Johanna

Get an artist's gum eraser. It will take the adhesive off the leather without damaging it. You can find them in any craft or hobby store. HTH Johanna

Your daughter is beautiful. My daughter, Jane, is 11, and she loves to do things in the shop. If your daughter wants to be a pen pal, Jane would like to try. Thanks for sharing. Johanna

Take a look at http://paintingcow.com (Kate built that site) Is that what you had in mind? The CMS is open source, but she built a custom theme. How big is the pdf and is there more than one? Johanna

I have no recollection of seeing any staples on Doodle Pages, ever. I know ones that have been rolled, not folded, are considered to be worth more. When I was a Tandy mgr. in the 90s, Doodle pages came on a big pad and we tore the sheets off as needed. When empty, the back (cardboard) was great for pattern templates, too. Johanna

Dianne- when we see the related topics at the bottom of a thread, we sometimes forget to look at the date. This thread was started a year ago, and there were some temporary problems with the site. Of course it's working fine now, and so is the OP's computer, more than likely. I could remove that mod that resurrects old threads, but it's fun to read them sometimes, and many people have told me they've found more useful information about the subject they've searched for, so I hate to kill the feature. We just need to keep an eye on dates, that's all. All the best, Johanna

Well said. Many people have said to me. "I'm not a professional- I just make things to finance more tools and leather." When a customer comes into the shop and wants a $100 item for $15 because that's what it costs at the Mart of Wal, well, drive down and get one. If I went to rdb's shop and said, "I want a holster to match my other gear, with a certain cant, an extra feature or two, and my name in neon." I'd get it. You can't get custom work from mass manufacturers, which is why some of us can still pay the bills on Friday. If you want to take this up as a hobby, nah, it ain't cheap. It is satisfying and productive, and it feels good to combine function and form, like woodworking. If you want to be a professional, you have to work twice as hard at sales as the plumber or the electrician because the customer can go buy a nylon cheapie mass-produced boring item at a fraction of the cost, and the house isn't flooding or dark, so the customers are not as desperate. I encourage you to explore leatherworking. You have a start on tools, and an interest, and you always have us if you have a question. We're the unofficial "leatherworkers support group", all bitten by the leather bug, and we have meetings every night in the chat room. We know we're addicted, so we just try to help each other improve our work. When we figure out how to save money at it, we get all excited. Click the retailer ads at the top of the page to get more info. They are known for working with their customers above and beyond the call of duty. When you start making things that please you, you'll be hooked. But don't worry, you're in a good crowd. Johanna

Hi Marty! I would do the steps 1 4 3 5 2. Welcome to LW! Semper Fi Johanna

Denise, keep going to Windows Update and asking it to check for updates. It may do it several times and need lots of reboots in between. Bleed Windows Updates dry. You need to IE8 if you haven't got it already. Let it index, it won't hurt anything and your searches will go faster. I'm not going to explain all the details, because you won't care. It will be much faster when it's done. Make sure you do the same (bleed it for updates) with your security software, too. You now have the power to make lights flicker much farther away than New York. ~J

We had it on the old forum, but I couldn't get it to work on the new one until tonight. Thanks for noticing! Kate's gonna yell at me though- I was goofing off when I shoulda been working. I did another mod where your country flag shows next to your posts, too. But because not everybody filled in their country and the list goes alphabetically, right now we have a lot of Afghanistan flags on the board. *sigh. 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