Johanna

I got barrys, gator, studioN, docado, big o, duke and a couple more of you that sent PMs. My standard disclaimer: I turned the adult section on for you. If you don't see the NSFW section by the Marketplace while logged in, try logging out, then in again. Fair warning- jokes are really baaaad. Johanna Let me know if anyone else wants in the NSFW area of the board. It's private- you must be logged in to see it, and you must click on it to open it. If you look at the board at work, just stay out of that room until you get home. To Google and the outside world, it doesn't exist, so your boss can't see it unless YOU click on it. Johanna Drac brought many of our adult section members to the board, and he was a natural ambassador there. He also submitted a very good tutorial for making floggers that we reworded and pinned in braiding so everyone could see it. I am going to miss Drac.

Yes, they ship out of the country. You may want to email or call for an exact quote. They can't figure the charge until the weigh your package and know where it's going. Johanna

You are wetting the leather when shaping it, right?

The polka dot interior reminded me of the Gateway boxes computers come in. But yes, another example of the spin used to fool the public into thinking they are getting "value". Cloth is cheaper than leather. Like I said, i could justify spending 3 or 4 times that much if, for example, Kevin King made it or Bob Park carved it, but that kind of money for imported not-very-well-made junk- HA! They will never get it out of me. I wouldn't pay $20 for that cover and I don't care whose logo it was. Inferior workmanship and materials is still junk no matter what the tag reads or what it costs. But they are selling them- that's what we have to learn from. Why are those junky covers selling so well? Is it the designer tag? Is it because Amazon promotes them? Is it because they have $3 invested in each unit and are laughing all the way to the bank? If they sold them for $10 each, I wouldn't have started this thread. But they are getting $125 each! How can we, the custom leatherworkers, convince the people wealthy enough to buy things like Kindle Covers to buy from us? The price of the final product is actually not a factor. We could build a smilar case for less that $10 + whatever time spent customizing it. Kate Spade has maybe invested $3 per unit? Sound about right? So how do we get the business? Most of us can build a better case than that and maybe even afford to compete in price, so why aren't our phones ringing instead of Amazon's? Something to think about today. And we can be glad we'll never pay $50 for an eyeglass case cover made out of plastic, too! I also saw an ugly partly-leather purse with a poor design and bad hardware on sale at Penney's this weekend for "only" $150. It's made so badly I wouldn't buy it for Janie at Wally World for $10, My local Penneys will sell dozens of these purses. How can we get the "prestige" of the designer labels? We have quality and customization down pat, but how do we educate the customer that we have good prices and better quality than the factories overseas, and to call us first? Should we all put "Made in America" in our advertising campaigns? What can the custom leather industry do to educate the public and get a share of the dollars currently being spent on mass produced imported stuff? Anyone have any ideas? Johanna

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/ref=pe_70060_17361330_pe_06/?ASIN=B000HBXZXG That's a "Kate Spade Kindle Cover" at $125. No hand carving, no exotic inlay- but it does have the designer logo on the back. It appears to be chrome tanned leather on a fiberboard stiffener. No place to store the cord. For $125???? And would you be interested in some Florida swampland, too? So I started to play with a pencil and came up with a veggie tanned outside, lined with goat or sheep and only one pocket, not a wallet. Then I thought it would be cool if it closed magnetically- just snap it shut. I like lacing, but it adds bulk, and it usually just used to hide raw edges. I can fix that. Total cost in materials for this project is maybe $15, but I can get what I need out of the scrap bin. I haven't been seriously motivated to go in the shop for a long time, but $125 for a mass produced imported designer Kindle Cover- It would be easy to justify paying twice that for a carved one. We all know that. But how many people will plunk down the money and buy the Kate Spade one? thousands? millions? I guess it's a great profit, if you can get it! Maybe I'll try to decorate mine, or get my kids to do it. I can have 10 or 20 of them out of the scrap box, if I want. Mine will not be flimsy or have stitches rip out. And I sure am not paying $125 for a Kindle cover. Johanna

Oh, crap. I wish he'd have reached out to one his many friends.

