Ian

Thanks Luke, I guess if you're stuck on a desert island with just a jar of pickles, you could drain out the juice and dye the hide of the wild boar you killed and skinned with your bare hands, but until then, I'll uncap the bottle of Fiebings. Only plus I can see is the penetration all the way through with the vinagar.

I was thinking about what a great smell leather has, and remeber when I was a little kid. I used to take riding lessons, and the whole ride home from the stables, I'd have my hands cupped around my nose, smelling the smell of the reins and horses. When I got older, they brought out the cologne called 'English Leather'. Couldn't wait to buy a bottle. Man, was I dissapointed that it didn't make you smell like leather. On the other hand, when I had my shop, I got a bunch of vests in that were made of goat hide. It didn't take more than a couple of days before the whole shop smelled of goats. Even through the whole tanning process, and Lord knows what they use to tan with in Asia, the buck smell came shining through. On yet another hand, the chemicals they use in Asia in tanning are so strong, that my eyes used to be red and swollen after a day around the racks of imported jackets.

Actually Beav, the color is a lot deeper black in person. I had to rumage through the pantry to assemble my concoction. I just had bottles with a little bit in each, so there's some wine vinagar, a little rice vinagar and a bit of red vinigar - maybe that's my problem.

My first vinagroon colored project - a tool bag for an Indian (world's fastest, maybe). The process is pretty magical, but the drawbacks, I found, were the lost time in drying, and also, despite a couple of rinses, baking soda bath, neatsfoot, Bag Kote finish and a full lining inside, I can STILL smell the vinagar. Maybe a bit of time on the bike will fix that problem, but I think I might stick with regular dye.

I have to agree with leatheroo on that one. For me it's all about a more tolerant time when people admired (and secretly envied) those colorful characters who ignored the odds to follow a dream. Could you imagine the regulation one would have to go through today to be a nobody on the other side of the world and bring a bike that didn't pass 1000 inspections and requirements to Bonneville? Is it still possible to have a dream, ambition and just a few bucks to reach an impossible goal? Besides, I like just about any movie set in Australia.

Kevin - amazing, accurate stitching. That's a nice looking wallet for sure

A little news story from Sydney a while ago. The local madams had petitioned the US Navy to stagger the arrival of ships. Claimed the girls were threatening to strike having to work so many 18 hour days in a row.

Apart from horses and dogs,some of my past obsessions have included silver jewelry making, stained glass, sculpture, woodworking, furniture refinishing, and that's just a tiny sample....never got any good at any of them. It always seems that something else pops up that is too interesting not to learn. Trouble is that every craft requires specialized and expensive tools. No wonder I've been broke all my life. For the past 10 years is been leather for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I'd say that not an hour goes by that I'm not thinking about, or working on some aspect of it.

I'm guessing with all that braiding, Mexico would be the only place to go. Imagine paying someone to do that? Whew!

beautiful stuff - I'm thinking that backgound tool would make some nice koi or dragon scales

Beautiful, clean looking bag, and something that can't be purchased anywhere else. The seat is very sharp too.

Dave, if you soak the leather intil it's as soft as it can get, you can invert the seam. Still takes some muscle to do it - that's 10/11oz Hemann Oak Bridle, which is soft to start with.

Thanks Dunc, It is quite easy to make a pattern for bags. Using poster board, cut the shape you want for the front - straight or slant. The back, of course is the same. You can make the gusset any width you like - I'm guessing 6 1/2 inches would look right on your bike. Making the flap for a slant takes a little measuring, but not difficult. If you're making throw-over bags, just lay a piece of poster board over the fender to see where to cut it to go under the seat. Best thing is is do a carboard mock up to check your pattern and fit on the bike before you cut into your leather. I did a little tutorial on assembling the bag - look in my profile for it. Do a search for 'saddlebags' - there are a lot of manufacturers you can get ideas from. Good Luck Ian

I have founf that HO black bridle is not black enough and always has to be re-dyed. Kind of negates the purpose of buying pre-dyed leather. For bridle I prefer W&C, though I like the HO tooling.

Kate, I missed that link in your reply - that clock face is amazing - those corner pieces are as immaculate as they come. I'm definitely going the latex route. Thanks again Ian

Thanks Kate, Liquid latex sound like an excellent way to go. I've used it on other molding projects. Would I have to use any kind of release agent, or does it peel off easily? Thanks for taking the time to reply Ian

I'm about to tackle something I've never done, so what better place to ask before I proceed? The job is a tooled motorcycle seat. The customer wants a leperachaun (sp?) carved in from a picture he provided. The picture is one from the artwork on his custom paint job and is all various shades of green with details in black. Since I don't like the look of painted leather, I'm going to do it in dye. The background is going to be brown, so no room for covering up errors or bleed. This was my idea. To get the various shades, I would use just one color green, but thin it to varying degrees - i.e. start with a 30/70 dye to alcohol mix for the base color, and then add dye to acheive the darker shades and finally do the detail in black. Now, I would need to mask it to spray the background color. Would frisket hold tight to the surface being masked so there is no bleed? Would the swivel knife cuts around the picture provide a moat (?) to prevent the dye from bleeding under the frisket? Is there a better way to mask the design than frisket? I'd really like to get this right the first time so any suggestions would be more than appreciated. Thanks Ian

Nice edges, Dave, A+

Ouch! And we've been feeling sorry for ourselves that we're struggling to hit 60. Folks who "miss the snow" forget what month after month after month of the lovely stuff is like.

Tom, very nice effect, but I have to ask; Do you smash tomatoes on the floor very often? lol

Shoot Dave, I wish you lived closer - I'm getting pretty swamped here. I could use some help. I only do this 4 days a week since I now have a 'real' job the other 3. BTW, I'm not in the Berks - I'm just outside of Springfield

Dave, not only that, but I'm redoing the seats in one of the guys' truck. I'm thinking this is going to be one of those good connections. Though I'm wondering what people are thinking about the state police car parked outside my place all the time

I got this interesting little job from the Mass State Police Air Wing. The holsters they were using carried the gun horizontally. Unfortunately (or fortunately for me) a gun fell out of the holster while the pilot was climbing into the copter and discharged. Now, they have to use vertical carry holsters - which again, fortunately for me - aren't made for their weapons. This is how I converted them - I've done 10 so far with more coming in as the other officers see the ones I've already done. My conversion was presented at the monthly safety meeting, so I'm expecting more shortly Picture #1 - the original Picture #2 - the conversion - I just cut the trigger part, added a strap and sewed it to a half-moon shaped piece.

Don't know how many of you guys saw this on Ebay, but this guy has a lot of dies (looks like just about every harness part)and other stuff listed http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZblackberrys_shed

Exceptionl Dave - That little luggage bag is the BOMB!