DJole

Thanks for the compliment. I like the way it looks (the design), but the little flaws don't matter-- it's not meant to be pretty! ;-) Next time I do one of these, I'll have a much better idea of how to get it right.

I can only claim very limited expertise since I've only ever done one piece in an oven, but I'll share my limited experience with you gladly. The leather in the oven gradually got harder as time passed. So I don't think there would have been a window (like you are asking about) when the leather can be pulled out and be warm AND soft enough for tooling. Plus, if the leather needs to be cased for tooling, it would have very little or no moisture left from time in the oven. So if it were able to be tooled, you'd have to wet it again, and it would cool down and lose its shape, I think. That's an interesting idea about tooling on the anvil horn-- I have no idea if it would work or not. Time for you to pull out some scrap leather and give it a try! I don't think I could tool with oven mitts on, but maybe others can. I don't remember how long my one baked piece was in the oven for-- I'd have to go see if I can find the directions I used from a few online sources. It wasn't as long as you might think, though. Too long = scorched, burned, brittle and useless leather. Let me put a couple pix of my armor piece up. It's hard to keep the leather from warping or wrinkling in unexpected ways unless it's fitted tightly around a rigid, oven safe form (which mine was not). The tooled monogram worked okay-- it's not too complicated and is mostly flat rather than a three dimensional design. The back strip joining the two halves together warped a bit, and you can see the left side (above and to the right of the monogram) has some wrinkles in it. I didn't really care too much about the looks, since (A) this was a piece only for me, not sold to anybody else, (B) it was the first time I had tried it, and (C) it was going to be struck and stabbed with swords, so it would get scratched and dinged.

I made a back of the head piece for rapier (it attaches to a fencing mask) out of leather. I don't have a photo of it, but it's 3 pieces (2 halves, left and right) with a strip linking them together. It also has 2 articulated lames at the bottom of the neck. There is a small bit of tooling (a monogram) on the left half. There is no way that I could have done ANY tooling after the leather was hardened, so any tooling has to be done before the leather is hardened. Any hardening will shrink, thicken, and darken the leather, so intricate tooling is likely not going to work well. Attaching thinner tooled leather pieces to the hardened leather piece might be the only way to keep that decorative work sharp. I'm not sure how you are going to take a HOT piece of damp leather out of the oven and expect to tool it. The leather has to be baked in the shape you want it-- I don't know if you can interrupt the process, lay it flat and tool it, and then return it to the oven. I hardened my head protection piece via oven baking-- and be careful with the temperature and time, because getting the leather too hot will make it brittle. It will snap when flexed (I know this for a fact, when I baked one of the lames for too long, and I had to replace it.) I've never used wax, so I can't say anything about it. If you haven't done so already, you should check out Marc Carlson's guide to leather: <http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/leather/hl.html>. I got valuable information from his site. Boiling will certainly do this, and even oven baking will do this, as the steam from the wet leather is boiled out. This piece down in the photo below (the shell guard) was boiled to harden it (and that doesn't mean 212 degree F water! I kept the temp at about 180 degrees, as recommended by a few articles i read.) The boiling did affect the lines on the tooled shell, so they are less straight, and the beveling disappeared-- the beveling just became wider lines. After it was tooled and dyed, I dipped it in the hot water for a few seconds (I think 10, but I am not sure), and then I placed it into a form to mold it into the curved bowl shape until it was cool and dry. The gold is acrylic paint applied afterwards.

Well, water-based dyes will smear or run when the leather gets damp, so you need to find a water-resistant or water-proof solution. You certainly don't want that black dye all over your daughter's clothes! And that's where my knowledge ends! ;-) I don't have enough experience to help you choose a good sealing finish. I would recommend that you open up a thread in the appropriate part of this message board (probably the section about dyes or the one about finishing) and ask real experts about their experiences.

I like that "underwater" tooling. It's an unusual design which makes it stand out. That's pretty good tool work for just starting, also.

Nice work for a first project! What is the finish over the water-based dye?

" 6. Any really good classes, books, or online bag making tutorials out there that are recommended? " Oh, yes! Here are a couple that I have bookmarked; both are British leatherworkers-- Ian Atkinson's video series (his shop is Leodis Leather up in Leeds) are very nice-- good camera work and explanations. (see http://ianatkinson.net/leather/videos.htm for a complete list). He has some bag making build-along tutorials that are likely what you need. Nigel Armitage (of Armitage leather) has excellent videos about technique: see his Youtube channel: (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8urn9l3pybW5LztUa6zbOA)

Amen to that. It's not the fact that it doesn't actually make anything white which bugs me (acrylic works perfectly fine for that), but the fact that it leaves a residue behind, which gummed up one of my mixing cups when I tried to make the pastel green in a mixing cup. And I had to spend time cleaning the gumminess off of my dye pipettes too. So, I have no idea what Fiebing actually intended it to do, because it's never done what I needed it to do.

