howardb

Fort Wayne, Indiana. Boredom capital of the USA. If you are into geneology, our downtown library is one of the best spots in the nation for research. Our zoo is one of the #1 children's zoos in the nation. Seriously, bring the kids and spend a day or two. Other than that, ain't much goin' on. Brent

Spooky. Not only is my pin in there, but it KNEW ME when I clicked the link. I think it tried to get me a date with Leatheroo, but I clicked away FAST. The wife would not be happy with me dating other women! Big Brother is definitely watching us!!!

I have a post waaaay down in the "special events" thread. It's all about the upcoming leather show in April. There will be vendors, demonstrations, cool raffle items (we are getting a box from someone every day!!) and a competition! The competition is open to all comers. You don't have to belong to a guild, though the judging will use IFOLG guidelines. Anyway, the details are in the special events thread (same folder as the contest threads) near the bottom of the main board. It's April 25-27 and will be in Michigan City, IN (which is close to Chicago). I figured I'd put a note up here and point the way. I'd say most of the members of this forum would kick butt in the competition room. I saw nice stuff in Texas last fall, but some of the items I've seen lately rival them for sure. And again, if you are a vendor and want to come, or are interested in donating something for the raffle table, let me know and I can put you in touch with the right people. Brent

POKE - keeping this active. How many think they will go? If there are vendors that want to go, I can put you in touch with the guy organizing the vendors. Brent

Clay, yer killin' me. Two non-contests?? One's gonna drive me nuts. OK, to the meat of the question. I need defenitions! Figure carving, Sheridan carving, floral carving, 'blank' carving... What's the diff? Why isn't the cat "figure carving" and why isn't the floral, well, "floral carving"? Edumacate me! Pete - this rocks! I really like the inverted carve. I tried it once and failed miserably. I've been looking for an excuse to try again... Brent

I'm glad it won't be competitive, cuz I'd bow out RIGHT NOW! Good to know I have a month, cuz it will take that long... Yikes! Brent

Frank, Going through this pain myself on a project. I talked at length to a leather mentor last evening, and got similar advice. I had taken a class on painting (dying) leather at the IFOLG show last fall, and so that part I have figured out. But what's next? How do I protect, seal, etc.? Anyway, my friend sent me a quick list, but the products he mentions, I don't have. So that was why I bugged him yesterday. His advice? Try it out on some scrap and see what works. There aren't too many wrong answers, and a whole lot of right ones. So last night, I pulled out some tooled scrap and threw some paint (dye) on it and let it dry. This morning, I rubbed some neatsfoot on it & tonight I'll see what damage that did. I'll probably set up a test piece so I can figure it out scientifically, but hey that's fun for me! I'll post a thread if & when I get that done. Hope it helps some. Brent

I think they are trying to figure out how to do that direct marketing. That was part of the lunch discussion from what I gather. Tippman dropped Tandy for whatever reason. I've got the guy's (Bob at Tippman) number and thought I'd call him, but I'm not sure what to talk about. Someday, I'd love to have something like that, but not right now. I'd like to get them looking in here for all the commentary about their machines, so they can see what issues their users are having and maybe look at design mods for future model revisions, etc. Talk about real time feedback and R&D. Who knows, maybe they are lurking right now!! I would guess the machine cost is based on the fact that they don't sell 200 a day at wallymart, not that they are making an embarassing amount of profit on these things. One of the comments my MIL made after the meeting was Tippman thought they "made them too good". People didn't need to replace them. Sounds like Scouter made a good purchase Brent

Very nice! Great rustic look to it. Finishing and tooling look great! Design comment: the bottom border of oak leaves - I think it would have been cooler to have started from the center and worked the leaves out to the edge to pick up the vertical pattern. It would add a certain symmetry. Still, a fine piece and I'm sure they will be thrilled with it! Brent

Dude that thing is unbelievable. It rocks for sure. Who buys this stuff? I'm imagining an awful lot of zeros... Brent

Laugh?? Cry perhaps. I'm a bit jealous as he's better than I am. Certainly better than I was when I started out! FINE work for a beginner of any age. 7 makes it that much more impressive. I'm "so far so good" on Tandy kits. Other than the manhole sized punchings, everything has fit well. The deeeluxe check writer kit looked like the little bits lined up whilst I was dry fitting things together. GREAT story working with your son. Mine is into music, and we can share some back & forth on old bands, but he can actually play instruments, while I can't carry a tune in a bucket. (Scouter - mine's a Star at 13. Hoping he goes for Eagle...)

