Johanna

I deleted your avatar. Try it now. If it doesn't work, PM me the new avatar and I'll fix it for you. Johanna

Most leatherworkers who do work that is distinctly uniquely theirs benefit from a gallery/portfolio website. It helps to build credibility and enhance a reputation, and it can be marketed for extra sales. Most of the leatherwork I see on ebay is competing with imports by an emphasis on quality. The ones doing it have standard designs and do such quick production work that a braider or carver might not be able to sustain the pace. Some leatherworkers like custom work because they can charge more for it, and some are able to standardize designs and drop the price. If anyone needs affordable dependable web hosting, PM me. Johanna

Posting pics is easy. Either click "new topic" to start a thread, or "post reply" to answer one. Scroll underneather the message area to "browse" and locateyour attachment. Then click upload. The page will wink and refresh. Pictures are automatically resized by the forum software. To remove an attachment, use the drop down arrow of choices under "manage attachments". I love this place, too! There are some terrific people here, and lots of chances to learn something. Johanna

Good grief, I'm still blushing. A friend suggested I fill in the rest of the story. Here goes! After John died, I began going to church every Sunday morning. Moms take turns watching the little ones in the nursery during the service, so it was probably the only hour during the week I was allowed to complete a thought. Every Sunday, a strange scary looking man would sit behind me and stare at me. I was oblivious, my sister was not. Upon investigation, it turns out I used to play with his sister when I'd visit my grandmother as a child. Okay, creep identified, and I still ignored him. Two years go by. Then my 22 year old cat died on a Saturday, and on Sunday they unfurled a banner that said, "Love never ends" and I started to cry. I'm crying because John isn't around to see our kids, I'm exhausted, and I know I am going home to bury my cat. I leave the sanctuary rather late, and bump into this man on my way to the nursery. He is getting his two kids, I get my two, and he's trying his best to comfort me. And he asked why I'm crying, and I answer "My cat died." and I wait. If he laughs, this conversation is over. If he snickers, I'm gonna beat up his sister for old times sake. Wade doesn't miss a beat. "I'm sorry. That's sad." he says, "No wonder you are upset." I decided at that moment to try to like him. We got married in that church about a year later. He brought over a giant workbench from his house, and helped me round up all the leather shop boxes and unpack them. He reminded me of all the guys that would wander into the Tandy and never want to leave, drooling on the tools and paying with the money folded carefully and tucked behind the kids' pictues in his wallet. (Every Tandy manager has been discreet about the ticket with a customer's Significant Other!) I knew he would be an easy fit, with his experience in wood and metal working. I put the shop together while he hung the lights. I made a couple of belts for family members, turned off the lights and walked out. He spends more time in the shop than I do. I will use it to fix something, or make something if I really really want to, or to entertain the kids, but I'm done in there. I like to go to shows, see old friends, and see all the pics of what people have been up to. There are some neat people in leather land! I wish I could have talked to all you folks when I was learning the ropes. I would have read every post on here, and pestered with questions. I found a bunch of MIWL magazines one time, and read them cover to cover, even though they were already 20+ years old. I remember trying to figure out what a "bosal" was, something that was explained in plain English today. There was no "Google" when I was learning. My daughter is older than Google! The Internet is great for keeping people connected, at their convenience. I'm glad the technology exists to host this forum, and glad you all choose to share some time each day with your teachers, peers and friends. Now everyone get back to work and start pounding something. It's what we do. We're leatherworkers. God bless you all, goodnight. Johanna

The reason they detach is because they hit you or the passenger in the face doing 80 mph down the road. Strictly for show, not for riding. Johanna

Here's an older workshop thread. I think it would be great to see more pics. Johanna

Yep, please do what Art said, too. Thanks, Art. :hug: Johanna

Where is Freak? I can picture him in one of these! Nice work, welcome, here are some chocolate chip cookies. Never eat the doughnuts here. How do you make the horns stay on? If someone pulled one, would it come off? Johanna

Nope, leatherworker.net isn't going to have a store. But I would like visitors to browse to quickly find the eleven guys who could make their dream item, visit their websites and make their own arrangements. I would love to find some software that allows people to do their own content (like a myspace page) to invite people to their websites. I don't want leatherworker.net to be responsible for bookkeeping, inventory, shipping, taxes, insurance et. al. but I do recognize the site's potential ability to direct sales. I am hoping that the ability to search a database of leatherworkers by specialties helps in the education of leatherworking newbies as well as providing extra prestige and sales to all the hardworking leatherworker participants. If they would reciprocate with a link on their site to leatherworker.net, it would be good for us all in the search engines, too. If anyone hasn't already sent me a site banner and some pics, send me that, and permission to use it, to: profiles@leatherworker.net so that your site gets included in the update. I currently only have 140 or so on the list, so if you're not sure, send me a note. To be clear- this has nothing to do with the Marketplace dealer designation we have for businesses that intend to make more than 20 "sales flyer" type ads in posts a year. If you want to use the Marketplace as a source of advertising, you will find an audience here on this board, so PM Art for information. Johanna

Luis, I'm going to move this to the Show Off section, and return it to here in a few weeks. Very nice, thank you for sharing! Johanna

Carrying ready made inventory depends on the kind of work you do, but one thing it is essential to have is pictures to show as examples of your work. Whether they are used as references on a website or placed in a hand sewn photo album to be placed into a customer's hands, pictures will help your credibility and sales. Best of luck, Heather. It is my dream that all competent leatherworkers have the option to quit their day job. Johanna

Carving quotes takes up a lot of space. Maybe some gold foil leafing would satisfy the customers? This leather business card is 15? years old, and the letters aren't showing any signs of wear. Johanna

Whoo-hoo! It WORKED!! (jumping up and down in my tinfoil underwear now!) Johanna

We have been moving threads out of the Show Off forum into the categories of leatherwork they represent for the convenience of our guests and new members. If someone is interested in motorcycle leather, for example, there is an entire forum devoted to the subject that they can browse through. It works well this way, because each new item can be spolighted in Show Off, then viewed later in its regular forum. Not everyone wants to see everything, and the forum is well suited to selective reading. If you are having trouble using the built in search feature, click over to the regular main page and use the Google "search this site". You can also click on a member's name and see the threads they started, and the topics they posted in. The forum search will now accept three-letter words, too. Johanna

Try it now. ~J

*Johanna hugs Ben.

