Leerwerker

Well, the first draft of the tutorial to build the hats is on my new instruction web page - I will eventually move all the tutorials from by blog to this static web site and use the blog just for the announcing of new tutorials. You can go and have a look at http://sites.google.com/site/leatherlearn/ Here is the pic of the new half size hat I made to help with the tutorial. I will add patterns early next week.

I am working to update my LeatherLearn web presence to run on both a blog and a regular website and found some of my links broken and images not showing. I am sure I am not the only one in this boat. So here is my suggestion: Can all of us, who have leather related websites, submit our URL's and we then ask all the members of the forum to go browse those sites and report any broken links or missing images they might find. The benefits should be substantial: Web site owners will have a double check on their sites to get it to work optimally and thereby maximise the availability of resources to all members. members will discover web resources and inspiration they might not have been aware of. We could add a voluntary cross linking between websites which will benefit our web sites when it comes to search engine priorities.

What's a lud[d]ite? One or two 'd's?

Treat it with Dr Jackson's Hide rejuvenator - good feeding of the leather and not very shiny.

Well, there is no real American term for this Potjie - the South African version has three long legs and has been popular since our pioneers used it on their move north into Africa (and before that). Today it is a big deal and some real incredible dishes come out of those. You can see the pictures of last year's event at http://picasaweb.google.com/leatherworker/...feat=directlink and 07 at http://picasaweb.google.com/leatherworker/...feat=directlink

This is one of those pieces that serve as inspiration - almost too high a standard to even attempt!

Well, A naked top hat is no good, so I made the first of many planned themed hatbands so that I can wear the hat at certain occasions like Halloween, St Paddy's day, Christmas, etc. This one is for the Fourth of July, when some South Africans get together here in the Twin Cities for a "Potjie Kos Dag". (Dutch Oven Food Day). That is why the Potjie is front center on the hat band. As you might have read elsewhere, the floral design part was self drawn after learning a bit about the use of scrolls.

I just placed a bit of a guideline under the following: http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=16728 Johan

Hi there, This week I was fortunate enough to attend a talk by Dave Genadek, from southern Minnesota, and he taught us to draw your own designs - well, just the flowing lines to fill a certain space, however odd it might be! Here is my first try - and in the process I will let you guess again what I am making! You start by using variations of the Golden spiral - quite easy to master with a bit of practice. Look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_spiral Then you add the elements like leaves or scrolls or whatever else. (If any of you want to use this design - most welcome - just not for commercial mass production!)

Contact the Nashville or Minneapolis Tandy stores - patterns for two cowboy hats and a top hat at about $10 each, I think. Follow the patterns exactly - holes and all and the hats "make themselves" - I will do small tutorial within the next month.

I was thinking that too - Oom Paul - a past South African President: It is the Eco-flow blue dye followed by rubbing over with a cloth with the Eco-Flow dark mahogany dye on.

Your photography is as good as your knife and sheathmaking! Very impressive!

Ask the Tandy in the UK for their Crok prints - they are very well done and come in every conceivable colour!

The patterns are available from the Tandy in Tennessee and Minneapolis and they come with very simple and easy instructions - following them very carefully - they holes are deliberate and when you sew the parts together, the hat builds itself!

I have had the same happing - I shared a double shoulder with a friend: my piece, no problem! Half of the part he took, would not soak in the water; and it is he who told me about his remedy, which was saddle soap. This might be an altogether case, but you never know. Because it is an organic material, leather is not predictable. When I decorate leather by oxidizing it, water will bead on the still-wet part of the leather. And yet, when it dries out I can so a second oxidizing without a problem at all. It makes it an interesting hobby!

I have three hat patterns - the first one you see as my 'logo' - the second is a Maverick (TV show) style and I do not like wearing it. SO, I made the third one - The Top Hat! I was lucky enough to get the color exactly as I wanted it - a blue shade of black.

You just need something to help marry the leather to the water - either a few drops of saddle soap in the casing water, or some of the carve-eaze sold by Tandy. Hope this helps!

Ray, I have used it mostly to have some idea about what my boys are doing - found out there first that one of them were dating and also found out there that the other's relationship was going sour. You see who their friends are. We have a good relationship, but teenagers do not always share with their parents first ... And I have met up and keep in touch with some long lost relatives and school friends. But, I keep a very strict discipline and do not do all the time wasting stuff, like sending gifts around and meaningless things like that. Those things have their place for people who have the time and for who it is a hobby on its own.

I did the front cover for these bound leather catalogs a while ago. So to add a quick and easy back cover, I used some of the tooling doodling ideas I had developed earlier:

Hi All, There is also a Facebook Leather worker's group - go look at: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=10062324602

I was given the following recipe: You melt about one to two cups of beeswax with 2oz pure lanolin (Walgreens - for breastfeeding mothers) plus one teaspoon of the fine powdered resin (I bought mine at a sport store). This mixture MUST be poured into a bowl of ice cold water, as it is extremely sticky when warm. Under water you can pull it together into a ball and when it is cold enough, take it out of the water. Its original purpose was to wax your sewing thread so that stitches get pulled snug and do not loosen up as you sew the next stitch. I have also started using it in my braiding. I use artificial sinew for my cores and I pull that through the resin/lanolin/wax - my braiding stays pulled tight and the sinew strings stay neatly together. When I braid six strands or more, I pull the underside of the laces over the wax - it helps them to stay in place where I braid them and the do not slide all over the show. Hope this helps!

Hi Ian, No relation that I know of ... The tools I used for the last pattern: First one is a hand made tools (made by my friend Jason Rovig) from square steel stock. And the second is my all time off-the-shelf favorite from Tandy - The triangle beveler with the lined texture.

Two very nice leathers you can try are the Deertan Cowhide and Doe Kidskin from Tandy. Give your local Manager a call and ask him for a sample (if he does not have any, let me know, I'll send you some). I am aware of quite a few bookbinders who use these leathers and they are very satisfied with the feel of the soft leather. The Deertan Cow sounds exactly like what you are describing.

He just gave me the description. Give him a call and ask him to send you pics ....

I have an explanation and a mention of the tools used at http://www.johan-potgieter.com/ll/?m=200309