Johanna

I'm headed west tonight. I plan to be there Thursday- it's kind of a long drive, but I'm sick of airports and airplanes. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone! Johanna

You did a very classic pattern that I'm sure they will treasure always. I like the way you incorporated the quilting into the design, and you did a great job of getting it all even. I'm sure your brother and his wife are delighted! Thanks for sharing. Johanna

All non-profits, including leather guilds, 4-H, and local groups (with the exception of churches) MUST file an annual return, even if donations are less than $25K, the old ceiling. Groups and clubs with non-profit status that fail to file the paperwork risk being taxed on their revenue and donors will owe tax on contributions. The deadline for filing is midnight tonight, but you can apply for a three month extension. From USAToday For more info, see the IRS site. Johanna

Hi Ann! Glad it helped! I know what you mean about tired eyes. I think I need new glasses because I am back to looking through the very bottoms of my bifocals again. ~J

Hold your Control key down and move your scroll wheel on your mouse until it looks like you want it to. You can also change the size by clicking "view" and selecting "text size" in Internet Explorer. Johanna

This is one of those stories that have circulated on the Internet for a few years. The joke comes from the fact that it's easier to pick on rich ladies in fur coats than bikers in leather. Anyone uninformed enough to not know that leather is a byproduct of the meat industry deserves to be tied to a tree and...well... Johanna

I do like Normow says, dye the leather a blue or green first, then finish off with black Leather Balm with Atom Wax and buff until I'm sick of buffing, then just a little more. Did you guys notice this thread started in Dec 2008? We're still here, having a party! Johanna

Thank you, Bob, for adding me to the list. I am looking forward to meeting everyone! Johanna

Fifteen years ago a friend needed money and offered us a "Singer that would sew leather" for $400. We had a busy shop, and we snatched it up. It took awhile, but John got it humming, and he could sew anything on that machine as graceful as a ballerina. That old Singer is a mattress machine, and sews something like 750 stitches per minute. It scares the hell out me. After he died, I never messed with it. I always did enjoy sewing by hand. Fast forward and I meet Jerry Zonis, the owner of Artisan. He sat me down at one of his machines and I was sewing leather like a pro in less han ten minutes. When we bought the Singer, a comparable machine to the Artisan one would have been around $5K. In John's experienced hands, the Singer worked just fine. I could have easily sewn my arm to a side of saddle skirting before he could have dialed 911. A complete idiot like me can thread an Artisan and sew- and to be fair, this is true of all the dealers- Artisan, Cobra, Cowboy, Techsew and Tippmann for sure- you can call them up and say "Hey, what's wrong here?" or send them a picture and they will answer you in understandable plain English. Jerry, Steve, Ryan & Bob Kovar, Ronnie and Bob Tippmann are all easy to talk to and they will tell you what you need to have to get the job done, and how to get things working if you mess up. I know all these guys, and they are knowledgeable and friendly. So if the choice is to buy an old machine and tinker with it because you want to, great. But if you need to step up production in the shop and go to the next level, you can buy a brand new machine that suits your needs from a company that offers service after the sale for a lot less than you could 20 years ago. The Singer has a lovely 4 foot long work table that has a bunch of crap piled on it right now. For novices like me, there is a lot to be said for speed reducer motors. Until I met one of them, a Tippmann Boss was the only machine I felt comfortable operating. Tippmans are reliable sturdy machines, but you may not want to pull the handle for every stitch. I've seen the Cobras and Artisans and Cowboys and Techsews sew through tough leather as sweet as you please. Go to a dealer or a tradeshow and test drive the new machines, talk to the dealers and be prepared to answer "What do you want to sew?" If you want to play with some old machines, PM me and I will send you some names of members here who do that for a living- buy old machines and fix them up for resale. They are great guys, too, and if you get stuck finding parts, they will know where to find one. There are some hustlers out there, too. I can tell you who NOT to buy a used anything from. DougVL, I think everyone here is pretty much saying the same thing- since new machines are affordable and dependable, there isn't any need to buy one to work on unless you want to. If you want to do that, it can be a fun hobby, just like fixing up old cars. If the leatherworker just wants to sew, he should call or visit a dealer and get several opinions before making a choice, just like he would if he were buying a new car. Johanna

