DJole

That liner you found is perfect for this! The rest of it's pretty good too. The "primitive", limited modelling on the roses works really well.

I actually hardly ever use the flat blade in my swivel knife! I find that for me, the angle blade works for me and the designs I do. I do have a flat blade-- I should mount it and practice with it, I suspect! I know which tiny backgrounding tool you mean! I got a bigger one for the reason you listed, and to speed up the process of a big background area. That's way of tools, isn't it? Add another one, and another, and another, as you suddenly realize you need them. Of course, I find that I only use 5 or 6 tools for 90% of what I do. A couple ones (like the basketweave) I haven't used in years. You should also get Leather Crafting by Tony Laier -- it explains the basics of how to use the beveller, backgrounder and other tools. Pretty clear instructions and good illustrations. It's a free download, too. (It's basically an updated version of a Stohlman manual from the 60s.)

I suspect that nearly every beginning leather-worker bites off more than he/she can chew with the first few projects! It's just human nature, I suspect. The stitching is good for a first time project, and the tooling is pretty good for first time, too! You just need some practice time. Which large Tandy blade are you referring to? Are you using the flat one, pictured attached to the knife itself, or one of the angled blades? Getting the leather casing right does help a lot-- it takes some time and experience to figure that out. Too wet, and the leather is mush, and won't hold any design. Too dry, and it won't take any design, and cutting is difficult. It will also take some time to get the feel for making smooth curved lines -- as others on the forum point out, repetition is key here. The common advice goes like this: doing 10 small projects (drink coaster or luggage tag size, for example) helps you develop proper technique and tool use. They are also quick, and don't waste a lot of expensive leather. Your bevelling lines look like you've figured out how to "walk" the tool, which is a big struggle for many beginners. But your bevel seems to be too steep, like a V shape instead of like this: See how the one side of the bevel (away from the cut line) fades out? That's what the tool is meant to do, adding dimension rather than just deepening the cut line. Like you, I noticed that some of my designs required a smaller bevel tool than the basic kit has. I also, over time, added a larger figure bevel and a textured bevel. Not all at once, but for specific projects. A modeling spoon is pretty useful, too, as you note. Your backgrounding should also fade out at the edges, like the beveled lines. The tool should be rotated so that no discrete tool makes (the pointed oval shape) can be seen. A lot of places are fine here, but the upper left has the tool marks visible. You might find Stohlman's book-- Leathercraft Tools: how to use them-- useful to understand what the tools are meant to do.-Is it still a free PDF download?

You could make a card holder, like this:http://djole.altervista.org/djole/Publications/Leather/HelenaCardCase/HCardCase.htm I used thin pigskin for the pockets, and it's as thin as, or thinner, than the leather you have up there. It's a good project for practicing leatherworking skills, too.

For punching and stamping, yes -- the weighted deadblow hammer is good. One hit and done. If I did a lot more stamping and punching than I actually do, the deadblow hammer out in the garage would join my mallets in the leather tool box. For tooling, where the aim is lighter, repeated taps, the mallets work well.

You strike something with that, the thing KNOWS it's been struck! I just use the yellow poly mallets (one smaller than the other) from Tandy. I haven't had any reason to switch yet.

Find a place that cuts and installs stone countertops and offer to take away a scrap piece of granite, like I did. Cost was zero.

Nice! Beautiful craftsmanship. Working in miniature is difficult!

Not a laser printer (which is used to print documents) but a laser engraver. I had it done at a local shop which engraves trophies (wood, metal, plastic, etc.) using a laser. They charged 13 dollars, which seemed quite reasonable to me.

Got this just about finished tonight. It just a needs a bit of cleanup on some edges and a nice coat of Resolene. I have more info about the process, featuring internal shots and pre-assembly pictures, on my website: <http://djole.altervista.org/djole/Publications/Leather/Walpurgis Wallet/WalpurgisWallet.htm>

Are you talking about antiquing techniques? That seems to be what you describe above.

