rcsaddles

I grease my lace when doing edge braiding. That helps it slide better and reduces friction and wear on the lace.

I'd do the facebook thing but can't find you.

If you are still looking, pm me, I might have what you are looking for.

If you do a search on whip making kits, you will come up with a lot of places you can buy a pre-made kit to braid your own whip. That being said, you can also order roo hides from Australia over the net. If you are looking for a book on making whips I would suggest any written by Ron Edwards. www.ramsskullpress.com His are, imho, the best written and easiest to follow. I guess it depends on if you want to cut it out from scratch or get a kit. The advantage of the kit is you can look at it and see how it is cut out and use that as a pattern. You might also check out www.apwa.org.au This is the Australian Plaiters and Whipmakers Association web site. You can probably ask questions there even though you are not a member. Keep asking the questions.

In a closed box, the moisture will be seeping out of your product. Probably not anything to worry about. It should keep it soft and usable. Just make sure it is in a cool place so as to not start to grow mold.

Very nice.

Some good thoughts and ideas electrathon. I know Chan and I also know he travels quite a bit for teachiing. I happen to do the leatherwork part time so I don't have the time to travel and teach. I take the time to go to Sheriday because I live about three hours away and I use vacation time. I figure into the cost of the class all material as well as my time. The classes coming up in Sheridan will be the 15th and 16th for just a very basic braiding class but if someone is more advanced I will also address that. I will do both round and flat braiding in a 6 hour class and I believe the cost is around $90.00 but not sure on that. I am also haveing people schedule time for one on one help on Friday the 17th of May. All this is done through the Leather Crafters and Saddlers Journal. www.leathercraftersjournal.com Everyone has their own teaching and learning style so it is really hard to tell someone how to teach. Last year I had a person in a class that after 30 minutes got up and said, this just isn't working for me today. Thanks for your time. They left and that bothered me but they told me it was them not me. I felt a little better but still wondered about it.

I believe if you want a diamond pattern, start with your white strands in the same position in each hand.

I teach braiding classes and workshops as much as I can. I will be teaching a basic braiding workshop in Sheridan, Wyoming at the 20th Rocky Mountain Leather Trade Show. Not exactly what the dates are I will teach but the week of the 12th of May. If you want more information on teaching or thoughts, should we keep going here or anyone can e-mail me at rcsaddles@yahoo.com and put teaching in the subject so I know to not call it spam.

These are, in my opinion, the easiest to follow braiding books written. I admit I have not seen all books so I hope no one gets offended by that statement. These books can be ordered through the web cite www.ramsskullpress.com Deb is great to work with and will try to figure the best way to ship to save money. I use Ron's books all the time and when I teach braidign workshops part of teh fee includes a Ron Edwards' book. I will probably be using them in Sheridan in May again.

You can also get roo lace from Barb and Y-Knotlace.com and from Paul Nolan of midwestwhips.com. Both are good lace although Paul isn't in the lace business but the whip business. I buy roo hides from Paul and cut my own lace. I have had contact with Brian but never gotten any of his lace. All three are great to workwith.

Plese tell me the difference of the bag being off the leather while casing as opposed to the plastic touching the bag. I've not heard this before. Thanks.

I have used it very briefly in Sheridan last May. Works well and easy to use.

I use teh tallow and Ivory soap. If you want something with a little water repellant, add some beeswax.

In Ron Edwards' book, Interesting Braids and Flat Plaits, there are instructions for this. Not sure what the APWA Journal shows. I was not a member back then.

Braid a belt. 10 strand with two 1" brass rings as the buckle like the Aussies make. They are easy to braid, don't take a lot of time and will work for both men and women. PM me if you want some ideas on different patterns.

When I started to do rawhide work, my teacher, Mary Fields taught me to make my rawhide conditioner. Melt your tallow, and shave in some beeswax. The smaller the pieces of beeswax, the easier and quicker they melt. More beeswax means more water resistance. Don't use too much wax as it will be harder to apply when cool. I think I startedwith something like 6 cups of liquid fat to 1 cup liquid wax. Don't get stuck on a certain ratio, try some and adjust. This is much easier when all things are warm. I went to a butcher shop and got beef fat from around the kidney, some places known as suet. If you don't have beeswax, let me know, I have about 10 pounds here. I can send some for teh cost of shipping and just a little more. I happen to have access to a bunch of it. When you apply your conditioner, just like oiling leather, use a little at atime so you don't end up with way too much on. Let us know what you do and how it works.

Very nice. That is a quirt to be proud of.

I second that only Wow, Very nice.

Absolutely beautiful. Great job. Can you show us a picture from the top so we can see the interior? That is of you can dump all her stuff out first.

I have a homemade stitching horse that I do most of my braiding at. If I am travelling, I use a wood clamp to hold my strands to a table. If braiding a whip, I use a piece of leather and twine tied to a post.

I will take some time today and make up a couple and see how much lace and time it takes. Please message me or e-mail at rcsaddles@yahoo.com and I can give you a time and cost estimate. Joe

In order for these buttons to be tight around your lanyards, they will need to be braided on the lanyards. You will probably need to ship them to someone to be braided on and then shipped back to you. Give me more more details and I may be able to do this for you. Do you know the name of the knot?

I have obtained tallow fromteh local grocery store that cuts meat. Just ask for tallow and tell them what you want. Most times, they will give it to you. I have made this with Olive Oil instead of Neatsfoot and it works great.

I talked with Chan yesterday about where to order his DVDs. He said that Sheridan Leather Outfitters keeps them on hand and also you can try Springfield Leather. He recommended Sheridan Leather as they are local to him and try to always have them there.