I'm sorry you guys are having these problems. I don't know why this is happening either. I have been looking around the IPB site for an answer beyond clearing cookies. If I don't find anything better, tonight I will zap the whole forum while wearing my own tinfoil hat. Interesting that it works for some of you when you log out. Skipj- I thought you got yours working? Johanna

On the main page, right above the section at the bottom titles "board statistics", on the right, click "delete cookies set by this board". Click the "help" at the top right of the page, then "cookies" to get detailed instructions for clearing cookies in different browsers. Reboot and find your tinfoil hat. Johanna

What Alex means is that there is an adult area on this board, but you have to request it to be visible to you. About half of our members "see" the adult section. It's not a particularly busy part of the board, and the jokes are really baaaad, but it neatly holds anything that some folks might find offensive. If you want access, just send me a PM that says, ummm..."Turn me on!" LOL Johanna

Hmmm... Once upon a time I was asked to be the webmaster for a Very Big Leather Guild (VBLG). To make a long story short, they fired me a couple of times. One of the problems I tried to address during my brief tenure as their webmaster was that the guild had outgrown Yahoo's mailing lists, and that Yahoo had lots of limitations. I don't think that they believed there was a better way to do things? A few people encouraged me to just do it anyway, so I bought an IPB license and scribbled the forum outline on the back of somebody's homework. Holly, ClayB, Kate, Bruce and Art must have rolled their eyes, but they have lent their dedicated assistance since we first went online. I was "banned for life" from the VBLG at the beginning of this year for posting a direct link to Clay's first figure carving tutorial on the Yahoo guild list. It was called "spam". (VBLG will not link to this site to this day because they say they can't be sure leatherworker.net is "family friendly.") I don't know what the VBLG is up to these days, but we dwarf them in size, and are richer in content. We offer selective reading, and there is no obligation to chip into the kitty, though donations are welcome. This makes leatherworking information available to anyone that's interested, and I'm pleased about that. What makes this site so great is all the fantastic people that are here, sharing what they know, sharing what they did, and having a good time. If you belong to the VBLG, mention my name or this site to stir up excitement. You will probably be moderated or have your posts deleted, and if you complain, you might get banned for life, too! But only do it to entertain yourself. I have no beef with 99% of the VBLG's members. Why should I? Those folks are here, some in disguise, eating doughnuts, swapping stories and meeting new friends. I am forever indebted to the site's staff, ambassadors and members for all the things they do to make this place run smoothly and keep all the guns in their holsters. The people here make this board special. It's an honor to keep the coffee fresh and the lights on. Johanna

Go to the main page and delete your cookies set by this board. Log out, then in. I did a lot of mods today, and I might have been working when you tried to see the new forums. We moved lots of posts today, and all should be in order now. Johanna

We have added categories to the Marketplace forum. We are locking and closing older "for sale" threads, or ones marked as "Sold!" Art graciously volunteered to moderate this area, and will be happy to discuss the new "dealer designation" with qualified applicants. We are happy to host leatherland's free classified ads! Please post your business ad today! Johanna

Please log out, shut down your browser, then log in again. Let me know if the problem is still happening. I changed a setting in the ACP that should fix this. (disabled stronghold cookie) Johanna

Marketplace Rules 1. Post must have a clear and descriptive topic title. 2. Post must contain a complete description of item(s); make, model, condition, height, width, length, weight. color etc. Condition noted as: New, Refurbished, Like New, Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor, Parts Only, and or Percentage of New condition, 100% being New or Like New. 3. Post must contain explanation of what item is or does. 4. Post should contain picture or pictures of item when possible. 5. Post must contain definite price in USD for the item, we know prices are negotiable but a price nonetheless. Shipping policy needs to be stated clearly. 6. Post must be modified with additional information as necessary, and marked when item is sold. ALL MACHINES FOR SALE MUST INCLUDE PICTURE. 7. Leatherworker.net assumes no responsibility or liability for any seller or buyer. Caveat Emptor. 8. Responses to ads can be accepted through the forum or privately. Email addresses may not be posted in public. Posting telephone numbers and addresses wll be at the discretion of the member. 9. Posts older than 60 days, or items marked "sold" will be archived. 10. Any post is subject to editing or deletion solely at the moderators' discretion. Members or businesses wishing to place more than 20 ads per year are requested to donate to the site to receive a "Dealer" designation. Dealers will receive preferred placement consideration and banner ads on the site's resource listings. Dealers will also be given a private forum for business or personal use moderated by Art. PM Admin for more information.

I don't think my children look at a herd of cows in the field and think "Steaks and blankets!" because of our society's Wal-Mart mentality and plastic packaging. I've heard it said that the only part of a cow that isn't used is the "Moo!" Thanks, Kevin! Johanna