howardb

To all, thanks for the great comments! I probably struggled with the kit as much as anything, and if I'd had an endless supply of leather bits, I might have bailed on the kit aspect sooner. The color'd one is the outer shell of the checkwriter (has credit card slots, etc., and the plain one is the actual checkbook cover. For reference, the rose is Jim Linnell's and can be found on Tandy's website in the free patterns area. I reeeally like it! The celtic knots are from a soft font that is way cool. The triangular ones were simple enough that I hand sketched them, but the intricate pattern came from that font. Tracy - I finally have all the proper tools to do hand stitching, so look for the next project to look much nicer. This one was definitely lacking some of the proper prep steps, especially with the bad hole issues. I have trouble finding ANY thread, so I will probably continue to struggle with the hand stitching. The black thread is very heavy, but I kind of like it. It's made in Mexico and WELL waxed... I tried stripping some off, but it still gooped up while stitching. An iron and paper towel took care of most of it though... Thanks Scouter. I am using the EcoFlo dyes from Tandy. So far, I like them. I got the sample kit while taking a class from Tony Laier, but would buy more of them as I find which colors I use lots of (red, yellow and green are going fast!). Best to all, Brent

www.ifolg.org They have a guild listing that should be reasonably current. Brent

Man this thing rocks!!!

Well kids, I took as much advise as I could absorb in the critique thread. I've finished both pieces, edged, stitched, sealed, etc. I know they aren't up to the pro level yet, but I learned a ton on these. The biggest lesson? If I buy another Tandy kit, it will be to use as a pattern. They are great to learn on, but I hated trying to line up all the mismatched holes. I did add one thing to the kit.. The checkbook cover itself was liner and that wasn't going to happen. I added a tooled cover to it rather than the liner. Easier to match up holes when ya punch them fresh... even then I missed one! Anyway, feel free to ignore them, but here they are. Brent

Trying this again... Thanks to Johanna for filling in for me while I'm not paying attention to this thread! The thread with the show packet is down in the same area as the monthly carving challenges: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?s...ost&p=23477 Briefly, the show is at the Holiday Inn in Michigan City (see packet for address and phone #). Definitely mention CALG (Calumet Area Leathercrafters Guild) or possibly even "leather show" and the date. Rate should be $79 plus taxes. PM or e-mail me if you need more information! Brent

Marlon, It's fantastic.

I like it with the color!

Eric, There's always plan B... Move out the furniture and speckle the dye all over the room. You will have a unique designer carpet and no one will know it wasn't supposed to look that way. Gut an animal in the room. Trust me. No one is going to notice the dye spots when they are eyeballing a giant blood stain. Spill some wine in the same area. Wine stains are always more acceptable than dye spots since the wine stain likely happened while you were tipsy. Put in small areas of ceramic tile or hardwood flooring where the spots are. You will be considered avant-garde and all the designers will be jealous. Good luck! Brent

L'Bum - thanks for the tutorial link! I liked it. Pip - The tutorial answers all your questions. Remember though - the Pro Petal tool is essentially a knife. Keep it sharp! (btw - Tandy dropped the tool from their lineup) I've seen lots of people make their own from round shank screwdrivers. This would give you the option to make tools with different angles, shank sizes, etc. if you need something other than what you have.

Got this idea from reading this thread. I thunk outside the box... I had a very rough & ugly flesh side and it needed serious help. I got out an old iron (the newer one we actually use to iron shirts two or three times a year (hahahaha)). Anyway, I put a little heat on the flesh side and then rubbed a stick of beeswax into it & then repeated until the surface was covered & iron'd flat. I haven't tooled yet, so no design to hurt. Now the flesh side is nice and smooth! The ragged loose fleshies are all gone and it looks nice. Certainly not for every project, but it rescued this mess... Oh, and skiving simply made more loose fleshies, hence my desire for a new method. Probably some seriously old leather... Brent

OK, compared to the rest of ya, this bites dirt. But my kitty-loving daughter wanted it immediately, so it's not all bad. My first challenge response. I enjoyed tooling it, and did it while waiting between jazz recitals this AM (went mobile...). Some of the middle school kids were fascinated and watched me for a while. Brent

Pete, I've also taken Tony's class (immediately after taking the beginners' class at IFOLG last fall). The funny thing is, I did pretty good with it. Tony had tooled up oak leaves for everyone to "paint". He was showing off the new EcoFlo dyes (water based) and to me, it was like painting with watercolors. I actually took the class looking for hints on painting with watercolor and came away with not only those techniques, but with a firmed up desire to do leathercraft. I have not dabbled in ruining leather with acrylic paint yet, but I do like dying leather. I intend to try artists watercolors some time soon to see if those work, because THOSE are a whole lot cheaper than Tandy's dyes. Don't get me wrong, I like the EcoFlo dyes and the way they work but if I can make watercolor paint work too, then whoopee! Brent

