged! If you want to enter in the Masters Division, you can, but you may want to hang out in Advanced for another year. I think once you are in the Masters, you are there for life, until you take up pottery. Scroll down this page- there are two pages of IFoLG rules and suggestions. http://www.leatherworker.net/tipstricks.htm Because leatherworking itself is so diverse, the artists come from such a variety of backgrounds, and the community itself is rather small, judges have the right to make up rules as they go along. Ask Roz. Seriously, if you make something so unique you are afraid there could be a misunderstanding, include a note for the judging teams. It will be considered. There is a certain amount of flexibility built into the rules, and has to be- because of that apples and oranges thing. How can you say Jim's braiding is "better" than Kathy's yak-mule? Just making up an example off the top of my head. Also, after you've been doing this for awhile, you know this guy's work from this one's from the other side of the room, and they are both technically perfect, just two different styles. The judges do the best they can under the circumstances, and it is as fair as it can be. If they don't think an entry deserves a ribbon, they don't award one either. So if there is only one entry in a category,and it isn't good enough, it doesn't get a thing. When you take a ribbon home from the IFoLG, you earned it, fair and square. Johanna

John, when you get your entry back there will be a tag with the comments from the judges. You did win, by the way, but I can't remember where you placed. I just remember poking my husband in the ribs at the banquet saying "That's the Wild Irish Rose!" and he just gave me a blank look because he had no idea what I was talking about. When people who go to the show get their critiques, they can either open them and let others see what the judges said, or leave them stapled shut, or open them and stick them in their pocket. It's bad manners to open someone's tag w/o permission. The next show is in Indianapolis next fall, but some guilds do have regional events. Those shows are not Federation sponsored, but it's the same crowd. This past Spring Calumet put on a show in Michigan City, Indiana. The Federation shows can only be entered by members of guilds that belong to the IFoLG, guild shows are usually have open competition. There are three classes of competition- Masters, Advanced and Open. When you start racking up certificates and awards, you get automatically moved to the next highest category. In guild and Federation shows, the host guild has the final say on everything. Hope that answered some questions. What did you enter? Maybe it will jog my brain? Johanna

On any other forum this topic would have been closed about 30 posts ago, but the sad thing is that everyone agrees that the best qualified people to lead the country cannot be persuaded to step out of the private sector. There is no incentive, unless you like taking severe pay cuts, the total loss of you and your family's privacy and having to schmooze for your entire career. My dad called me up and said, "Guess what? You're just like Sarah Palin! Except youdon't have your own float plane. You didn't win a beauty pageant. You don't know how to ski or gut a moose..." Um, Dad, I've never been to Alaska or Idaho either. Johanna

I did notice that Tina entered in "Open". Thankfully, there are rules about entering too low, and if you don't move yourself up, they bump you up involuntarily. The Peoples Choice Award and the Best of Show were the same project, also entered in the Open category. (The dolls in the rocker- even the "wooden" floor was made of leather) Lonestar leather Guild won the traveling trophy. The revolving leather globe was a nice touch! The tables seemed a bit bare his year- usually Bluegrass Guild and Central Indiana can be counted on to put up a good fight! I didn't go to the raffles, but I wish there had been more of them. It's hard for guilds to make expenses without raffle donations and ticket sales. It was great to meet some new folks, put faces to familiar folks and say Hi to old friends. People seemed to have heard of LW, and they said nice things about the site. Maybe a few will get home and look us up? The BLCO made a cd of the winning entries with their ribbons and makers, done by a professional photographer. When it is available, I will put it on the Buckeye site. They did an outstanding job hosting the show- every detail was well thought out, and the hospitality was extraordinary. What a grwat group of leatherworkers we have in Leather Land. More pics are coming, I have to clear out my camera. Johanna

The only guild I'm familar with in your part of the world is: Association of New Zealand Leathercrafters Sue Nelson, President 14 Avonhead Road Christchurch, New Zealand I will ask around at the show this weekend. Johanna

Shelly- I don't ride horses, so I can't offer an educated opinion on the construction of your saddle, but from a leatherworking perspective- that is a beautiful work of art. The simplicity is elegant, and I love the rich color. Thanks for sharing! Johanna

How to start a guild Sample bylaws for a guild Operating policies and procedures This information was graciously provided by Ernie Wayman, who is retiring as president of the International Federation of Leathercraft Guilds (IFoLG) this year. This info is modeled on The Central Indiana Leathercrafters Guild and can be adapted to suit an individual guild's needs. Note: anyone can form a guild, but your guild must be accepted into the IFoLG to have any voting rights or participation in the competitions. There are standards and obligations to joining the IFoLG. No individual is a member of the IFoLG. The IFoLG is governed by the delegates sent by the member guilds. Thanks, Ernie, for providingt this information, and we'll see you at the show! Johanna Complete list of IFoLG member guilds

Welcome to LW! Now that we know you're a webbie, look out, we'll find work for you to do! Glad to have you here- make yourself at home, help yourself to the coffee and the cookies, but the doughnuts are probably stale by now. Johanna

This forum is not the place for flame wars. It sounds to me that the customer was not happy, the retailer tried to make it right, customer still not happy. I give Tim, the owner of Zack White, a lot of credit for coming on here and attempting to resolve this dispute, which never should have been made public like this, but I'm leaving it, because it shows the lengths ZW will go to satisfy their customers. This thread is now closed. I don't like the spirit it was started in, and I wish members would refrain from running with scissors. Johanna

I've worked retail for close to 20 years. When a customer complains, he is doing the business a favor. We can address the problem to make things right, and hopefully, prevent the problem from happening to another customer. When you do need to complain, follow a couple of steps to make it easier for the retailer to help you: 1. Describe the problem, leave the emotion out of it. 2. Let the manager know what you expect him to do to make things right again. 3. If he can't accommodate your request, see if his alternative would be acceptable. 4. Once it's resolved, tell your friends. But until you formally let the boss/owner know what upset you, you can't expect satisfaction. If you don't tell him what went wrong, he can't improve the experience for you or the next person. When we ship it out, and don't hear anything, we assume everything is just fine. I wish the ownder of ZW were here to put in his two cents, or at least respond to your frustration. A good businessman would try to make it right. One happy customers tells 4 people. An unhappy one tells eleven. Johanna

Nope. Your pics are just a bit over half a MB, and regular members can only put 1MB in attachments up in one post. Contributing members have a higher setting, because we assume they are not potential spammers! I wish there were a way to distinguish brand new members from established ones with that setting, but there isn't. A member can use multiple posts to get around the limits, or some people just let me know what they want to do ahead of time, (like for a lesson or tutorial) and I can manually adjust their limit. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but there's always a few bad apples on the Internet, and a couple of folks have abused the system in the past. Johanna