We are sad to tell you that Bill Reis died this morning. Many of us have fond memories of Bill, and he had many friends in leather land with his easy smile and hearty laugh. Our deepest sympathies to his family and friends. The details aren't all available yet, but there will be a wake on Friday evening, May 14, at the Carlson Funeral Home in Rhinelander, with a burial service on Saturday, May 15. Please contact Dot and the family with your condolences at The Leathercrafters & Saddlers Journal. Johanna

It looks like a pricking iron on one side, and maybe a gas powered creaser on the other? I'm curious- what is it? Johanna

Are non ASMA members allowed to attend? How about non-saddle making people? I'd like to be there, and I know a treemaker that would, too. If it's closed to the public please let us know. Johanna

That forum sound Draconian. Just tell the needlebar folks that they are welcome here, and I'll put on more coffee and find extra chairs. We don't have all those rules. You can read or not read what you want, and post what you think. If you ask for help, you'll get it, and everyone has opinions if you want those, too. If you sewing machine guys want an expanded section, we can do that for you. Tell me how you want it set up. Johanna

Sam, this is an old thread. TLF owns the rights to the Doodle Pages, so digitally sharing them without permission is not possible. I will get my daughter to catalog my paper collection this summer and be glad to give away any duplicates to anyone who is interested, but I won't sell any because I didn't pay for any of them. Maybe if you have friends in high places at Tandy, they will give you a copy of the infamous CD? It's a real treasure, packed with nostalgia and information from some of the most respected artists in the business, dead and alive, front and back scans of all the Doodle Pages. If Tandy would publish it, I would tell anyone who wants to improve their leatherwork art to buy it. But, AFAIK, it's not available at this time. Johanna

Ran into this site by accident and saw: I read some more of the site, but don't understand enough to make a good evaluation. What do you folks think of the advice given there? Johanna

When the US economy tanked, some leatherworkers compensated for the loss of jobs or reduced hours by stepping up their leather sideline business. A few even jumped in with both feet and made it (so far!) A respected wholesale supplier explained to me that when the economy wasn't so hot, leather and related supply sales usually went up. I saw evidence of that with the increased interest in sewing machines. Ten years ago when we had a shop, a machine to take us to the next level would have cost us maybe $5K, and that was out of reach. The quality of the machines has gone up and the prices have come down. Even a one man shop has a sewing machine in reach. Now, thanks to the Internet and UPS, leatherworkers have a broader customer base. People have commented that the LW Directory has brought them business from all over the world. Today I heard that a well respected house of leather may liquidate its inventory and sell its customer list. He listed the reasons why it just wasn't worth his time and energy to keep beating a dead horse. Last week I talked to another player in the big-lot leather sales, and he isn't going out of business, but demand for product from manufacturers has sharply reduced, and he isn't making any money. A leather retailer (not wholesale jobber) told me that cut leather was selling better than sides because hobby people didn't want to spend that much money, because the price of leather has gone up. He estimated that he's only getting a 15% margin on uncut leather, and that, my friends, is low. He's making his money on the other craft items in the store and sales are actually up- foot traffic and Internet. He speculated that maybe people had more time because they were under-employed or jobless, or that they were trying to save money by making their own gifts. His experience sounds similar to what another retailer described to me, only the second retailer has much more volume in sales. He commented that customer service and being able to adapt more quickly to customer requests was an advantage he had over the one company that gets the bulk of the hobby/one-man-shop/ and smaller sales. But even he carries some of the big guy's products. So what's the future? Are we on an upswing, slide down, normal pattern- what's going on? What do you see ahead for the suppliers and makers? We know our prices are too low, but some are making it and some aren't. What can we be doing better as an industry to put the concept of value back in the consumers' minds? How can we improve our businesses to keep up with the changing times? I know these are rather broad questions, but I'd like to hear what you think about leather and the economy, the businesses that are associated with our success (or failure) and ideas to survive the next storm. What worked for you to weather this one? What didn't? Johanna

Someone please write out the directions for cream of tartar cleaning. School open house in 15 minutes. ~J did a quick search: Carl B. from the O-Mi-O Guild

If this were a job, I'd apply. Have laptop, will travel. ~J PS will I see you again in Sheridan?

The only settings for receiving notifications in the gallery that I know of are to subscribe to an image, and if you posted it, you should be auto-subbed unless you've opted out. I will check into this further. Thanks for mentioning it. Johanna