YinTx

Managed to do these when the family was looking the other way - will be Christmas gifts. sorry bout the hurried photos, didnt want to get caught So, tooling, painting, dye, antique, stamping, carving, stitching, edging.. a bit of everything I've managed to learn here... YinTx

lol, dont know about cost effective, that took me half a day to tool! I imagine that rice didn't get done in five minutes! I think its best if I let the rice art experts do their thing and stick to my leather.. YinTx

Can you share a photo? How thick is it? I am trying to keep this wallet really thin, so that is why I am using 2 and 3 oz leather. I have used some softy pig skin that was vegetable tanned on some checkbook covers and some bible covers I just finished, but it wrecks edges and is fairly heavy. YinTx

I really thought about that but... will it wrinkle when the wallet is opened/closed 1000 times? And I don't really have any thin thin pigskin...or kangaroo... and I have to be done by Christmas Eve... or am I worrying about it too much ? YinTx

I thought I was going to punch through just beveling! Now that it has dried, seems like it might work ok for a wallet back after all, but don't know how long it will last before something gives way. Thanks for the compliment. One of the things I don't like about some of the tooling works I see on Etsy, etc are the shallow looking carvings, so I am always trying to get as much depth as I can, but I think it has more to do with the design and the coloring that gives perception of depth. All I can do is study and try to get better. Thanks Ross. I am a self taught amateur as well, but I did sleep at the Holiday Inn last night. My wife keeps complaining about how nice the stuff in the scrap bin is and that I should sell it...I keep adding to it. LOL. Also, for those interested, the tiny tools in question: I have no idea how old or new they are. Top one is new, the Craftool Pro beveler. Second one is the bar grounder (A101) from Kyoshin Elle. The rest are Craftool USA. I believe the F925 is being closed out by Tandy, but is on sale right now for all of $2.99. YinTx

I see in my batch it works as an emulsifying agent as well. I also saw 1 gallon containers of glycerin at the local feed and tack store, that unfortunately went out of business. Was debating getting a bottle, but it said for animal use only? Wanted to make lotion out of it...along with the casing solution use. I also have a bar of glycerin from Fiebings that I use when tooling, really slippery stuff. YinTx

Those look really cool. Maybe next year I'll make a couple. How do the bells sound? Do they actually work when you open the door? YinTx

@Rossr, are those hot foil presses I spy? That is a nice set up, well arranged for production it seems. YinTx

Oh. Yeah...maybe... YinTx

I must be doing something wrong... I made up a mixture totaling about 3 cups, and it is already gone, working on my second batch that was about a quart. And I've only been doing this a few months...am I using too much? YinTx

Thank you. I've been staring at it all day, and up close, so I've been feeling like it was a bit of a mess. Perhaps I need to step back and try to see the beauty in it some. Change my perspective... Thanks, all but one of them are Craft Tools, and the beveler is one of the new craft tool pro Sheridan style tools. With the exception of the beveler, they were all in a collection that I purchased a number of years ago, and have just this August/September gotten the nerve to try out with any bit of seriousness. The flowers can pretty much fit under my thumbprint, and the leaves are smaller than the quarter, so tiny tools are a must for this design. I didn't even know I had a veiner that tiny, let alone the pear shaders! Had to look really close to make sure it would work like a veiner, but it's an F tool, so I suppose it is not. The bar grounder is a Kyoshin Elle tool. YinTx

You'll do fine, they said. Can only go up from here, right? Not really a piece to show off, other than its the first time I've ever bar grounded something, and the bar grounder was smaller than the letter "B" on the quarter! Still need to get a smaller knife, I think it might help a little. As would a pair of magnifiers: could barely see the ends of these things! I did this on 3 oz Hermann Oak leather, might have been a bit heavy handed for as thin as it was. Pointers always welcome so I can actually tool something nice! YinTx

In a previous topic, I posted this: There are a lot of casing solution recipes on this website. Here are the few that I gleaned: Bruce Johnson’s casing solution recipe: 1.5 cups water, .5 cups Lexol conditioner, 1-2 tablespoons baby shampoo, 1 tablespoon listerine (brown). Ed the BearMan’s recipe: 4 Tablespoons of Lexol, 3 Tablespoons of Glycerin, 2 Tablespoons of Brown Listerine, about 40 drops of Dawn, or Joy , Mixed in 7 cups of warm Distilled water HidePounder’s recipe: 1 teaspoon of (Joy) soap and 1/2 teaspoon of glycerin to 2 quarts of water. There are others out and about the wide world of internet. I sort of cobbled my own off of a combination of the above, using glycerin, baby shampoo, Lexol, Listerine, and water. The water in the above recipes ranged from 1.5 cups to 2 quarts. Mine was the 1.5 cup version, I will add more water to reduce the ratio of conditioners to water, I think it may help. As you can see, they all have some type of conditioner already in them, so any additional neatsfoot oil after the fact I think becomes overkill. They do really facilitate carving and tooling tho. YinTx

