Johanna

John- http://www.leatherworker.net/tipstricks.htm scroll halfway down and look at the IFoLG guidelines/rules pages. ~J

Roo- I know exactly what you mean. I was 33 when I became a parent, and remember having my privacy very well. I love it when Wade takes the kids somewhere and I have a few hours to work or play- it's just good to be alone sometimes. I truly love my family, but I appreciate having the house to myself occasionally. When I get overwhelmed, I go to one of the nearby cemeteries and walk around until I get my head together. Most of the time I am the only one there, but I've noticed that people just nod as they pass by, and don't try to engage in any conversation. If I call my sis from my cell phone, she'll ask me which one I'm at and comes if she can. Wade and I have a blended family of my two kids, two of his kids we do "shared parenting" with (don't get me started about that!) and a grown son that lives here in town who never lacks for drama in his life. I used to be a retail manager of stores that were open 24/7 and I sometimes had the responsibility of 100 employees, but I usually read for an hour in a bubblebath every night. On the rare occasions I can lay in the bathtub now, I slip a tableknife in the door so no one can come in and ask me dumb questions like where are my socks? Will you drive me somewhere? What's for supper? Can you give me some money? NO I can't do anything like that- I am in the bathtub, are you paying attention here? I used to fire people that annoyed me and make them go away. The cemeteries are peaceful and no one says dumb things like (and yes, this one I heard yesterday) "Mom, will you drive me around so I can find my bike? I can't remember what friend's house I left it at." and stupid conversations like: Kid: Wah!!! he hit me! Me: why? Kid: I knocked him over by accident and he got killed on his Nintendo Me: why don't you go outside and play? I'm with you, Roo. A real vacation for me would be for all of them to go camping for a week and leave me at home...and I'd miss them like crazy. Motherhood is a paradox. Johanna

Thank you all! It was neat- last night I got a PM from Australia (It was already my b-day there) and then Europe and UK started waking up and posting, then the east coast messages began coming in this morning...I told Wade I received birthday wishes from around the world today, and showed him this thread. My family got me a 4 gig MP3 player (how cool is that!?!) and we had a party at the local park and pool that we do every year for the whole family, but usually seems to fall pretty close to my birthday, so I always joke it's "my party". I am a lucky lady to have such good friends with good wishes for me. Thanks everybody- you are the best. Johanna

Charley- I hear you loud and clear! The "critique my work" forum is for the brutally honest stuff, but not everyone wants that kind of feedback, which is why it is its own forum. You would be surprised at how many PMs (private messages) that do get sent when someone asks for honest help. I get cc'ed on some of them, and people do say their piece if the poster genuinely wants to hear it. ClayB is one of the experts at carefully wording a "how you could have done that differently/better/more professionally" and there are a handful of others who will tell you exactly what they think if they you ask them to, if they think you can take it. Some people respond to criticism by taking their tools and toys and going home, and some use the advice to improve. Sometimes people hesitate to say, "Wow, a cow had to die for that piece of crap you made?" (paraphrased from Al Stohlman) because they are polite. I suggest that when a member wants to hear what others think, and for them to be frank, that they say so in the post, and don't get offended if it isn't what the poster wanted or expected to hear. I agree that a lot of the competition judging is subjective, and often doesn't help the person learn how to not do the same mistakes again. I've seen it. It's also true that there are some guild lists that will moderate you if you type the truth as you know it and the original poster doesn't like the answer. We don't do that here. When the criticism is constructive, we all learn something and improve our skills. Good topic guys- thanks for sharing your thoughts on this. Johanna

I wondered what a rope can/case was, never saw one before and still am not real sure if the rope actually goes inside? I asked Bruce, and of course, he knew. Thought I ought to share with anyone else who didn't know either. Johanna

Why does a calf rope have to be so special? You use it to catch a calf, right? That has to be easier than roping her mother or father. Can't you just rope calfs with plain rope from Home Depot? When you rope a calf, what next? Do you lead it somewhere, drag it around, get charged by its enraged mother, or what? Does the rope go around the calf's head, feet or where? Roping calves has to be easier than roping adults. I can understand wanting to rope (catch) a calf, but not sure what happens next. But can't you just coax a calf with a dog or some other oersuasion? I'm not trying to be a smart ass, I just never heard of putting talc on a special kind of rope to catch a baby animal. Understand I'm in Ohio where a herd is probably 40 dairy cows, and they don't look like they move very fast or are particularly smart. When they are led from the pasture to the milking barn (usually across a road which blocks traffic) they seem to move in an orderly fashion, just slowly. (trains pass more quickly!) I know they do take calves from their mothers almost immediately, long before they would wean if left alone, and the bewildered mother lows a little and gets restless, but the farmers say the cows forget quickly. My grandmother used to wonder if cows were either so smart they knew where their own stall was, or so stupid they wouldn't think to go anywhere else. ~J