So that's a pear backgrounder, right? I can see your frustration! Here's some things that might help: 1) small 'steps' of the tool-- at least 3/4 to 1/2 overlap 2) not too much pressure-- it's a shader,not a stamp. 3) realizing that it will take a couple of passes before the pattern becomes randomized. Go left to right, then right to left, trying to overlap just enough to slowly blend in the tool marks. I don't use this tool very often, but the times I have used it, the above have helped. You have one line (just to the right and down a bit of the center of the photo), right along the edge of a "scale," with the shader vertical, which looks like a good start.

I'm working on a leather covered box. This is the front panel (about 6 inches by 4 inches). It's a design taken from wood carvings on Buddhist temples in Korea, and the fierce face is meant to scare evil away. I'm still thinking about the other three panels of the box. Here are the dyes used: Angelus green Angelus yellow Angelus wine-tone+ yellow (to make the orange) Angelus burgundy (the mouth) Angelus rose (the tongue) Fiebing USMC black white acrylic The pale green is an attempt to use Fiebing's problematic white to make a pastel green. I put the white on first, and then did another coat with the green. I'm not pleased with the results, so I won't try that again. The white seemed very gritty or gummy, and not liquid like the other dyes are.

"She also wants tooling done on the breastplate which i know i will have to do before the wetforming of the leather.." Are you wet-forming this around a mold of some kind (like a wooden form)? Most tooling won't hold up to that-- the wet leather and the stretching will dull a lot of the detail. "Should i cut the leather to my patterned shape before forming, or just a rough shape so that i can form it into the correct curves and clean it up it after forming?" Rough it and trim-- the wet leather will stretch and bunch up in ways you won't anticipate, so you'll need extra "slop". If you look up videos about wet-forming pouches, you can see what this means.

This is cuir boulli, molded in a shallow cup shape. The shell is gold acrylic, and that's Angelus Light Blue for the background. I hardly ever lace things, but it's a great idea here-- the lacing not only holds it on, but it also protects the highest wearing point where other swords will actually make the most contact. This is the raw piece, just after cutting the design in with my swivel knife.

I made a toggle button for closing a pouch, with a loop closure (see the detail here on my webpage...it's the next to last photo from the end) I don't think I'd use it for shoes-- too much stress.

I love that laced scabbard style. I have bookmarked an excellent how-to (http://www.yeoldegaffers.com/project_scabbard.asp) for future reference.

I have had Eco-Flo dyes bleed when they got wet. What are you putting on these as a water-proof finish?

The one pair of shoes I have built so far (of a turn welt construction) were of a pretty thin leather. I can't remember what thickness, but I estimate 2 or 3 oz leather. There is no butt stitch or tunnel stitch on these, however, so it doesn't answer your question. It would be VERY difficult to do a butt stitch on that thin leather, and I don't see such a stitch lasting very long under the stress and strain of footwear. I don't claim that they are reproduction medieval shoes (I made them a LONG time ago, before the Web existed, and I didn't have a copy of the book by Francis Grew and Margarethe de Neergaard, 1988, Shoes and pattens: medieval finds from excavations in London. The stitches I used (based on Marc Carlson's chart from his excellent shoe webpage) on this shoe were what Carlson terms Stabbed Stitching (Flesh/Grain stitching). See chart here: http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/shoe/STITCH2.HTM#SEAMS The welt I used is 3 or 4 oz. leather, and the soles are probably 5 oz leather.

Oh my...those are breathtaking! I might have to try doing that myself someday! I love the toe style, with that little up-curve point. Is that formed over the last?

I was looking at those trying to figure out a way to close them. The first thing that comes to mind is a stretch cord fastener (the triangle top is fastened to the cord, so you pull it up to get the dice out, then you let it snap down snug onto the base.) That would be a clean design, but I don't know how durable it would be.

She's not actually going to use that or swing it around, right? That's pretty much a decoration-only sword, or for wearing around. With the little safety talk out of the way--are you looking for a historical scabbard, or any kind of scabbard at all? Here is a page I have bookmarked--this has some of the best step-by-step instructions of how to make a scabbard http://www.yeoldegaffers.com/project_scabbard.asp (and someday,when I get my sword, I'll make one of these laced scabbards for it, 'cause they make my heart go pitter pat.)