Could you make a leatherworker.net stamp? Don't ask me for artwork because I haven't got a clue what it should look like. That would be so cool- I would get my kids to pound out keychains and things for the members who wanted them. I like how clear your designs look. ~J PS you need a website so people can see your portfolio. PM CitizenKate or go to her site for ideas http://studio2dawgs.com

Was "online" a word in the 19th century? Kate's right- the steam powered machinery worked when they set it up, and still does the best job now. There is no air conditioned computer room where someone programs the giant pipes and arms, there are guys with wrenches, I suppose. When you walk upstairs to the packing room it smells like leathery butter. The hides are beautiful, and Shep had every right to beam with pride. Hermann Oak makes quality leather. It costs a tich more, but if you need or want very good leather, try it out and see what you think. Kevin of Springfield Leather will cut you a piece for under $5 a sq. foot if you just want to see the difference. I'm not a carver, but I've seen a lot of leather. I know you carvers & stampers can pound out any flaws in the leather creatively. With HO you don't have to, and it's not dry and weak like some of the cheaper leather I've seen at that certain major chain store. It won't dry rot on you ever if you take care of it properly. Johanna Hermann Oak Tannery, St Louis, MO disclaimer: I am not trying to suck up to HO, and the opinions expressed above are my own, not "the board's" or an advertising plug. I may own leatherworker.net, but I don't know as much as some of you, and you can feel free to disagree. I'm not an expert, or even "in the business" anymore, so I don't have dog in any fight. I just share my leather adventures, just like you all do, and expect you to make up your mind. And no matter how big this board grows, or how many people I have to answer to, I'm going to continue to call things as I see them. You folks wouldn't have me any other way.

During the Federation Show sponsored by the Gateway Leather Guild this year, we had the opportunity to visit the Hermann Oak Tannery on the banks of the Mississippi. Shep Hermann, our gracious host, asked us not to take pictures inside the building(s). It was a Saturday, so the plant wasn't in full production mode. They operate 24/7. Really, it was just as well because we could hear Shep Hermann, 4th generation tanner, explain the machines, processes and history of the company and the building and the art of tanning in general. It helps that Shep is about 7 feet tall, too. He is a chemist, world traveller and businessman, and is rightfully proud of what they do. He understands the rationale of each step of the process, and can make leather to any customers specifications. I noticed clipboards hanging with lot preferences and specifications at many workstations, each step initialed down the line throughout the process. And the process is not easy or fast. It used to be that a vegetable tanned hide took over a year to produce, now they have the knowledge and the equipment to do it in a little under 4 months. He explained how you will always find old tanneries by sources of water, because they use a lot of it. Hermann Oak complies with all the pollution laws and even pre-treats their discharge before it goes into the municipal system. In the old days, they used a raceway from the river, and even had a train run through the building. The hides come in folded and salted, and are sorted and graded. Hermann Oak only uses US steer with no brands. (Byproduct of the meat industry, and less than 1% of available hides, I think he said,) It impressed me how many quality controls steps go into making their leather. No wonder many people consider their leather the finest available in the world. We saw the massive drums they use to make different kinds of leather, and we saw the tanning pits. They are about 6-8 feet deep and have been used for 130 years. Shep said if we fell in and swallowed the solution it wouldn't hurt us, but he suggested only doing that in May because we would emerge a lovely a tan color. The tannery is not smelly or icky (but there are some wet spots on the floor). The dedication and care was evident everywhere. They do sell directly to the public, but the minimum is ten hides, which is do-able for a working shop that uses premium leather. Here is a of the operation. I promise to appreciate even more the work that goes into making top quality carving leather, latigo, harness leather after the stacks of blemish-free hides I saw at the tannery. Thank you Shep and Lee for your excellent tour and your hospitality. Johanna

Many people have told me that they disable their ad blockers for this site because they want to see the ads. I know you folks click on new ones. We upgraded the forum software this summer and moved the whole site (It's a little more than 22 gigs total about now) to a dedicated server at the end of August. The site that has the ads also lives on the same server, and we have had many people tell us that the site sped up considerably for them after we made the change. One of the things that was putting stress on the old server was the topic preview function, so we replaced it with IPB's built in "little green box". If you run your cursor down a line of topics, that box will pop up. Click it, and a fast first and last post will show in another small window. It would really help if we all put some thought into topic titles. 10 years from now is anyone going to know what your thread "look what I did this weekend!" is about? In 10 days, even? If you like this site, tell people. Tell your friends. Tell your suppliers, and suggest they advertise with us. Tell our sponsors you appreciate their support of the site and that you saw their ads. Participate on the board, post your pics. We accept donations and sell advertising to survive (do you know what a dedicated server costs?) and as long as you folks want us to be here, we will. Johanna