That's certainly a different pattern! I personally don't care for the big rivets -- if I were doing this pattern and keeping the rivets instead of sewing them, I'd use smaller ones. But's that's just an aesthetic choice.

Fiebeing's White dye ends up like this (which was a deliberate design choice): http://djole.altervista.org/djole/Publications/Leather/Samurai Wallet/SamuraiWallet.htm

Always do a test piece on a piece of the same leather the project is made from!

I have used permanent Sharpie pens to color fine lines like you describe. There are also re-fillable dye pens which might work for your project: (https://www.dharmatrading.com/tools/angelus-dyeliner-refillable-dye-pens.html)

I recently did a project using some round linen thread, from a company named Since: https://www.amazon.com/Since-Leather-Thread-leathercraft-0-45MM-90/dp/B07H4THKRV/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=since+linen+thread&qid=1568090850&s=gateway&sr=8-1 I have also used a thicker linen thread from Royalwood. They are a basket/beading supply company, mostly, but they have a large variety of waxed linen thread in various sizes and a lot of colors: https://www.royalwoodltd.com/cat14-17ar.htm This thread is a bit more fiddly to hand stitch with -- it's easy to stab your needle through the thread rather than alongside it, but if you take care, it works just fine. I did my own wallet with the Royalwood linen, and 10 years later I had to do some restitching along one side that got a lot of wear. It held up pretty well.

This is a project I did as a special request from my longsword school. The logo for the school is tooled onto the front. The dye color is Angelus Oxblood (requested by the school). (I took the photos before applying another coat of dye, so it looks a lot less patchy now.) The red thread is "Since Leather Linen Thread for leathercraft M40/0.45MM (red, 0.45MM-90/SPOOL)" ordered from Amazon, sewn using 3 mm stitching iron (JapanGoods) and John James 002 size harness needles. The outside leather is a good quality tooling shoulder from Tandy (about 3mm thick), and the inner leather is a 1 mm thin leather I've had for years now...probably from Tandy. Edges slicked using clear Tokonole. This was more complicated than it may seem, since the request was to make this a permanent book cover, rather than a slip-on cover. So the edge stitching goes through the plastic cover of the blank book as well as the leather. I had to make certain that the leather could be glued together around the edges to hide the white cover. The third photo shows the black pigskin card pocket, and the reinforcing strip of book binding cloth. The only things I have left to do is punch a hole in the flap and attach a leather tie strap of some kind (as commissioned).

Heh!

A quick look at Angelus dyes (https://angelusdirect.com/collections/angelus-dye-1/products/tan-leather-dye) also shows a tan. Purchaser reviews posted there indicate that at least one user considered the Angelus tan also too orange when applied full strength. So it looks like reducing the dye strength might be the answer here. (Angelus also sells a "neutral" or colorless dye reducer-- <https://angelusdirect.com/collections/angelus-dye-1/products/neutral-leather-dye>-- It's formulated for Angelus and may not work as desired with Fiebings products.)

The original is an interesting shape! You say that's the original hardware on those bags? What is the bag, and what is the time period for them? Maybe there is a re-enactor's group that has a source for that hardware.

Is this what you are looking for? https://www.buckleguy.com/feet-and-studs/?sort=featured&page=2

Here are some other sporran building guides that may help you out: 1) http://www.werewolf.ca/LIBRARY/_HERITAGE/Formal_Sporran_Pattern.pdf 2) http://www.nwta.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/291sporr.pdf 3)

Brettun's Village up in Maine will sell you a piece of a size you want: The "I Only Want a Piece of Leather" Page <https://www.brettunsvillage.com/leather/piece_form/>

It is beautiful. That's a very lovely pattern, and the tooling is excellent. Nice stitching, and great color choices.

Two awls way up! Lovely work with a high level of design and craftsmanship, visible in those sweet edges and sharp stitching. Those are wallets that you can be proud of making, and people should be proud to own.