Johanna

Thank you everyone! All I do is keep the lights on and the coffee fresh. It's all of you that make this place fun to be- learning and laughing. You leather folks are the very best. ~J

Craftaids are a good place to start. After you've developed a feel for the leather and your tools, like Mike said, you can carve an original piece. If Kathy reads this post she will think "Huh?" and wonder if you're okay, JLS. I don't know what it is exactly, but I feel like you're picking at Mike, and I don't know why. Both of you have spent many hours helping others, so you share the same objective. Please be mindful that we are all friends here, and there is no need to go out of the way to be rude. Charging for lessons: The old man I learned from explained that any time away from the bench cost us money. He could carve a good pic of your sailboat or girlfriend and that's how he made his money. His leatherwork was personal. I learned everything at his elbow trying to do things so he could do what only he could do, carve leather his style and the customer's way. No one is getting rich selling lessons except maybe Tandy. The lessons being offered now by Elktracks and Learnleather.com are state of the art, and expenses have to be paid. It's a fair trade, IMO, and it's helping people. Video technology has made huge strides, and most of us can understand it better when we see it, rather than read it. Most of us learned by the standard of the father of leatherwork, Al Stohlman. He was the one that wrote the books, he wasn't the best leatherworker in the world necessarily. History is always made by those who write the books. PS Mike, FB is holding LW's posts and shares hostage, so as an experiment I "boosted" the promo Dave made. For whatever reason they aren't showing it outside the US. I'm annoyed with FB because they want us to use them to crosslink, but they want to charge me money to share info that interests a lot of people. I'll keep you posted. ~J

Go to a monument (gravestone) company. Out back they have a pile of stones that are chipped or have the wrong engraving, or some reason they were discarded. Often as not, they'll let you have a piece for free if you tell them what you what the stone for. Take a strong friend if you want a heavy thick piece.

Learnleather.com is the most convenient source of videos for serious leatherworkers. If you attend the class you can ask questions in real time, but either way, you can watch the video, start, rewind and pause, over and over again. The teachers are masters of their style and they patiently guide you through whatever the lesson is. If you don't see what you're interested in, ask. They will find a pro and set up a class. Most leatherworkers are willing to share their ideas and techniques because they know no one can steal their imaginations, which the lack of is the only thing that will ever limit your progress.

The old man never soaked his leather or put it in the fridge or buried a dead cat and walked counterclockwise circles around it. He spritzed it with water evenly every time he went to work on a piece. That's it. Simple. (He did prefer distilled water, but if he was carving most of it he didn't care). I was astounded when I first learned there were 47 ways to case leather and no one will ever agree. Bob Beard is still making tools, but get your order in soon. He's usually working at least a year out. ~J

Okay, more donuts are here. Clay's dog used to lick the icing off of them, so we switched to cookies after awhile. But Krispy Kreme is nationwide now, so I put a microwave in the corner. 8 seconds to heaven.

That’s my fault for trying to post on my phone instead of my computer. I’ll fix the times. Sorry.

This is exactly the place to solicit work like this and if you aren't interested in taking jobs like this, move on. Some people are interested, and that is why this section exists- to help link up people who want something made with someone who can make it for them. Thank you for your understanding. ~J

I'm shutting this down because it's become ugly. This isn't the place to discuss this subject.

The ads at the top of the page keep the lights on 24/7 for anyone to wander our halls. If you do business with any of these companies, please tell them you appreciate their support of leatherworker.net. Thank you! ~J

IPB discontinued the chat software with no notice or explanation for all their customers. The word is that there was an exploit in it that they couldn't patch or fix. I'm getting a third-party chat software like we had in the old old days, but I want to make sure the new software is safe and works properly. Give me a day or two and we'll be back in chat, then I will need you guys to help me make sure everything is working properly and do whatever tweaks we need. Thanks! ~J

Oh my, this is a new one. Let me see what I can do. (I get a tone sound) ~J

I'm checking into this now. Thanks everyone!

Search seems to be working okay, but I'll check into it further. ~J

Hi Boriqua Alex! Next time I'm in AZ I hope to buy you a cup of coffee. Have a wonderful day! ~J

In the search box on the top right of the page, click the magnifying glass icon and you will be on the advanced search page. If there is an option you want that we don't have, let me know and I will try to add it. http://leatherworker.net/forum/search/

I try to zap the spammers as soon as I see them, or someone reports them. We get kind of busy some days, and I appreciate the help when someone clicks the "report" button. As far as the emails go- our server had a serious hiccup this week. I got over a thousand "old" emails, so I understand the frustration, but that's what happened when we cleared up the bigger problem. Emails spontaneously flew. Sigh. There is a setting for this, however, in your control panel. You can configure your notifications to your liking. The board will send you a notice for everything, nothing, or something in between. You can even get once a week notifications, or you can shut it off entirely. I'm sorry for the inconvenience with the extra emails and occasional spammer. If that is the worst problem today, however, I will be thankful. ~J