Johanna

You do some fantastic work, thank you for sharing. I look forward to seeing more of your work! Welcome to LW! Johanna (I hid one pic because we keep the main forum family friendly. PM me if you want access to the adult area. Work that good should be seen, but we have to respect the folks who prefer not to see nudes and certain words.)

I made my reservations at the Holiday Inn today. The only rooms they have available are the block for the Leather Show and there aren't many left. All the other rooms are sold out. I think she said $92 a night. I plan to get in Thursday sometime. Johanna

Pricking irons mark the stitching holes you are going to make with an awl. They aren't made to penetrate the leather, just dent it. Thonging chisels (gang punches) make slots for lacing. The come in different sizes for various laces. A stitching chisel makes smaller holes and saves you having to use the awl. The last tool pic looks like it makes round holes. Hope that helps. Johanna

Dave, please PM me with an address so LW can send flowers. Also, if you see Jane, tell her we're praying for George, hoping for the best, and sending our love. Johanna

I don't get it- you folks asked for this, wanted it, told me you would use it. The traffic is already there, but most of you haven't claimed your ads yet. Some of you said you were tech-confused, so Kate wrote tutorials and help pages with screenshots, (circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back of each 8" X 10" glossy!) just to make it as simple as possible. Kate, Crystal and I have answered a few questions, but the response has been underwhelming. It doesn't make sense to me at all because I used to depend on the shop to pay bills. Those of you who run your own businesses: how many lost opportunities and sales can you afford to miss? I have messages saying "I got work from the Directory!" and that makes me smile. I know the advertising works. It's cheap, and it works. The directory is getting about a thousand views a day. But if you folks don't use it then it's too much work to maintain it. If the majority of you don't care, and if the suppliers don't want to chip into the kitty for the service of directing customers to their sites, well, obviously sales are so good they don't need our help. Leatherworker.net has more than 7 million pagehits so far in March, and 50,000+ unique visitors in the last two weeks. Where can you get that kind of exposure to a target market? Why a leatherworker or especially a supplier wouldn't want to take advantage of LW's size and power beats me! I only WISH a comprehensive searchable list was in place when I had a leather shop, back in the dinosaur days. If your sales could stand some improvement, why not give us a try? We're making free enhanced ads for awhile just to kick this off, and we've offered to help each of you get set up, no charge. We agreed to do this because we believe in it. I don't know what else to do to encourage you to participate. One of LW's original goals was to prevent leatherworkers from having to get day jobs. If you folks like your day jobs, then I misunderstood, and I'm sorry. I loved being a self employed leather lady, once upon a time, and I was hoping more members could afford to choose with LW's help. The staff is going to take the whole Directory thing under review, and if is determined that the members and businesses don't really want it after all, we'll delete the listing features and make all the shoppers who visit LW guess where to find stuff they want to buy, just like they used to have to do before we built the Directory. Some of those customers will get frustrated and not bother, others will call your competitors, and the newbies will probably lose interest. I just don't want to hear any complaints if the Directory goes away. If it is deleted, it only means no one cared enough to support it. The irony is that supporting the directory means an immediate jump in sales- call it an investment. This "yellow pages" is priced to cover costs, not to make anyone rich, and was intended as a convenience to members and enthusiasts. and a tool to reward our supplier friends with business, no matter what their budget. Kate and Crystal put a lot of work into the Directory because plan could help all of you. I'm disappointed that no one seems to care that the most effective advertising out of all the media that is available to leatherworker suppliers is also the cheapest, and we've got the numbers, stat reports, international scope, and personal references to back up everything we say. Please talk me out of pushing the big red button. Johanna

Did you try Zack White's or Springfield Leather? How about Siegel? They carry more of a selection of leather than anyone you mentioned except maybe Waterhouse. Construction Leather- why don't you ask Churchill if he wants to advertise here? It would save you a lot of typing when you suggest Brettuns Village for everything people ask about. Johanna

I guess I don't understand what you are wanting. Each post is date and time stamped, so it's easy to tell which topics are older. On the list under the threads it says the last poster and the date. Since I'm missing something in your question, please clarify, and I will try to help. ~J

In the US if you are caught without liability insurance your drivers license gets suspended. Do it again and you might go to jail. I think we have more room that you do, and wider streets? Wade and I have 3 trucks, a Dodge Durango with a hemi, an Ford 350 dually and a Chevy S-10. The Ford gets 10 mpg loaded, towing or empty, but it is a delight to drive, just a pain to squeexe into tiny parking spaces. We also have two cars. We're married, over 40, no claims, so we theoretically have all the available discounts. We only carry comprehensive on the Dodge. Insurance for "the fleet" runs about $100 a month. Gas prices are on the rise again- almost $3 a gallon here just in time for Spring. In our household, gasoline costs more than insurance. Some states (like Pennsylvania) have mandatory safety and emissions inspections. You pass, or they scrape off your sticker and you can't drive until repairs are made. Ohio State Troopers can pull you over and conduct one if they feel like it, but you have to have a door duct taped on or something egregious like that for them to bother. Americans love their trucks. They are practical (you can haul several sewing machines at once!) and they are big enough that they don't get splashed too bad on a wet highway. The steel in my Dodge makes me think I could possibly survive a wreck. I don't know how we'd tow the camper or haul stuff for family and friends without the Ford. When you have a truck, you have friends on their moving day! My Dodge has 4WD so it's great when Mother Nature deposits several feet of snow and we're out of milk. When I lived in Georgia, it seemed that many families had his and her trucks. His had a gun rack, hers had child seats. Both usually had big dogs guarding the steering wheel while parked. ~J

