Johanna

Correct address for Carol Higgins: 1314 Valdosta Dr. Fort Wayne, In. 46825 Lonestar has been notified of the problem. Johanna

Hi, Dan, and welcome to leatherworker.net ! I like the way you decided to make your skull and star seat natural. I'm partial to leather that looks like leather. Some of the bike seat makers carve beautiful work, and then the customer insists that it all be dyed black, and poof! there goes the detail. You do nice airbrushing work, too. Glad you found the forum, and hope to see you around often! Johanna

This is a problem...there are no classes or mentoring programs that I am aware of. 99% of us learned by trial and error, anything we could get our hands on to read, and/or at an agreeable person's elbow. We have no formal education in our trade, and the only standards set are the ones for individual associations, like the IFoLG. If you want to do ceramics, pottery, weaving, crocheting, oil painting and so on...there are classes. In the US, your best chances of getting some direct instruction is to bug a Tandy employee or join one of the guilds that really try to keep the craft alive and well. How does one learn how to be a saddlemaker? In Germany, I believe there is an apprentice program, similar to what other trades have. In the USA do you read some Al Stohlman books, rip up and redo a few saddles and hang out a shingle? In Al's day, you worked at a saddle shop doing all the grunt work until you interested someone enough to take you under their wing. Old timers were tight lipped about the business, and working in a shop of importance had a prestige. Most of the modern day saddle makers are independents, or supervise production work. Verlane's classes are the only college classes I've heard of except the boot & saddle courses which were an experiment in Oklahoma? at a college and no, I son't remember the name. Late nineties? Am I ringing any bells? I can't remember the name of the school, but it seems to me the certification died out not for lack of interest, but for the high tuition fees. (Please someone correct me or fill in the blanks if you remember what I am referring to!) But it is a problem. People are hungry for classes, but classes aren't profitable enough for most artists, and require significant amounts of travel. Leatherworkers are known for being a solitary sedentary lot, not wanting to haul around a portable shop, either. But the truth of the matter lies on the front page of this board. Look at all the categories and see the amount of posts, and compare it to "Youth Groups" which has 6. Think of all the youth group leaders who are Googling for youth group projects and ideas, and how much info they are going to find to give them the confidence to make wristbands or belts in Scouts, at camp, at church, in school, etc. If they don't feel sure, they can't request funds for a dozen mallets and 3-D stamps, alphabet sets and then the leather...think "kits" and there is a sizeable investment. The kids love the classes, and they make useful things, but if the leaders are afraid to try leather work, they will do paper crafts. If we don't get today's youth involved, more of our art will be lost. Getting down now... :soapbox: Johanna

I'm checking into this, Regis. Will post an update ASAP. Johanna

Being your member, I would like to get a very important advise. My son Mr. Azeem Malik, is a brilliant Hand Carver and officiating the relevant wing in our company. I have got a distinctive Manufacturing House at my disposal, producing eminent Leather Products. Our site: www.theleatherartisan.com will briefly demonstrate our efforts giving beauteous shape to leather capturing the echo of tradition and blend it with the rhythm of modern times. I like him to gain advance knowledge and technique of carving, lacing, painting in Dye and Acrylic colors etc. There is no such institute or classes in Pakistan. Is there any possibility that he can attend regular classes for a certain period under your management, or otherwise he may learn this unique knowledge from any Master in this field, known to you. I will be grateful if you kindly let me know the classes, schedule, assorted courses along with its time duration, fee and other expenditures. Regards, Inam Ulhaq Malik http://www.leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showuser=1077

Happy birthday, Bruce! Don't do anything I wouldn't do! Johanna

If anyone is looking for full featured web hosting service, I can provide that at a reasonable cost. NetSol is one of the biggies, and they have good plans, but they don't have the personal touch, and I can undercut their prices, while still providing all the bells and whistles of a good web host. I'm not trying to sell anyone anything, just letting you know that there are alternatives. Johanna

I've still got the machine, and the manuals & parts list. Quite a few people have asked about it, but not one person has made me an offer- they keep asking me what I want for it! I need to get rid of it before my husband becomes too attached to it (or attaches his hand to something!) Someone make me an offer: johanna@leatherworker.net Johanna

I use Leather Balm with Atom Wax or water and a rub, as suggested above. If I were going to dye it, I would choose oil dye because it seems to penetrate better. On the top side of the leather (grain side) maybe use a cut up sponge or scrap sheepswool to apply the dye. Better two light coats than one heavy one. As one of the masters once said, "You can always make something darker and shorter, but never lighter and longer." No hide will ever absorb dye evenly; the best you can hope for is streak free. Well, I take that back. The fancy English tanned zillion dollar a square foot and blemish free (but small hides) leather will take dye evenly most of the time. K-Man- how do you finish the insides of your holsters? Johanna

bruceThe way I've seen it done is on an angle like you describe, and the cut is made halfway into the leather. I suppose 8/9 oz would be the "thinnest" leather I would attempt to stitch like that. The work I saw was done on skirting leather- 10/14 oz. weights. You can either wet the leather after stitching and pound it, or use cement. When pounding, insert a scrap piece in between the work and the hammer (a cobblers hammer is wonderful for job like this, and lacing, too) so you don't accidentally mar the leather near the seam. I have also seen this technique used in SCA armor (to be period authentic maybe?) and now I'm going to have to look it up and find out the historical significance because I'm curious. Johanna

Well, of course they liked it! You are doing some great work, and anyone who gets to plop their derrière onto one of your works of art should be delighted. In fact, if they rebuild the bike next year, they'll likely keep the seat. Duh. I suspect that if I asked around privately, I'd find out you're not getting paid as well as you should be, either. Leatherworkers with your talent shouldn't have to have day jobs, unless they want them. Johanna

