TwinOaks

http://www.jrmclips.com/ And for Kydex, order a sheet from Springfield Leather and make your own.

I've picked up some from Tandy, about two years ago, and while it could be dampened and cased for molding.....dang but it was hard to cut. I try to keep my head knife sharp enough to scare hairs off my arm without even actually touching them, and it took 2 or 3 passes with it to get all the way through.

It would probably work to make the background out of veg tan, but I'm thinking it would make the overall product too thick. The whole thing could be done in veg tan, maybe Kip, but the texture looks wrong for that. For the 'lumps' around the eyes, I think stacked and shaped foam, maybe neoprene, would work well to reinforce the leather at those critical features. The outer layer is laid over the base, pressed down by hand around the lumps, and the significant details are worked in. The wrinkles and scrunched up areas are probably just pushed in and left until the glue (I'd guess spray glue) had dried.

Thank you Bob. You're estimate for the one purse is more than I spend per week on leather. That's a good eye opener. For others who want to do this type work, it's something to remember. I guess I shouldn't feel as rushed as I do, but I suppose it's part of my personality to try and get things done quickly.

I'd say it has to depend on what you want to do with the straps. If you're making utility straps, that's one thing, but if you might end up using some of the straps for belt blanks, it's another story. I've been making a few heavy duty belts and cutting down stirrup straps for them. The stirrup straps don't have a uniform thickness, and hides are likely to have some variation too. If you need a specific thickness, it might be better to buy pre-cut straps. Otherwise, you not only have to cut them, you have to split them too. Of course, if you can get a pretty uniform thickness hide, the whole argument goes out the window.

That appears to be something really soft.....deerskin, or deer tanned, or garment leather. There's a little form built behind it, the eyes are glued in, and then the leather is scrunched up to make to face. Glue backing to hold everything down.

I developed callouses at the little finger joints as well. I also learned the very important lesson that if you hand sew while saving up for a stitcher.....you save money faster.

dang, google translator is having a problem with that page, and unfortunately I noreadendesvedish very well.

There is an anvil available in which the stud rests and the back of the rivet is tapped in. http://springfieldleather.com/store/product/2228/Anvil%2CStud%2CSam-Brown/ If you're a handy person, you could make one of these, by stacking a washer with a small enough hole to catch the rim at the base of the stud on top of a board with a hole big enough for the rest of the stud. Or, as cheap as they are, just buy the one from Springfield (Tandy probably has it, too).

Roo, I'm sure he wouldn't mind shipping to Australia.......

Bob, that is yet another truly outstanding piece. For those of us who aspire to be that good, could you tell us how many hours you spent on that? I (and I suspect many others) get in a rush to complete things sometimes, and in my (our) haste, miss the little details that would turn a 'good' product into an 'excellent' product. ETA: Please don't respond if the answer is "half an hour". It'd just be too depressing!!!!

His forum name is PeterMain. Besides his website, he's also posted some work here. You can find his posts by going to 'advanced search' and in the author's name section, type his name then hit enter.

Making the holes straight is what makes the stitch straight. If you're talking about saddle stitching, the trick is to pass/cross over/under in the same pattern, on the same side of the leather for EVERY STITCH. Cross that up and you'll have a stitch that wobbles left and right.

I gotta agree, because I don't see the economical logic in trying to sell overpriced, probably damaged leather to a niche customer base. The leather is marketed as a side, but it's stated that it's going to have some damage because it was dragged ( Wait....what do you mean the poor cow's corpse was desecrated?!?!) I also don't understand why anyone would think you could get 3-10 times the price....especially in the current market. The folks who are so anti-leather certainly aren't going to dump more money on an animal product that died of "natural causes" than they would any of the regular leather. The notion that you could sell damaged hides, which means less usable leather, for MORE money on the premise that the cow died of natural causes.....sheesh. Sounds like you need to verify that your marketing people got good grades in MK301. I don't mean to say that there's no use for grain damaged leather. I bought some from Kevin for the purpose of rough out items and test patterns. Of course, I bought it because it was a significantly reduced price because it was damaged, and I didn't need to spend $150 for an experiment. Sounds like you might recoup a little of the investment with the EOY sale, but you might also consider going ahead and splitting the really ugly pieces that would likely just tick off the customers receiving them and selling it as splits. As far as selling to a customer base that would only buy 'natural death' hides, are you offering some sort certification that the animal was dragged from a field? The reason I ask is that with a bit of PhotoShop, a word processor program, and a lack of ethics, anybody could easily print up a "It died in a field" piece of paper and tack it on anything they made with imported low grade leather.