Lace

Thanks for all the advice. It's nice to see that someone else has already done this! (sorry I lost track of this) I'm going to post some pictures as soon as I get going. I think I'm going to go with shearling for padding and keep the natural contours of the gator in tact instead of cutting it. He saw the alligatorjakes straps and got some ideas about design specifics. I think it will be difficult to sew through - but I also don't think just using glue to attach the shearling would be sufficient? Maybe super glue, haha. The straps in the link above don't appear to have the liners sewn on but it could be a deceiving picture.

After a busy summer and a new job, moving and etc etc I have finally settled in and got my work space set up and I'm looking to do a guitar strap. I've done a few before but just basic plan ones cut from patterns with maybe a bit of stamping on them. I got an interesting request from my boyfriend to make a guitar strap for his bass with a crocodile back. (http://www.tandyleatherfactory.ca/en-cad/search/searchresults/9511-19.aspx) I got one from Tandy while they were on sale and now I'm just trying to figure out how to go about this. I'm going to dye it as normal which should be fairly straightforward but as for making sturdy and practical attachments for the front and back of the croc strap for attaching to the guitar - I'm lost. I want to line it as well and again I'm not sure what to line it with. I was thinking foam with some upholstery weight liner but I will need to be able to seal the edges so they don't cut his neck. It needs to be able to slide I guess over his shoulder - but I'm going to hand sew it because I believe my sewing machine isn't ready for something like this and the uneven edges worry me - I don't want to mess it up. Has anyone made a guitar strap - or any strap like this before? I'm hoping for some words of wisdom or advice on design. Here's hoping!

This is amazing. I love the details and overall design of it. Beautiful.

With Bio you need to be careful even with a machine. I'm lucky to have access to machines at my work to sew bio and other materials and I've never tried hand sewing. I wouldn't like too either. It's nasty even to sew with a machine. It can be sticky and because of the nylon core it's easy to get too close to the edge and rip it apart (which was said). I think it's the stickyness that gets me every time, I HATE sewing trotter hopples for that reason . If you are going to sew it, I would glue it first. It comes off easily so you can gob on a bunch and let it get really tacky and let it set really well so you know where you are going, and if you can find a scrap piece or and end see how far in the core is and where your stitching needs to be and mark it with a pen. I use barge contact cement but anything would work I guess. Just make sure it's good and set before you sew because it can hurt your machine if it's not totally dry. The machine I use is a big huge hand operated one. I have NO idea what it's called but it's the old hand crank foot petal kind that you need to sit on a 4' stool to reach. We use it for all the big stuff like saddle skirts and draft harness. Hope this helps.

Wow that's really neat lettering I love it! The darkened edges make it stand out really nice :D

I finally finished the belt for my grandmothers kilt. I'm not so good with sewing on the big machine yet but I did my best. Any critiques are appreciated but I know I really just need to practice more. It's a strange belt but that's how the other one was made and so I made mine the same. The edges were tough but using sand paper as suggested worked fine. I even modeled it for you :D Hahaha, my camera is kinda sucky so the pictures are not great quality. I also bought some little horse head thingys from Tandy last time I was there, I thought I could do something with them. I'm not so great at shading with paints so it's a very 'paint by number' looking thing and my first try at tooling anything. It's for a friends horse. It's not really awesome tooling, I don't have many of the proper tools but yadda yadda yadda. Haha. Thanks for looking. I think I need help with painting / colouring and mixing colours. Haha. edit: My pictures are too big Haha, I have one but I'll upload others to my website later. Gotta Run!

I know I'm still gawlking over them! The painting is stunning and I can't for the life of me figure out how she got these shapes out of this leather, and how she carved and tooled it all. I'm tempted to email her and find out because it's killing me!

These masks I found by browsing Deviant Art. They have alot of good craftspeople on there making good leather items. This person has these amazing masks which are all hand painted and I just wanted to share. MeriMask (http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5334810)

Welcome Hope to see you making lots of bags before long! It's worth more in the end to say: Yeah I made it myself and maybe you can turn the funds around and make money rather than spend it. Hehe! Welcome and enjoy.

Wow, looks nice. I love the one that looks like wooden boards with nails. It's really neat :D Nice work. Braids are hard. They look nice and neat.

WOW!!! That is too amazing. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it. The realy horse hair is so amazing. I thought for a second it looked way to real then read it was. That is insanly amazing. I'm in awe. I love the horses face too, so intent on his work. Again. Wow. Makes me want to skip afternoon classes and go to the shop so I can work on my own things right away!

Thanks abn! I'll try it and let you know how it works