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

Isn't it sweet to see the old posts coming back? I think we have another 3000 to go...*sigh ~J

Leather is measured in 64ths of an inch. Since leather is not made in a factory on rollers, it varies in thickness, which is why the hides come in a "range" like 8-9 oz. 1oz = 1/64 inch = .015625 inch = 0.396875 millimeters The "ounce" designation has nothing to do with weight, only thickness. Johanna

No.

When Wade and I married, we each had a house, but mine has a two-story barn (all men eye that barn enviously) and it's bigger, so we live here. For the first couple of years we rented his house to his sister, and that was fine except for the midnight maint. calls and assorted expenses landlords have to pay. We rent it to a family friend now, and he takes care of all the things sister used to call us for, so all is well...but...if he fell off the edge of the earth, that house would become a financial liability quickly, and it is not going to be an easy sell despite a prime location. (We do not have first & last & a security deposit, nor do we much in the house fund, period) We are looking into refinancing to get locked into lower mortgage rates right now, but it is worrisome, because Wade's company just instituted pay cuts and benefit reductions, and laid off a good percentage of the work force. Our area's economy isn't good right now, and even when they reduced his pay, Wade said, "I'm lucky to have a job." My warning is that even if the house is paid for and unoccupied, it will still generate expenses, like utilities and taxes, so if you plan to sit on it for awhile, make sure you get good tenants you can trust, and establish a fund to cover exploded water heaters and other unforeseeable costs. Johanna

Maybe someone ought to email Hide House a link to this thread? ~J