You would not believe the spam the word "leather" attracts. That's why we have the new members on mod approval. I don't shock easily, but I have seen things that made me go: Don't ever do a Google search on "leather man" with small children in the room. Whew! No one wants to see all that! Johanna

Not the greatest picture, but here is the back and the front of the cards I got inexpensively from Vistaprint. The cardstock is heavy enough to proclaim "quality", and I love the "leatherish" design. ~J

I already blocked the dates out on my calendar, and I want to drive this year because there are so many side trips to make. You'll recognize me right away- short lady, cheap imported purse. I went last year, and it was sooooo much fun. The people are great, the leather vendors are awesome, the hotel is clean and friendly, Kings Saddlery is in town, along with Sheridan Leather Outfitters. There are beautiful places to explore and historic sites nearby...but the real deal for your leatherworkers are the classes! Go to the Saddlers Journal website and sign up now. You won't regret hanging out with some of the very best teachers in Leather Land. ~J

Yep, what NoahL said. Windows Mail (comes with Vista and up as a replacement for OE) has the junk folder. Now that you aren't depending on dial up, please make sure all your XP updates are current. Run Windows update, install whatever it wants, reboot, do it again and again until you bleed it dry. You probably have OE6 and there are security issues with that, and I'd bet you don't have SP2 or SP3 either. Did you know that you can have any email address you want at either of your two domain names, have a choice between like 4 different FREE spam solutions, receive it through OE, save it on the server and be able to log in and view it on the web (while out of town, for example) and never worry about being tied to any one ISP just for the sake of an email address? You could have Denise@domainname and Rod@domainname and inquiries@domainname and so on, unlimited, secure and no cost? We need to talk on the phone about how to handle the other stuff you mentioned in your earlier message. Trouble may be brewing, and I don't want you in the storm. I want to go over the pros and cons of your decisions about all that. I'm tired of playing phone tag, too, but I'm gonna keep trying. The stars have to allign sooner or later. Johanna

I moved this topic out of purses and pocket items because you seem to be looking for a supplier. My first suggestion is to click on the banners of our sponsors Waterhouse Leather, Springfield Leather, Zack White Leather and Siegel of California and browse what they have to offer. Then visit the directory and see more suppliers' websites. If you place an order, tell them you heard about them here. We do our best to hook up leatherworkers with people who have what they want. Welcome to LW! Johanna

Ohio Travel Bag carries the frames. http://ohiotravelbag.com tell them you heard of them on leatherworker.net Johanna

Thank you for introducing yourself. You just made my day. I hope you continue to have a good time here, and I'm looking forward to seeing pictures of your work. Johanna

Louis, quit playing the sick wife card. The fact is that everyone here knows that they can look at a picture and instantly tell if it is their work or someone else's, and they expect you to be able to also. Substituting their work for yours is politely called "fraud", and it is simply not acceptable in the elite saddlemaker community. These men and women make saddles they are proud of, and wouldn't dream of stealing someone's pictures or trying to take credit for someone else's work. They are justifiably angry at you for stealing, and misleading customers. No one here wishes ill on your wife, in fact I'd bet a dollar some of the people who are disgusted with you, prayed for her. Do NOT use other people's pictures EVER without their permission. Remember that, and maybe in a long time, after people see you change your ways, they might not be so quick to lash out. But to say it's not your fault and times are hard, well, everyone here knows that for exactly what is is. Bull Kukka. You made the decision to misrepresent yourself, and to cash in on the value of someone else's hard earned skill, and that doesn't fly here. When this matter was discussed by the staff, it was decided to let you stay until everyone was done chewing on you and satisfied. Fair warning- your membership status here is tentative. Johanna

Want some traffic to your site? Wish the phone would ring? Would it help to make an extra sale? Get listed here. If we already listed your business, claim your account. People are getting orders and business from this site- don't you want to be included too? A business with no sign is a sign of no business. Let us know if we can help you! Johanna

Register for the classes you want ASAP. http://www.leathercraftersjournal.com/SW10_Workshop_Registration.html

Congratulations, Steve! LW sends best wishes for 2010! Johanna

Terrific idea. Look here. A huge thanks to CitizenKate... Johanna

Good catch, JW! We will be happy to provide eBay with any documentation they may need about where the thief got the pics. Sorry someone did this to you, Steve. ~J