Thanks, Ross. Either much patience, or a lack of speed. I didn't measure and count until I was done. Or I might not have made it half way through! Thank you! She likes pink... she likes black... I decided they would go good together and gave it a try. Thankfully, I think they did go good together! Thanks, but I think there are few individuals I would put this much effort in for, and the rest would likely not want to pay my asking price to make it worth my while. But, I could be wrong...on both counts. Also, I am considering altering the design to eliminate the lining and make the side stitching easier, this would likely greatly reduce the number of hours I would have to put in. We'll see, so many projects, so little time! I wasn't entirely happy with the edging, so hard to make an even line with textured leather like the Chevre Chagrin, thankfully it is passable! Big Sioux, thank you. I hope she likes it. and... How about a few more photos to tempt you then...

I keep telling myself I'll make one... haven't done it yet. Kudos, your's came out nice! YinTx

You've been gettin after it! I'd say you have it down pat and you are going to have a bunch of happy recipients! YinTx

Not a sneeze - a blink, motocouture. and leave it to robs456 to see that and point it out. Actually, not as bad as it looks in the first photo. The leather is curled on the end, making it look even worse than it already is. Still, I stand by my need for a Spirit Thread in my projects, stamping is no different. They show up, I don't even have to do them on purpose. Hey, bikermutt, here's one I sold recently: And this stamping project is for an IPad cover a good friend of mine ordered from me. When I get done, I'll post a pic. YinTx

The only easy stitches on the whole bag were the pockets. and the straps. Everything else was a stitch by stitch challenge. Managed to only poke myself once in ~2750 stitches. When you do the side panels, your left hand sweats a lot since it is in the bag the whole time, amazing how well leather insulates. Makes pulling needles through in a confined space a bit difficult. I used 3-4 oz Wickett and Craig Bridle leather. Doubled on the pockets so all sides are nice, and the main body was lined with a split to make it about 6 oz. It is about 10"x10"x4", not too heavy although I didn't weigh it. I used Tandy's Eco Flo Professional Edge Dressing (Black) made by Fenice. You are on point. It is for a client and someone I know. Long story short, my late best friend's widow married again a few years back. The current husband wanted something for her. She is a good friend of mine also. (if all that made sense...) I think I managed to cover materials on this one and make about $1/hr. He promised to video her when she opens it on Christmas - payment in full. Thank you, and thank you all for the nice comments. A lot of work went into this one, and I still see the requisite bad stitch and other not so perfect errors, so it's good to know that everyone still sees the beauty in it! YinTx Thank you! YinTx

Might never make another like this, but it came out ok I think. About 100 hours labor in this one, Rose Chevre Chagrin on black Wickett and Craig 3-4 oz Bridle leather (from NStarLeather), with 25 linear feet of hand stitching using Pink Fil Au Chinois Lin Cable thread. My hands are tired! YinTx

Wow $500 seems pretty inexpensive! Something for the Canadians to jump on: no border issues, low price! YinTx

? I suppose you don't like the little handcrafted stamp? Sadly, I don't have a fancy hot foil press, or a maker's stamp.. perhaps you'd like to make a donation I could use towards such a thing? Sadly, another artisan/perfectionist flaw I have reared it's head tonight, and I elected to donate a piece to the scrap bin that I was previously ok with, but changed my mind. Starting over on a carved wallet... Biker, Thanks for the compliment, I am selling some items these days. As far as antiquing, it is just one of those things I really want to get down right. I'll just keep on tryin different stuff, but sure is getting frustrating (and expensive). YinTx

Chas, I have watched that video in the past, several times. Interesting he shows the bottle on all the dyes and resists he uses, except the antique! Just calls it high lighter. In another video he did he mentions in the comments that it is water based, so I am presuming Eco Flow. All of the antiques I have are acrylic or the Fiebing's paste style antique. Resist I have been trying are Bee's, Angelus Acrylic, Clear-lac, Saddle lac, Tan Kote, Resolene, and probably some others I can't recall right now, none of which I have had great success with yet. I have had some success with using no resist, but then I don't get the coloring effects I am looking for. One day I'll hit the right note. Those aren't really samples, more like attempts I wasn't happy with. A couple of them came out well enough to use, they'll be on book covers, Ipad covers, 3-ring binders, etc. The rest will likely end up in the scrap bin, not a fancy saddle. And yes, many, many hours - and many other pieces that aren't shown. YinTx

stellar. YinTx

Normally, I would blame my tools for accomplishing this task.. but the pile on my right would attest that your comment about practice is on point... Thank you all for the positive comments on my basket weave, that was unexpected! I was pretty excited it came out so straight, didn't know if anyone else had that same obsession for good basketweave... now if I could just get the *%$(* antique to look decent I'd be a happier man! YinTx