Awww, come on Marlon! Put a little elbow grease into it and polish those babies up! Probably only take a sunday or two (or ten). All you need is a BIIIIG rock tumbler... Brent

Shop? What is this word you speak? I'm stuffed in the corner of the TV room while a glorious basement goes unused because it is full of JUNK (her junk or it would be clean and useable...). If I ever get it back, (hahahaha) I will epoxy/urethane coat it. I dig that stuff. Tough, smooth, looks good, cleans up well. If I had my 'druthers, I would love to have hardwood flooring in a shop. Of course, I'd also want natural lighting, temperature and humidity control, large worksurfaces, beer fridge; you know... the essentials. Brent

In either this month's or last month's Tandy sale flyer, this same kind of pattern was featured in their sale leather stuff, front page. I can't find it online, but if you e-mailed them and asked, they might be able to locate some. Brent

Ireland. It is, hands down, . If I had to stay in-country, then probably Tennessee, the most beautiful place I've ever been in the US. Canada is nice and has some gorgeous places, but it's so krikey cold & damp; plus their fetish for Hockey. It just un-natural... Brent

Dr. Evil, I presume? Someone asked you the price of one of your wallets. I am going to take a stab at it... One Miiiilion Dollars! Mwuahahaha! Mwuahahaha! Mwuahahaha! Mwuahahahahaha... OK, I'm back now. 'Nuther great one Kevin. The only thing missing is frickin sharks with frickin laser beams. Brent

I can't help with the thread, but your mention of the tools gets my engineering brain going. I think you just need the right thickness of plastic. It's going to have to be stiff, thin, and reasonably clear (though probably not a requirement...). I havent' seen anything as heavy as the craft-aids in the stores (even the local education/art supply house). Try industrial plastic supply houses. You might even get them to send you some scraps/samples to figure out what you need. Guessing: 0.5mm thick material, PVC or similar vinyl compound. It need to be flexible, but stay "bent" when deformed. Method: trace your design onto this material. put the sheet on a rubber or soft vinyl (like for punching) base, or even some leather. Use a dull point (like a ball point pen) in the engraver (and it should be the kind that reciprocates like a jigsaw, not just the vibrating kind) and trace the design. The engraver would push the plastic down, deform it permanently and whammo - instant craftaid. There are other sheet materials that would be stiff, yet soften under heat. for that one, you could carve the leather deep, heat the material and then simply trace with a stylus over the carving. Once cooled, you'd have a craftaid (whammo again!). I have a plastic engineer at work. I will take in a craftaid and see if he can make any recommendations... Brent

OK, the wallet is turbo-sweet. I dig it with a shovel! But the little sample of borderwerken is almost mind-numbing. Wow. yeah, I know it's just a few simple stampings, but... just LOOK at it! You are going for a texture thing, well it's got some visual kick too. you definitely DO have an artistic eye, don't fool yourself. Wicked cool stuff. Brent

Frogmaster, Wicked cool project. I didn't figure it out until I saw the walnut block... with snaps... The leather part is just a "cozy" that snaps onto the block. That's friggin' brilliant! Not sure who gets the kudo's for inventing the idea, but that's pretty cool. I like the 'nut (got board-feets of it in the garage) a lot. It looks like you did some cross-graining (good for stability) on the block, plus it makes for some nice color tone effects. I don't want to downplay the wonderful leatherwork either. Very eclectic, very cool! Nicely done!

Is that an inverse carve? I've been trying to figure that out for a month. FANTASTIC! Tooling looks good, colors are very pretty. I love the way the leaf tips feather out to brown & yellow. Very nice! Brent

I would bet the rouge that you GOT was just as the manufacturer had intended. THAT use is to hit a spinning felt / paper wheel for power sharpening & honing. You want a nice solid stick to touch against an 1800 RPM or worse spinning wheel. I have a very hard red rouge stick and it just takes some elbow "grease" to work it into the leather. I've had better luck depositing it on the grain side rather than the flesh side, so you might try that. So far it works great. I have not tried, but I wonder if... Has anyone tried loading the leather with somethign like FLITZ metal polish? It would be easy to load and just might work... Other similar metal polish pastes exist. Also, at one time you could find loose powder rouges (no, not the makeup kind!), which you could make your own oil/rouge slurry to slap onto your leather. Oh well, happy sharpening! Brent

I too wouldn't know a walleye from a wanda, but that's a mighty fine looking fish ya got there lady! Brent

Not sure where they come from, but I have some leftovers with spots on them. Maybe skeeter bites on the live animal? They are visible on the dry leather, so I've avoided them so far. I know Oxalic acid and deglazer are suppose to clean just about anything from the leather and may be worth a try. If it is an artifact in the leather (bug bite, etc) I don't think anything will work. That's sort of like scar tissue and will always react to finishes differently than the rest of the cow. If it's water spots or something, try the cleaners. Brent