Drac

so currently I'm extremely freakin' pissed because me roomie/landlord/owner of the house I currently reside in never fixed the leak in the little room I use as a workshop. and when I say little, prison cells are bigger, but I've made do. anyway, the leaks have been going on for probably 2 years and gets worse as time goes on. because of the leak, I've been having a mold problem for awhile no matter what I do. well, that got so bad while I was vending at dragoncon that when I spent a few hours over the course of 2 days after con I got sick. now, everything in there is covered in mold and I have probably about 2 grand worth of hides and bits (that are very usable) that are pretty much history. there's even mold on nylon that's in there and mold on the rubber wheels of the wheelchair I use as a workchair. never seen anything like that before. everything feels damp including my posterboard templates, you can't breathe if you go in there, my tools are covered in rust cheap ones and good ones alike. took out and tried cleaning a vegtan hide that's about 6 square feet and went through half a gallon of vinegar and the mold just keeps going. and now for the rest! don't have a job right now just unemployment and the leather goodies I have left from dragoncon and not really any events to set up at. just had to pay to replace the power steering pump on me van and now the pump for the transmission fluid has gone out so it's in the shop so don't have a way to even do events anyway. a chic I'm interested in and says she's interested in me says she wants me to move to houston but won't give me any answers to questions I need answers to. I've been single for over 2 freakin' years with no prospects and I'm sick of it. a friend I've been trying to help out for the last 2-3 years (she's the main reason I'm single. helping her screwed the last relationship) now owes me about 400 bucks and there's no telling when or even if I'll see that money especially since I told her I was sick of taking care of her and she needed to grow up like I'd been trying to help her do. I should prolly cut off the phone she has on me phone plan. the roomie/landlord also recently raised me rent from 450 a month to about 600 and all I really get is a bedroom that's about 11 by 11, a bathroom I gotta share with a female roomie (so you know I don't have any room in there) and bitching about the rest of me stuff stuck in areas of the house he doesn't use and the house is 3000+ square feet. I do have some friends that said they'd like for me to move in with them and they'd even come help, but they're in austin and I hate austin. too many hippies, "hippies" (you know the kind. long hair, tie dye, birkenstocks and giant suv's with a save the planet sticker) and potheads. and I hate all those with a passion. including the rest of the drug users that are there. on top of it I've been so down since the last girlfriend that I haven't even skated since then and that's been my passion for a loooooong time (almost went pro in the 80s). me laptop seems to be dying a slow death too. have some serious sleep problems too. 4 really bad hours a night. but wait! there's more! my teeth are so bad that I have trouble eating pretty much anything. lately I'm bouncing back and forth between supremely pissed almost like I used to be all the time and being extremely bummed. I don't know if it's the teeth probs that causing it coz I know when the teeth get as bad as mine that can really mess with you healthwise, lack of proper nutrient intake (because of teeth) coz again that affects your hormonal balance and proper brain funtions. aaaand, I have problems thinking and remembering (always had memory probs with certain things, but it's getting worse) things lately. teeth and nutrients again? too many shots to the head? can't really remember receiving many of those though. also it's gotten cold here and cold always puts me in a foul mood because I'm in more pain that usual. not used to pain thanks to me brain not really processing it that well. that comes in handy at times though, so that's not really a con except for when it's something serious and I don't notice it. shattered me hand once and just shrugged it off. that one was so bad that when a couple of peeps I was hanging with saw it went into full blown shock. hysterics, the whole nine yards. that amused me. pretty sure there's more, just can't think of it at the moment. heh. now that's almost funny. I have serious problems (at least to me), but one of the problems is I can't remember the problems! *L*... maybe. anyway, rantrantrantbitchbitchbitchmoanmoanwhinewhinewhine.

leatheroo yeah, I went over it with a modeling tool afterwards, but obviously me leather wasn't damp enough to hold the smoothing and I didn't notice until I'd already started dying it the next day. and I think it'd be a liiiittle difficult to explain away why ya have this kind of piece around your house! *L* rose yep, and it's not like we don't already have enough things to drive us batty, right? art groovy! I'll be in the back right area of the dealers room. loking forward to ya swinging by! darkdreams danke! hey, when you gonna set up at Dragoncon? peeps would totally dig your armor and I'm pretty sure it'd be the best there.

dagnabbit! you're right. off center by exactly an 1/8". that's gonna bug me now, but I ain't gonna redo it! ack! *L* that's what I get for eyeballing it instead of measuring, I suppose.

made this as a bribe... er, special gift for a reporter that's gonna be at Dragoncon again this year. hoping she'll at least mention me in the mag. lemme know what ya think, anything I should have/could have done, etc. airbrushed the usmc black, painted on the dye for the dragon and the lettering, used gel metallic pens for the sword and lightning and used mahogany antique. sealed with supersheen through an airbrush. stitched on a tippman boss.

