Hilly

Check out the Stohlman "The Art of Making Leather Cases" Books. You'll find info on making a hard sided brief case.

Wonderful explanation, Wizcrafts! Very in depth and detailed! Thanks!

Tandy also sells this kind of awl This is the one you want for hand stitching leather. Just be prepared to sharpen the heck out of it when you get it, and keep it stropped. Also, a quick stab into a cake of bees wax will really help the blade penetrate easier. One work of caution: They break easily if you use lateral pressure on the blade, so be sure and always stab straight holes! This was my first awl, and after the blade came out, I super glued it back in a couple of times, and it's been fine since. Of course, I only used it until I could afford a SUPERB quality awl from Douglas tools. Now I use that exclusively for my hand stitching.

Why not just use leather? Maybe not 8oz. leather, but something a bit lighter, such as 4-5 oz.?

If you have tools that will work with the sizes of the flowers you want to do, then I say the sky is the limit. I don't think a 6 inch circle would look very nice if done with tools meant for a much smaller size flower/circle. This is only MY opinion, though. There are no hard and fast rules in most areas of leather work. Why does it need to be a Sheridan design? Could it be another floral design? There's a lot of nice designs right on the covers of the Leather Crafter's and Saddlers Journal. Maybe you could do something similar? Take a look at pictures of old saddles. A lot of them are floral carved, but not necessarily in a Sheridan pattern. Some have very large flowers. Maybe all you need is some more practice carving? Maybe your leather is not properly cased? If you are having trouble,chances are good your swivel knife is not as sharp as it needs to be? Most people think their knives are sharp when they are NOT sharp enough. These are just a few suggestions. Hope it was at least a little helpful to you. Hilly

I still use my checkbook 4 times a year, when I pay my water bill. They don't take payment online, and they don't accept credit cards. If you want to make something very likely to sell, try making bi-fold credit card wallets.They are about the size of a business card holder. I wet form the inside of a pocket over a stack of about 6 credit cards. The other pocket is flat, and can hold business cards, more credit cards, or folded cash money. I make them from petite tooling calf to keep the size and weight down. You can make several in a day if you have all your wet forming done ahead of time. They make great gifts, too.

You might try the eco-flow dyes, but keep in mind that they are water based dyes. Personally, I do not like them. If you are after lots of bright colors, then Angelus dyes might work better for you. I believe they are spirit based dyes. If you just want to dye a belt or wallet a single color such as black or brown, I always go straight to Fiebing's Pro Oil dyes. I've always had great luck with them. You can seal your product with a lot of things such as Leather Sheen, Bag Kote, or even liquid floor wax. You can keep it water resistant with beeswax. There are even products to waterproof leather. Can't think of the names right now though, as I haven't had my morning coffee yet

Love the design, tooling, construction and colors! Now, I don't mean to be a buzz kill, but your edges need finishing. Other than that, great job! Hilly

I think nobody else will give them the same gift.... Nice work.

Beautiful work! The guy that gets this will be pleased with it.

I'm toying with the idea of making a hard guitar case (like the one in the Stohlman cases book) for someone very special. I would like to put an unusual twist on the inside of the case, and line it with hair on hide, possibly deer hide. Any opinions? Ideas? Insight?

You did a great job for this being your first! Yes, there is a lot of work that goes into almost any big project, especially leather projects. The colors sure are....... BRIGHT! Thanks for sharing!

Maybe you have an invisible cat hanging around? This is seriously weird. Maybe the light last night was playing tricks with your eyes?

For the last time..... Who are you, and what did you do with Josh???? Seriously, nice work! You should be proud of how far you have come in such a short time! I know I'm proud of you! :thumbsup:

You're using the harness needles from Tandy, huh? Are you using their pre-waxed thread, too? Are you stabbing more than one hole before you put a stitch in it? The holes tend to close up rather quickly, so stab a hole and put a stitch in right away. You can also wiggle the awl blade a tiny bit to enlarge the hole a little. Just be careful or you'll break the blade. OR, you can get smaller needles and thread. C.S. Osborne makes smaller needles. Call them for a catalog and to find a distributer near you. Royalwood makes lots of different sizes of prewaxed linen thread in tons of colors. Hope this helps a little.

Could you maybe try filling the skull with leather dust and rubber cement (leather putty)? That's how they do it in extreme embossing.

Thanks, I had it figured out a few days ago. It was exactly what you described, and must have happened when I updated the Firefox browser.

Crystal, that is gorgeous! Where did you get the pattern?

I've updated my java, reinstalled flash, used PC tuneup. I go to youtube and click on a video to watch, and for a split second I get the black box where the video would normally appear, then it disappears. I tried refreshing the page several times, and all I can get is the audio. I still get the comments left by others, thumbs up down thingy, and the rest of the page. Just the video part will not load. I don't know what else I can do. This sucks, 'cuz I was wanting to watch some videos on leather working!

For the past few days, I have not been able to watch videos on YouTube. The page opens, and everything shows up except the video. The sound plays, but no video. I've recently installed the most recent version of Firefox browser, and installed flash updates. I can't watch videos using either Firefox or Google Chrome. Any ideas? I'm not geeky enough to figure this one out. Thanks, Hilly

Keith, I have admired your work since I came here to L.W. I would like to be a fly on the wall in your saddle shop so I could watch you work, and learn all your saddle making secrets! Hilly

Hi Ray. I used my yellow Tandy mallet for quite a while with good results. It's plenty heavy for your purposes. I think you are trying to tool while your leather is still too wet. It won't hold a decent impression because the water in the leather seeps back into your cuts, causing them to swell shut, and also seeps under your impressions, and lifts them. Think of your foot prints in a really wet mud puddle... You can rubber cement your leather onto a piece of cardboard or better yet, a piece of plexi-glass. Then, take a sponge, and sponge it down with water till it looks wet. Put it inside a plastic bag, and give the water a chance to work it's way all through the leather. Leave it in the bag at least a couple hours. Take it out of the bag, and leave it sit on your tooling slab, still cemented down to the plexiglass. When it starts to look like it's dry in some spots and still damp in other spots, begin tooling. This could take several hours or more, depending on how thick the leather is, the temp and humidity of your home, etc. Just leave it sit till it's that blotchy looking, wet/dry color. If it's a large piece that you might work on for several days, only expose the part you want to work on, and leave the rest inside the bag to keep the moisture in the leather. If you can't finish it in one session, seal it back inside the bag till next time. When you are finished tooling, wait until the leather is completely dry before removing it from the plexiglass or cardboard. Hope this helps a little. Hilly

Hi Salvi. The price that Jeremiah Watt charges for his videos is well worth the wealth of information you get in return. After all, Jeremiah is the one who put in all the time and hard work learning his trade. He had to buy his shop, and all the tools in it. He took all the time making his DVD's. If you want to learn from a master, then you should be willing to pay the price. I'm not trying to be harsh, I'm just sayin'. Hilly

When cleaning up beveling lines or tool marks after the carving has dried, I use a very small paint brush loaded with water on just the areas I need to work. Keeps from getting the rest of the piece damp, and risk the impressions fading.