This is from a personal friend of mine who lives in IL. Shipping a pool table is not practical. Anyone local enough and skilled enough to tackle this job? PM me if interested. Johanna

Holly- a man will use every available dish in the kitchen to simply fry an egg. It is easier to feed a a man than clean up after him. Jordan- at our house, the lid goes down, or the dog thinks he has a flavored water bowl. (YUCK!) Art- his still isn't done, all mine needs now is the snap. I just went downstairs and put all my tools away in their proper place after he quit for the night. I think I will take the kids into his wood shop tomorrow and let them make things with his tools and wood. I wonder if he'll get the same knot in his stomach when he sees the kid pounding nails into his gourmet wood like I did when they were pounding 3D stamps into that piece of leather I had that had a JA brand in it that I'd been saving for, oh, 12 years or so, for just the right thing. I will also make sure they dump his hardware into several large coffee cans so the next time he needs a screw, he can root through the whole thing like I did for the four pieces of the snap I wanted to use. Ha ha...guess he won't be screwing anything any time soon. Johanna

My daughter cut out all the inserts and put them in the jewel cases. I didn't have the heart to tell her they didn't fit in right, and I knew Billy would get a kick out of her helping. I sent out 5 more today. I hope everyone enjoys them. Russ- hope your wife is feeling better soon. Johanna

LW has been pleased to work with PSLAC since our website began. At the bottom of every page on the forum, under our banner, click on "The Rawhide Gazatte" to go directly to the website mainained by PSLAC. They have an enormous archive of educational material, and the people there are generous with their time and expertise. Bob Stelmack publishes their newsletter every month and includes news, patterns, specials- whatever interesting things are going on. PSLAC is a great organization, highly recommended by LW members. Johanna

Do you mean The Leathercrsft Guild in California? Robert Ambriz, president? http://www.sbearstradingpost.com/LeathercraftGuild.html Here's a list of leather guilds we know of: http://www.leatherworker.net/leatherguilds.htm Johanna

Exactly. His box, made of leather or wood, would be technically perfect and correct. But those 4 90 degree corners he will have to sew and get to match will not come easy with leather, and everyone here is nodding with me. It's gonna be crooked, no matter how well he measured it, and how exact he was. And he was exact, I'm sure of it. I've watched him in his wood shop and every angle and miter is perfect. He likes to make things the old fashioned way, like our house is built, with no nails. But leather has different properties, so you work with it, rather than fight it. I wet the inside piece and shoved her box in there to give it a nice form fitting shape. He is making a straight up and down box that the game will sit in. It will take 10 times longer to do, but is will also be 10 times nicer than mine when it is done. Johanna

Daughter wanted a case for her Nintendo. Wade and I decided to make one. He headed into my shop and designed a box. I came down a few hours later, and tried to keep my mouth shut. It's not easy making a box out of leather, and I've known experienced leatherworkers who don't do them. Wade has a background fabricating with metal and wood. Metal and wood do not flex or bend, and the measurements, if done precisely, will always match up. Ha ha...leather doesn't work like that. I did this one: Neither project is finished yet- still working on the fabrication. I need to round off her flap and set a snap, then dye it or let her stamp on it. His needs sewn together, and I know that no matter how careful he is, it isn't going to line up like he wants,and it's not going to satisfy him. I give him credit for the extreme detail of the design- it's all carefully thought out. I drew a free hand pattern and sewed one piece on- zip zip- I was taught time is money in the shop, and old habit die hard. If his goes together, she will want it as a jewelery box, but mine will be done first. I tried to explain gently that he may have overcomplicated the project, and he didn't like that, so he was back down there last night working on it. I warned him to count his holes and punch them exactly right the first time, no second chances. I'm no genius at leatherworking- I'm no artist. I can make scrap just as easily as the next person. But all the years in the shop have taught me that KISS (keep it simple, stupid!) is the best way to approach fabrication issues. Wade is gifted with spatial thinking, finely honed from years of woodworking and metalwork. He makes things at work within point ten thousandths tolerances. I know leather. I can feel it and tell how it will stretch and act, and I understand and accept that it won't be consistent, even in the same hide. I thought this was an interesting experiment in how men and women solve problems. He will create a masterpiece, after sweating each detail in the shop for hours. I made a quick case for a kid and am cutting grass this afternoon. (Oh, my bad hand is sore from the lacing!) I thought this was an interesting comparison of how men and women approach problems. Both ways are "correct", one is just easier than the other. Johanna