LOL get ready for more of those and welcome to your new addiction. coffee's over there, the cokes, IBC root beers and hot chockies are mine, and ya don't wanna touch the donuts!

this is gonna be a bit long, since it's evolved over time. when I started I had a very different name I planned to use, and whenever I was doing anything dealing with the leather work I used a certain zippo I had that was from a comic book series. well one night I sat down and was working on the font for the lettering and the logo design. since it was for the leather work, of course I was using the zippo. I was also doing shots of bacardi. the more I worked, the more ciggies I smoked and the more shots I did. the more I saw the name on the zippo and the more I saw the name and logo I was designing, the more I liked the name on the zippo. the name on the zippo was Molly's Escort Service from the comic series Sin City. decided I liked Molly's better (especially since I could use the same name if I ever expanded into other types of leather work like I wanted to) so I slightly modified the font and started using Molly's for the name. fast forward a few years to the next evolution. people decided there needed to be a logo that would identify them easily to each other while being somewhat discreet and have meaning behind it and the whole scene decided there would a contest for it. I decided to try my hand at it and came up with what I thought was a great design with meaning behind it. never got around to sending it in to the committee so I ended up using it meself for the logo since I'd never come up with one after doing the name. another flash forward. I'd stopped doing leather for a bit then decided to start again. since so much had changed in what I was doing, I decided it was time for a new name. I felt like I was being reborn with the leather work, rising from the ashes, so the biz name became Phoenix Rising and I added a bit to the logo to reflect that. flash forward yet again. after a few years of that, I felt like I'd settled back in and was comfortable with what I was doing again so the name just didn't seem to fit and the old name just kept calling out to me, so back to Molly's it was. sort of full circle, as it were, which fit in with the logo perfectly.

had the same problem once. the trick is very light coats and letting each coat dry completely.

I recently had to strip supershhen off a project meself and used some cheap %100 acetone from walmart. did the job no prob. haven't sprayed supersheen back over the project yet though, but don't expect there to be any prob although the leather darkened up just a little. I folded up part of an old cotton t-shirt, put it over the end of the bottle, tipped it onto the cloth then wiped in circles. reapplied acetone to the shirt, then back to circles. kept doing that until the supesheen was all gone. only took a few minutes to do an area that's about 27 square inches.

I use gel superglue where I tuck the end and never had a prob.

btw, what thickness latex are you using?

the tobacco pouches I've had and seen had the latex separate from the leather except for at the top, where it was sewn in with the zipper. basically a pouch inside a pouch. it's actually there to keep the tobacco fresher longer by keeping the moisture in. btw something tht will help with that is to use a humidifier disc or brick in the pouch.

as you're going along, rotate the handle around so that whatever part you're weaving is facing you.

do a search for airbrush templates. they work well. think there's a link in a post on here about 'em too, but can't 'members for sure.

that sounds like Chance. he's a good guy!

you're very welcome! the tutorial for the turkshead starts on page 2.

hmmm... I just figured you'd have the fold too. maybe try some of the thick heatbond stuff.

it's the hair dryer that's doing it. I'm impatient too and use a heat shrink gun on low and don't hold it right on it but kinda wave it in the direction of the holster, stop a bit, then wave some more, stop, wave etc until it's done.

welcome aboard da board, and don't for get pictures. we like pictures!

guess I'm a bit more odd. old punk, industrial, goth, nerdcore, old comedy songs, pre-60's country, older techno, 80's, darkwave, ebm, traditional Irish and other renfair type stuff. told ya odd.

using eyelets/grommets with a washer back will help. as long as there isn't too much stress put on them, you shouldn't have much of a prob.

stick to the blue guns. the asp ones aren't always dimensionally correct from what I've heard.

practice and patience, young grasshopper! take your time and keep trying. you'll get it.

welcome aboard and welcome to the addiction! let's get started with things. remember though, as I'm sure you've noticed, most peeps have different ways of doing things so it's rare that anything you're told is "gospel". personally I've made bracers ranging in thickness of a single layer of 3-4 oz up to a single layer of 8-9 oz, plus multiple layers of all of the above and used chrome tanned and veg tanned, so it's kind of a case of what YOU want. when I did chainmail over some, I used 8-9 oz but could've used down to 5. I'd also recommend NOT trying to rivet the chainmail to the leather as it will cause the rings to separate. instead use speedlace loops. NOT the hooks, I'm talking about the loops like on standard combat boots. chrome tanned leather doesn't really need a sealer, but it will help to seal veg tanned after the dying or staining. as far as the gloves, I'd recommend putting a thicker layer of leather on the inside of the gloves then attaching the maille or steel.

when I did one of these, I stitched the pancake pieces together on the side the throat piece was wrapping around, then flattened it back out and stitched the band on. plus I used a piece of metal strap banding (like you see pallets of goods strapped down with) between the body and throat piece. worked quite well.

welcome to the addiction... er, I mean... um... no, wait a sec. I was right the first time, monkeyboy!