I was taught to pound stitches (and lacing) to "set" them in veggie tanned leather. If you ask 50 leatherworkers how to do something, you will get 51 different answers, so I want to know if you folks pound your stitches in, too? If you do, why? If you don't, why not? I'm curious to hear the reasoning behind the methods, and what works best for you. Johanna

Bruce, I've seen that trick to hide the stitch line, and it's not only functional, but it can be attractively "invisible". I've heard both sides of the stitching groover debate, and the protection from abrasion on the stitches makes sense to me, as long as the leather is thick enough. A groover should make more of a "scratch" than a "channel", anyway. Anytime you sew (punch holes in leather), you have a weak spot. The trick is to spread the tension over a big enough area, and to teach the consumer to properly care for the item to avoid dry rot and have it come apart no matter how it's been sewn. (I always felt bad for people who brought us old neglected things for repair/restoration and were disappointed that we couldn't "save" the original leather because it wasn't in good enough condition to hold a stitch.) I was also taught to pound stitches into the leather. If you can run a fingernail down your stitch line and the thread catches, there is a potential problem, and you should probably pull the thread out and start over. Johanna

Jim, that tip about the black is one of the most well kept secrets in leatherland, and you just told the world! Hey, it would look nice any color. Cheers from Ohio! Johanna

Link to Us I'm working on updates right now. Thank you everybody who took the time to send a message with new, updated or other relevant info. You folks are great! Johanna

Myriam, those are GREAT! Can I post them on the other side of the site? I will make every page link back to your site. Welcome to leatherworker.net! Johanna

Clay, the DOG has been licking the doughnuts? I was blaming the time difference, and you are feeding our breakfast to the dog?? You're fired. Anyone live near a Krispy Kreme? (Oh, how I miss them!) Thanks everyone for the positive feedback on the site changes. We are growing, and we are lucky to have dedicated people like Bruce who are willing to put the time and effort into making this site tick. The forum software allows us to tweak for clarity and convenience, so keep the suggestions and ideas for improvement coming! You folks are wonderful. Johanna

I'm not a leather carver by any stretch of the imagination, but I never held a more perfectly balanced knife than the ones Bob Beard makes. If you get a chance to go to a trade show the vendors will let you try out the different knives. Swivel knives are definitely one tool where one size/style isn't going to fit all. The right knife for you is going to be the one that suits your style and fits your hand the best, and that's hard to tell from a catalog. Johanna

Beeze...you're talking that kind of money and spending it on tools?? I would be ordering a new fancy-shmancy computer..Oh, wait, that's a tool, too, isn't it? One thing Beeze and David do that I really admire is the initial design work. Lettering like that is one of the hardest things to do (everyone is glancing at the scrap box and nodding!) and so is "pulling it all together" which both of you do well. David incorporated everything they wanted into the seat without making it look messy or silly. Not an easy job! (Ask any tattoo artist!) I hope to see it finished, too- don't forget a picture or 10, David! Nice! Johanna

Correction: I didn't ask Bruce to oversee this area, I begged him. When he agreed, I did a happy dance. Like Bruce, I'm interested in learning all I can. Lucky for us, Bruce knows waaaay more than I do about saddle and horse topics. Thank you, Bruce, for all your help! If there is anything we can do to make the saddle & tack area more convenient or useful, please PM Bruce or me and give us your suggestions. Welcome to leatherworker.net, and please make yourselves comfortable. Please add your links to your profile and/or signature to help get more traffic to your site. Leatherworker.net is public, and the search engines love us. Remember that a post you make today could help someone, or some horse, down the line. Thanks for being here, and complain to ClayB about the doughnuts. He's always late with them, and half are gone when he gets here. Johanna

It's made out of molded leather. It's easier to do the molding with something underneath to brace it. Experiment with a garden statue or something until you have the feel for the leather, and how wet it needs to be. Without a form to follow, you must pay attention to the details, and a good set of modeling spoons/tools will help. The masks and roses molding tutorial under "Tips & Tricks" on the main page goes over all the basics. The rest is left up to the imagination. You can finish that kind of wall hanging art with a thick Neat Lac spray for a high gloss finish, because it isn't subject to stress. What exactly do you want to know from Cheryl? I can contact her easily, but I don't think she's going to tell you anything differently than what we can. I moved this into the adult section because the art is a nude female form. I find this kind of art beautiful, but search engines for AOL, Yahoo, MSN & Google etc and the new anti spyware/parental controls all have "family friendly" rules, and a violation could get the whole forum blacklisted. Because of the risk, if I'm going to err, it will be on the side of caution, not common sense. Johanna

The Straight Dope

Ha ha...you folks are all showing your age! Tandy has spent a lot of money since the Sixties to get people to call it "carving", (Which I suppose justifies prices!) not "stamping" (stamping tools are for Boy Scouts). And here come a few "new" old-timers, who have admired and looked up to the famous names mentioned above, and you all call it "stamping", just like they did. So much for Tandy and their effort to change the vocabulary! Seriously, welcome to all of you! We are very glad you are here! Would any of you be willing to share pics from your personal collections of the masters? I've heard the names, but never seen their work. If you folks consider them to be the very best, I'm curious to see why, and want to see examples of their styles. Here in Ohio "stamped" saddles just aren't common. Most of the horses belong to the Amish, and they aren't big on decoration, of course. I'm sure I'm not the only person wondering what the "standard" for stamping really is? I'm just as interested the history of leatherwork as I am in current events, and I would love to see the work mentioned and read your comments, so that I can learn something. If you don't mind sharing, I'd love to look. Johanna

Hope all is well with you and yours! Johanna

Please send additions, corrections, updates and so forth to admin@leatherworker.net Suppliers Johanna