Johanna

I am planning to go- any Awful Waffles in the neighborhood, Brent? ~J

Okay, the economy is in the toilet, and there is a foot of snow on the ground. It is a relief to have something worth cheering! The Steelers (Pittsburgh!) are playing the Cardinals (what town are they from this year, anyway?) on Sunday. If the Steelers win, it will be their 6th Superbowl victory, more than any other team in the NFL's 43 years. I will be waving a terrible towel and wearing black and gold! Gooooo PITTSBURGH!!!

This flyer courtesy of Leatheroo. Thank you Roo! dimensionsinleather.pdf dimensionsinleather.pdf

I can't get the site either with my regular ISP, but Verizon sees it just fine. Odd. Must be a DNS issue. Johanna

From 711 to 1492 AD, Islamic Northern Africans, now known as Moors, conquered and occupied the Iberian Peninsula in various degrees, defeating the Christian kings of Spain and Portugal. The intricate floral designs we see today of scrolls and swirls stems from Muslim customs involving the depiction of animals and people. The Moors' leatherworking techniques were incorporated into the Spanish culture, and later carried to the New World via Mexico and Latin American exploration and conquest. Modern western floral carving is the result of many different cultures and their interpretations of ancient work. Johanna

Fourteen of you have chipped in to this unexpected, but sorely needed, pledge drive. The LW members and volunteer staff thank you all for remembering that we have bills that must be paid. Fresh coffee for everybody! Cookies over there on the table, help yourself. Thank you all. Johanna

My records show that you donated in November 2008, Darryl. Thank you for helping LW! John, you are right. Every little bit helps, and anyone who wants to chip into the kitty is welcome to click "My Controls" then "Purchase a Paid Subscription". or use the Pay Pal button on the main page, or we gratefully accept checks or money orders by snail mail. Thank you all for supporting LW. Without you folks, we couldn't keep going. Johanna

You guys all noticed that billyjoe posted this in May '08, right? ~J moving to old/sold.

One post to answer the PMs- she is talking about our Pabloz, Paul Zalesak, leatherwranglers home of the SK-3 swivel knife. Kathy- very nice! I hope you do the whole alphabet! Will a yak be featured on the Y? People have cases for their shotglasses? How cool is that? Is the mermaid's name Christina? Why is she swimming around a "C"? Sea! Oh, I see now. Yep, it's probably time for me to go to bed. Johanna

I get about a thousand junk emails a day. I'm lucky my ISP has a good filter. A router is a device that allows you to split your broadband service to different areas, either with a wired connection, or wirelessly. If you have one of these, flip it over and "log in" to your router and secure your network, if you haven't already done so. On the bottom there is usually a sticker with the default user name and password, and a web address to log in and set it. If you don't secure the router, the neighbor may use your connection to do something illegal, and the law will want to talk to you. You can turn off the automatic reboot in XP & Vista by going to Control Panel> System> Start Up and Recovery Options and untick the automatically reboot. This will result in the computer getting a "blue screen of death" which has a helpful code number that lets you start to guess or Google where the problem is, but if that is your only computer, and it won't reboot, well, that could be a problem. A lot of times errors like this are caused by incompatible drivers (like getting a new DVD unit) or power surges (hardware failure) or a bad update...sometimes Windows recovers and carries on, and sometimes it just coughs and dies. (Life is often mysterious just like that, too!) I would do BACK UPS of anything of value to you on that computer, just because you don't know how sick the patient is. It might be nothing, and never do it again, or it might be the start of a headache. Computers are like that. Gotta love 'em. But, thanks to computers, I've met some really neat leatherworkers from all over the planet... Johanna

Welcome to LW! We're neighbors! I live near Grand Lake St Marys in New Knoxville. Glad you found the board, looking forward to seeing more of your work! Johanna

You've got the Extreme Leather Workshop coming up in March in Asheville! Welcome to LW! Johanna

My first sweetheart had a bike a lot like yours, but the leather wasn't nearly as nice. I liked sitting up high like that because I didn't get any hair in my mouth. ~J

Grandchildren are just the most fun- you play with them, sugar them up, then when you've had enough....you give them back their parents and leave, laughing! Congratulations, Clay! Pics please! Johanna

I have to agree with what Shorts said. She's right about being in shape, and everything fitting better. I like the way she explained that if the holster or belt is drawing her attention to adjust it, it doesn't fit properly. Also, being 40-something years old, I know my body is not like it was before I had babies. My hips are wider in proportion to my waist, even though I am the same weight and height, than when I was in my twenties. And, I cut my belts straight and let my body put the natural curve into them over time. When I measure someone for a belt, I have them take off the one they are wearing. I put my tape measure next to it, kinda adjust for the curve, and measure from the hole they are using to the end. That's how I figure out their center hole, then two up and two down, because we girls do change sizes in the course of a month. I have cut guitar straps on a curve, but it "wastes" leather (I know, there is no such thing as scrap!) because you can't cut as many from a side. When I buy a side I cut off straps from the back, not the belly (too stretchy) and I can usually pay for the side with a few of the straps, leaving me plenty of leather for whatever I'm doing with the rest. I expect my belts to acquire a natural curve after use. Johanna ps- most women do not use belts to hold their pants up. Our pants stay up whether we have a belt on or not (that hips thing!) Belts are fashion accessories, not for "function" MOST of the time with women. That is not true for men who require a belt to avoid showing a "plumber butt" when their pants slide below their hips. Add their wallet, holster etc. into the mix, and they need a belt or they will walk around hiking their pants up, or worse, showing everyone more than they want to see.

Some of the older viruses will show in task manager, but the newer infections are much more sophisticated. Best advice is to: 1. Click responsibly (no P2P filesharing etc) 2. Use a reputable security program, let it update and never never turn it off 3. If you have your doubts about whether a process in task manager is legit- Google it. 4. If you think your computer is infected, go to geekstogo and get help. 5. Set up limited accounts for guests on your computer. Prevention is always easier than the cure. But when you buy a new computer, INSIST that you get a recovery cd or dvd because if you really trash your computer, that's the only foolproof (and the fastest) way to make things right. 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