DJole

Brennen, the SCA is the Society for Creative Anachronism, which is people who do medieval re-creation for fun, including making armor and wearing it in combat. If you live the Seattle area (I live in Tacoma, by the way), there are three large groups in the area, and there are probably a few people near you who have made leather armor. That simplifies things quite a bit, since you don't actually have to get it hard enough to withstand actual blows. That means that you can probably get by with just wet forming.

Brennen, where are you located in Washington? There may be an SCA group near you, which likely has somebody who has experience with leather armor. Armor for your joints (elbows, knees) is going to be different from other parts (say chest, or leg), so do you have a specific armor piece (or online photograph) in mind? And is this dress armor or armor that you intend to use? Give us a better idea about what you are looking at making (bazubands? breastplates? greaves?) and then we can help you better. Hardening the leather to actually become usable armor is difficult to get right -- no two hides are going to be exactly the same. I've played around with it some, but I don't really like the results. Leather is expensive-- plus, if the hardening process doesn't work out, you have to throw the leather away; it's not good for anything else. If you just want it to look pretty, that simplifies the process.

Hmm...can I get that paperclip monogrammed, with a personal message?

Very nice use of native tribe motifs. The bag is very nice-- crisp patterns and nice proportions.

That's a pretty common design -- Tandy sells a similar one. I don't have one of those, but I have heard people tell of two drawbacks to this design: 1) To move the piece around in the jaws, you have to unscrew the wingnut, adjust the piece, and then screw it back down again. Some people dislike having to do that. 2) The wingnut catches thread while you're trying to sew. Some people have modified theirs by adding some kind of thread guard, others changed the wingnut to something else.

I love that leather bow accent. Yeppeuyo!

Two thumbs up! Nice work -- great colors and execution of those tiny lines in the wave. I find that woodcut prints (like that wave) make great leather designs.

If they would be okay with dye effects, instead of paint, you can use Ultra fine-tip Sharpie permanent markers, which have a very narrow tip about the size of a stitching needle. They are much smaller than the fine tip markers. They are available in different colors. I've used these markers to write in inscriptions, and they work well.

I've got to hand it to you, that's a handy design! Give yourself a hand! But seriously, the hand is a wonderful design element. The rest of the piece looks really nice, too.

I sewed a canvas liner into a bag. What I did was use a french seam over the edges of the leather, and then sew the liner underneath that. That won't make sense unless you see the pictures on my website <The Camino Bag> Perhaps that will help?

If they play card games, make a card deck (or decks) holder. Or a dice box, or custom dice cup if they do those things.

Maybe these are the charts you want: This is a link to the Craftool conversion chart, showing the old and new numbers for various tools. It's an 8 page PDF file: <https://www.tandyleather.com/media/downloads/CraftoolConversionChart.pdf> This is a link to the current Tandy Online Catalog. This Craftool Stamps Catalog View also shows 2 sets of numbers for various tools: <https://www.tandyleather.com/en/eflyer/craftool-stamps-fullpage>

You have a skull around the house on which to mold this?! (Of course, I'm one to talk -- a house from my childhood had 2 cow skulls mounted on porch railings...

Have you emailed them with the same request, and that picture? Perhaps the thing you want isn't in the online catalog.

1) Yeah, I think most of us struggle with this, and not every hide works the same way. This is a case (no pun intended) of having somebody right there at your shoulder to supervise would be ideal. Otherwise it's a case of trial and careful observation. 2) That's the reason right there that many of us don't do basket weave. () Trying to figure out what you're doing wrong on your own is frustrating. 3) Are you referring to stamps (which make pictures like a star, or an eagle, or so on), or tooling stamps (bevellers, pear shaders, etc. )? 4) Muscle training -- it takes time to develop the even strokes. And perhaps you are hitting too hard, which affects this. Having the leather properly cased actually reduces the amount of work it takes to make a crisp impression. And for the other hand, it takes a while to develop the 'touch' to walk the tool to create a repeated smooth impression, rather than thinking of it as a series of discrete, overlapping stamps. Loose grip on the mallet, and using the fingers as a pivot, rather thinking of driving nails. 5) Many suggestions up above to weight the leather down as you tool it. Others use rubber cement to fasten the leather to a piece of cardstock or cardboard (this helps reduce stretch, which has caught me out a couple times). Having a softer touch on the mallet also assists with keeping the leather in one place.

Could this over at Shapeways be a solution for you? <https://design.shapeways.com/> Apparently it seems possible in that program, as discussed in this forum post: <https://www.shapeways.com/forum/t/blender-wrapping-a-shape-around-a-cylinder.2285/>

Ah, I see. Well, too bad the easy answer is not an answer at all! Back to the drawing board...

Perhaps this video holds the secret you want?

Hey, that's a very nice looking dragon! That tooling is sharp. (And the quilt in the background caught my eye, too... you have a quilter in the family? Quilters and leatherworkers have many similarities.)

Nicely done! And with better edges, too! Are you part of a re-enactment group which cares about historical accuracy?

Not a saddler, but I still found the entire process fascinating to watch. Some beautiful work produced on those benches. I wonder if the saddlery is still around?

You should be able to get some medical help for that...

What a clever contraption you have there!

If you can attach some photographs of the leather piece that has the problem, that will help us. The problem could be a number of things, but looking a picture will help us discover the most likely solution.

But I bet the weather down in Rhodes is drier and warmer. It looked like a great time was had by all and sundry. All those people dragged their tooling slabs to the convention? That's dedication for you.