Whoaaaa. Niiiiice! This can't be the "messed up" one... it's gorgeous. Brent

Beautiful braiding! Brent

So how do you like your Boss? My mother in law had a lunch meeting with the guys that own/run Tippman. Sounds like they want to do some direct marketing to the leather crowd. I've read good & bad in several other threads, though none of the bad stuff was hideous or anything. Sounds like the Boss works well once set up and keeps right on clunking away... just don't change the setup! Anyway, I'm curious since they are a local company. Oh yeah, the sheath looks nice and clean! I love the engraving! Brent

Photo album cover for photos of your stuff to show customers, folio cover holding your order sheets, etc! It's worthy as a show off piece, go for it. Brent

Fuhreeekin sweet. Brent

Ah, so Darryn's a tranny. No biggie. He should shave if he's gonna wear pink though... Maybe then s/he wouldn't freak us out so much... Brent

Spider, How big is it? Luke's got a good idea - frame it and make it wall art. Stick your surname in the scroll & go. Not knowing size, it's a bit tough to make any other rec's. Definitely a showpiece though! Brent

I have a Rebel XT and am very happy with it, but I already had some Canon lenses or I might have ended up going Nikon. Both great brands. Others are making SLR's too, but the key to any of them are the lenses. I know pros who use Canon and pros who use Nikon. They'll swear by their gear. The Canon kit lens is junk. Buy a body and get a half-decent lens for it. If you can swing the cash, go for a pro lens. I like a zoom because I get more options (Canon EFS 17-85 IS USM MACRO). Image stabilization ROCKS. The lens was as much as the body when I bought and I've been thrilled with it. I've been eyeballing a Tamron macro lens, either a 90mm or 180mm, but need to fund it somehow. I'll probably jump to the 180 when I take the plunge (since I'm already at 85...) Those are true macro (1:1) lenses, while my multi-purpose gets close, but not quite 1:1. The secret for great pics is LIGHT. Lightbox info in the other thread. A SOLID tripod and release are important too. All my pics I've posted here are handheld shots with the built-in flash on auto, and none of them are all that impressive. Attached are some (hopefully) more impressive shots. I've JPEG'd them WAY down from 9MB raw files, but they still look decent. All shot using a tripod. Just got the Tripod, old Tamron 80-200 zoom in my front yard during a garage sale. Merimec Caverns boat launch, web in a branch about 20ft from a railing, overhanging the stream. Dallas Arboretum, going macro! Brent

Thanks to all! Brent

Yeah, but the high heels would leave little dents in it... A possible solution - stick your favorite stamp on those spikey heels and voila! Instant backgrounding... Brent

Paraffin as it is in the bath ain't the same stuff as finishing waxes. Probably not even the same compounds. Paraffin = candle wax and is hard & flaky. Mixed with other things and solvents it might be made into finishing wax, but not as-is. Brent

I've not seen Peter Main's modeler (Note how I avoided saying "Peters tool") yet, but I can imagine it's worth every farthing. I've taken the stock and rather clunky Tandy one (hey, it was free) and ground & polished it until it became reasonably useful. Basically, I just cleaned up the bad casting marks and made it smooth all 'round. I'd say you've got nothing to lose by fiddling with it. Though if you can swing it, order the nice one ASAP. I will probably troll the vendors in Michigan City in April to see if anyone's got somethign a bit nicer. I've got several of Monte's old ones, but haven't been brave enough to try any of them yet. The ol' Tandy one might be clunky, but it's familiar... Brent

I took Tony's class at the IFOLG show in October. It was right after Linnell's beginners class. I was probably too green to really appreciate it, but I really dug it and learned a LOT! Felt like a wart on the bum though as everyone else was some kind of accomplished carver and I hadn't ever carved before that morning...

Steve, Very Nice! Hey, cheesy isn't all bad, and I bet you could sell a bunch of them at the right venue... Brent