12stones: look here http://leatherworker.net/ for more lists of leatherworker links, suppliers, guilds, tutorials and picture galleries, etc. Semper Fi Johanna

Hmmm... now we have to call you "frog-huntah". Congratulations! Johanna

Yep, it's gorgeous and practical. I want one too. Make sure you spell my name right. You rock, freak! Johanna

If you are using someone's unsecured connection (piggybacking) it could be said that they wanted to share it, or they would have locked it down. I wouldn't do anything "sensitive" on a piggybacked connection- like check banking info etc. Regular surfing and email doesn't use much bandwidth, so they'll likely never notice a slowdown because of your connection. So far, most courts are putting the onus on the owner of the network- lock it or don't complain about someone "stealing" it. I hope you and your family have a wonderful vacation...sounds like you picked a great place to go to "get away". Have fun! Johanna

Not trying to change the topic, but JRedding and others who mentioned turning horses loose- can a "pet" horse survive in a wild horse herd, or is it doomed from growing up domesticated? We have no wild horse herds here in Ohio, but I just wondered how the horse fares in a situation like that? I asked a couple farmers here about hay and they said it's been too wet to get into the fields because the equipment sinks in the mud. Lots of untiled field flooded, and the corn and beans are ruined where there is standing water. One man said he might as well make the lower field a pond and be done with it. Johanna

Janez Jevnika has a youtube clip, and I watched it, stunned at his talent and his confidence. He uses sprays, and you sharp eyed leatherworkers will recognize some of his tricks and say, "duh, I never thought of that!" when you watch. Youtube clip To do art that efficiently you'd have to know what the final thing looked like before you began. And his art is fantastic, first class. I liked the fire part at the end, especially since I thought he ruined it a few times with too much paint. Ha! He knew exactly what he was doing, and never missed a beat. His website is here- click on the gallery. Wow. Johanna

I think her cell phone service is two tin cans tied to a string... What Dave means is that Telus has more traffic on their hub than they have the hardware to handle, so consequently everything slows to a crawl. Can you take your computer to town and call while you're online? We don't want to knock you offline trying any fixing, because the only thing worse than slow is dead. Johanna

Denise- if you could be online and on the phone at the same time, I'd walk you through a couple of things. First I'd probably delete your connection and recreate it. I'm going to point the monkey here, because he can't pound leather, but he knows his computer stuff. ~J

Suggested donation is $25, but Billy said to work with anyone who is sincere, but broke. Of course, donations for more than that amount are much appreciated, too. I can also burn a cd and mail it if anyone would prefer it that way. Crystal- I got your message and I will get back to you shortly. Also-Wayne Christensen from Standing Bears Trading Post, Reseda CA, teaches regular classes using Billy's technique. We are going to work with Standing Bears to make sure people know about the available instruction from another master of leather, WC. Johanna

Billy's "The 2 shews Experience" transfer DVD is available for a donation. All money goes straight to Billy. If you download this DVD, you will meet an amazing man, learn how to do things you never dreamed of- like copying photos on to leather, tooling them and embossing from behind to get depth. You also get to hear some great blues. Get Billy's DVD download here. Johanna

I get confused sometimes remembering everyone's screen name, real name and the name of their business. Makes me wish I'd started a spreadsheet long ago and kept up with it. We have 187 Mikes, Daves and Steves (no, I just made that number up, but you get the idea!) My name is Johanna Schroer. Schroer is pronounced "Shrare". When I started doing leather, I was Johanna Alger. Most of the time, "Johanna" is all people need to hear- there is only one in leather land that I know of, and that's me. Lots of people call me "Jo" and that's fine with me, especially if it involves coffee or chocolate. One of the neat things about this board compared to other forums I belong to is that not too many people choose to remain anonymous here. We sign our names, use our business names in our signatures, know each other in real life from shows and doing business. One member remarked that he wouldn't sell anything he wouldn't put his name on, and didn't want to write anything he wouldn't sign either. I think that's one of the things that makes this place so special- people are proud of what they do and who they are. Someone else said, "Yeah, and it keeps us honest!" Johanna

It's a breezy 73 degrees in Ohio today- would be great grass cutting weather, but a thunderstorm earlier in the day has made the grass too wet to mow. I got an early birthday present and I'm itching to get to use it- a brand new Toro with a 6.75 B &G engine, rear wheel drive and an electric starter (my bad hand hates pulling the cord!) C'mon sun, dry out the yard...I wanna put my earphones and bandanna on and spend a couple of hours NOT listening to the kids. For cutting grass, nothing beats The Allman Bros., Stevie Ray Vaughn & Lynyrd Skynyrd. Johanna