Johanna

Holly, your rose turned out very nicely! This is a good project for children and adults. Here is some more info about molding: http://leatherworker.net/moldingworkshop.htm Johanna

using image tags

http://tutorials.photobucket.com/tutorial_74.html It looks like photobucket has different links for different uses. I think the "image" link is the one you need. Further on down in the instructions is how to enable these functions for an account if they are disabled. I tried to edit the links above, but got a "cannot use dynamic image in a post" error. I think we need the image tag, and I am going to try an experiment with my new photobucket account after supper. Johanna

Hi Dave! I think I counted 16 Daves or Davids on the forum, and it was about the same for Mikes and Steves. Of course, that was just ones I knew for sure. Glad to see you again, haven't heard from you in awhile and hope life is treating you well! Ladies and gentlemen, this is my friend Dave Anderson, who has lots of beautiful things posted in the pre-crash invisible posts. (Oh, how we wish we had them back for everyone by now, but the database is pretty broken, and the repairs aren't done yet.) I hope you've had a warm fire this winter, it's been extra cold here in Ohio. I am so ready for Spring! I know you are really busy, but if you have time to post some pics in the show off section, the folks here would love to look at your work, Dave. I bookmarked your website ages ago, didn't I? Peace & all the good stuff, Johanna

I like "Functional Elegance". Or "Elegant Simplicity" or "Simply Elegant" "Superior Elegance" "Built-in Elegance" "Sturdy Elegance" "Practical & Elegant" "Sturdy and Simply Beautiful" Johanna

Welcome to leatherworker.net, Tammy! I liked the story of the lonely table. There are lots of great people here, and you'll fit right in. Johanna

It's a tweak. It's kinda complicated, so I was holding off until the old posts come back. I liked it, too, and I'll restore it soon. Glad to know someone else noticed! Johanna

That is Rod and Denise Stanger, and they are awesome artists, aren't they? I love the way they integrate two art forms, and I like the bright vivid colors of their unique designs. Thanks for the reminder. Johanna

There are some pics that need to be rather high res to see the detail, and most pics would be just fine in the 100-300K range. We depend on the forum members to use their best judgment. In my experience, often the people who don't use good pic sizes just don't know how to reduce photos. If someone (hint Wolvie hint) wants to write a good "how to get pics the right size and post them on the forum" tutorial, I'll make it a separate page with circles, arrows and a paragraph on the back of each one. Not including the aerial photography. Johanna

I haven't noticed any slowdowns, and I just checked logs. They are clean. Johanna

Azmal, that rocks! Love all the extra touches. Johanna

I like your work, but of course I am partial to spiderwebs! I fixed your link to be "clickable". Welcome to leatherworker.net, glad to have you here! Johanna

Good advice, Alcove, about making lessons and instruction as painless as possible for the institutions. When I was with Tandy, a similar strategy was used for camps, churches, schools, etc. There is a big interest in leather, but its perceived high cost and complication can be intimidating to the people that are responsible for implementing these kinds of programs. No one wants to spend a gazillion dollars and then look bad to their boss when they don't know how to do the craft that was presented. We were happy to take the lower profit margin in exchange for the higher volume sale, and (with luck!) some repeat customers who were intrigued by the whole thing, as a result of the instruction provided. Many leatherworkers have learned the art in institutional settings...military, hospitals, prison, schools, camps, and so on, and continued after the initial exposure. Tandy has traditionally been the source for supplies and teaching, thus perpetuating leatherwork as a viable therapy, or other learning, alternative. Johanna

Piece of cake. Click your name to the left "find this member's posts" OR click your name where it shows you are logged in (top of page) to show your profile, posts you've made and topics you've started are listed there. Johanna

I would say the average American consumer appreciates the value of real leather, but can not distinguish synthetic from leather, or hand tooled from embossed, or handcrafted from mass production, the majority of the time. Al Stohlman, via Tandy, has influenced more leatherworkers in modern history than any one person in older times ever did. Now leatherworkers have the Internet. Johanna

DC- I'm trying to figure this out, too. When I tried to use the image tags to edit a link the error message I got was "sorry, dynamic pages are not permitted in image tags." I'm off to Google to get a solution. Johanna

Drac- Thank you! Really well done lesson there, and we all appreciate the time it took to put that together for us. You're a peach! Johanna

Good catch, Russ! I fixed the poll to have a "does not apply to me" as a choice. Maybe the folks who couldn't vote will try again? In retail, we say the customer who complains does us a favor by giving us the opportunity to correct the original problem and keep the customer. Hilly made a good point: If you are not happy with the person representing Tandy, or whatever retailer, you have to let someone know or service will never change, and you won't be satisfied. If you follow the chain and keep complaining upwards, responsible managers will probably try to make things right. If you don't let them know directly what is wrong, you can bet you won't be the only unhappy customer.Johanna

"Neo", he is the new man. Johanna

"Leathercraft Tools, How to Use them, How to Sharpen them" by Al Stohlman is a worthwhile investment. $10 at Tandy, and it will pay for itself. Welcome to Leatherworker.net! Collectively there are hundreds of years of experience here, and everyone is really good about sharing. Fire away the questions, someone will help you. We're always glad to meet new folks. Johanna

The Leather Factory was started by some ex-Tandy people before Hidecrafters was started by George Hurst. TLF (The Leather Factory) seemed more focused on wholesale accounts and volume, and they maintained warehouses/stores throughout the US. Tandy was begun in 1913 as a shoe findings company, and expanded by Charles Tandy, better known as the founder of Radio Shack, to be the only retail chain in the leather business. I got to tour the factory on Eversman Drive in Ft. Worth in 1996, and remember being amazed at how much work was done in house, and the old fashioned ways they did it. Even the machine that determined the square footage of a hide, a Rube Goldberg contraption, looked very old. Tandy had a meltdown in the late 90s, closed all of their stores, and TLF bought them, thus "Tandy Leather Factory" today. A corporate store is one with a Tandy or Leather Factory name. A dealer is another retailer who meets certain obligations in return for better prices and advertising support from Tandy. Stores operating under the Tandy name have been the first introduction to leatherworking for many American consumers. Comparing the company with other retailers I've worked for one thing stands out. Employee loyalty. The pay is okay, not great, but so what when you like your job? Johanna

This is not a thread for Tandy bashing. Like it or hate it, Tandy is THE retailer for most people who like to work with leather as a hobby. Tandy has had an enormous influence on the leatherworking psyche, as well as the materials and tools we frequently see. I liked working for Tandy, but I learned quickly to keep my mouth shut at IFoLG shows about it. When people found out I worked for Tandy, they kinda rolled their eyes. A couple of people here have almost apologized for working there. ("Don't hold it against me!") Right or wrong, that's silly. Working for Tandy is an honest living, even if otherwise professional people want to throw rotten tomatoes at you. I thought it would be interesting to address the elephant in the room- have you ever thought about working for Tandy? Johanna

Click the "add reply" button and a new message dialog will appear. Scroll down to the browse button. Locate the pic on your computer and click "upload". The forum will automatically produce a thumbnail image of the picture. To place a pic in the post exactly where you want it, click "manage attachments", then the green button. 100K-300K are good sizes for pics, but the forum will accept smaller and larger ones too. Johanna

Yep. Another good reason to register... Johanna

Tools> Options> Advanced> UNtick "display notification about script errors" Johanna