UKRay

Schno, All day long we have had horizontal rain and a howling gale. More than enough wind to blow your little umbrella all the way to Hawaii. It tends to focus the mind though - I really don't mind being indoors thumping leather on a day like today! Living on the Welsh border can be pretty moist. A town a few miles down the road (Tenbury Wells) was badly flooded again this week - third time in a year. I'm just glad I live on a hill...

We might have a problem with the little paper umbrellas... <grin!>

Tony, Mine is the crumbling hovel on the way out of town... look out for a leaking roof and leaning walls - I didn't say anything about constant human occupation! LOL

The reality is just as good as the fantasy, Schno, you just have to learn to compromise a little. For example: I wanted to fit a telephone into the workroom a while back and burned out two drill bits trying to get a cable through the ancient 2" thick solid oak floorboards - now that is what I call seasoned timber! I compromised by fitting a wireless telephone setup that only works in one place in the room because the three foot thick solid stone walls block the signal everywhere else. The upside is a massive open fire in the winter, ancient oak beams in almost every room and the feeling of permanance you only get from a building that has known constant occupation since medieval times. If you want to see living, working history check out www.ludlow.org.uk/arch.html you'd be welcome to drop by for tea!

Now that is some good looking footwear, Jordan - shame we are living with torrential rain here in the UK or I could easily be tempted... I really like the way those straps vanish into the soles without lumps and bumps. Nice.

Here are two buckle stands I have just been offered - can anyone suggest anything better please?

My biggest 'messy workroom' problem is mostly due to the extreme age of my house (built sometime in the 14th or 15th century) and the fact that the floors go up and down like a roller coaster ride. There is a 6" drop from one end of the room to the other with a 4inch drop between the outside wall and the centre of the room. This means my big green cutting bench slopes sharply backwards depositing everything rollable onto my lap - hence if you make a mess it all ends up on the floor. The daftest thing I ever did was to get one of those rolling toolboxes (like mechanics use) as I thought I could get all my tools in the drawers and keep the place nice and tidy. I filled it up, sat down and started to work and then watched the thing slowly roll down the other end of the room... It is now chocked up and wedged into place!

Living in the UK means I don't have access to trade publications that advertise buckle display stands, in fact I don't think I have even seen one for sale in the UK. With more than 50, sometimes costly, solid brass and silver buckles to display I have got to find a way to do this securely. Has anyone got any ideas - how do you guys do it? Your help and advice would be much appreciated.

How big are the holes Paul?

I don't know what goes through your mind, Mike... It was a very small house but I had an electric light, workbench, shelves, stool and a toolrack in there and nearly killed myself with the fumes from the stain and contact adhesive . LOL

This is how I made and fixed my own strap - It is far from perfect but it works okay for me. Picture quality is a bit shakey here and there... sorry! The bottom end adjustment uses a single snap which I find perfectly adequate although I would rather have dispensed with any metalwork for the sake of the guitar. It is a working solution and I have never been bothered enough to change it. I didn't realise how much dust there was on the guitar until I took these pictures - you just can't get the staff these days!

I started in the cupboard under the stairs... barely enough room to get in there let alone work - I couldn't even think about doing it now... LOL!!!

Daggrim, many thanks, that has to be some of the most useful advice I've seen on this topic. I firmly believe that anything I can do to raise the perceived value of the goods has to be worth a shot. Your comments about reducing clutter and just laying out a few items to raise their value bears out my own thinking and gives a practical way to achieve more sales. Have you found any particular colours useful when laying out goods on a cloth? In other words, which background colours produce most interest and hopefuly the best results? The height thing is also very interesting. How do you achieve the different display heights? Have you any pictures of your stand so I can understand this better? Azmal, thanks for the advice. I have been talking to a number of show organisers / craft co-ordinators as you suggested and they have been very helpful. More stall pictures guys - please!

Today has been a fairly productive day. A batch of belts, loads of keyfobs and a stack of hair barrettes plus a lovely re-enactor lady who wanted a cloak fastening made just when I was ready to call it a day. My workroom has ended up looking like the pits so I felt obliged to join in this thread... I have to say, it isn't always like this as I do try to tidy up before starting a new job but today I simply haven't had time! Enjoy the mess guys - there is a broom and hoover in there somewhere if you haven't got anything else to do...

Hi Tina, Just checking you still have all your fingers... <grin!> R.

I was really impressed with these butterflies and have been trying to recreate the colors but I can't get that lovely transparency. It is almost like watercolor paint. Has anyone got any idea how it is done and what dye has been used here?

Thanks for all your comments, suggestions and advice guys. And thanks for the vote of confidence Tina! I know it sounds like a daft question, and I must confess it was asked somewhat tongue in cheek, but I was quite surprised and slightly amused to hear that a whisker 'prejudice' really does exist. A few enquiries at this end later and I have to tell you that the only signs of prejudice this side of the pond came from those working in big 'multinational' corporates. The British 'establishment' doesn't seem to care one way or another, I even worked on the London Times newspaper whilst sporting an absolutely HUGE set of whiskers and you don't get more 'establishment' than that! As a (currently freelance) writer, I'm not altogether sure where I stand on the employment ladder - I'm more 'old T-shirt with holes in and no collar' than 'white collar' or 'blue collar'. In the UK I generally work remotely so the beard hasn't been a problem for me, whilst the geeky companies I generally write for almost seem to expect a bloke with whiskers. I haven't worked in the US for a number of years (and I never once met my bosses face to face as all communications were by phone or email!) so I'm not sure if publications still use remote working freelancers in the same way as the UK - does anyone know more than me? It could save me a fortune in razor blades... <grin!>

Leaving aside the personal investment you have in an article you have made yourself, and leaving aside that you already have concerns or you wouldn't be asking us... 1. Do you feel like investing your hard earned money in this guys business by subsidising his operation? 2. Are the returns sufficient that you will make more selling through him than on your own account? 3. Can you afford to take the loss if it all goes wrong? If the answer is no to any of those then don't do it. Just my three penn'orth and worth precisely what you paid for it.

I can't help but agree with you about top end leathergoods Windy, and I respect your wide knowledge of display building but, as I am fully aware, my work doesn't fall into the same class as some of our highly esteemed fellow posters. My regular production stuff simply couldn't be compared with the high end work we see here so frequently - but that doesn't mean I don't think it is sellable - more importantly, I want it to have every chance possible of catching a buyer's eye. Frankly, I don't care if they come over to look at the way the display was built or to check out the fabric I've used to cover my table as long as they buy something! If I took your advice I feel I could be putting myself at a disadvantage - which, IMHO, is not a good position to sell from. How do other people feel about this?

I just had a distressing email from a friend in Boston MA. We had been discussing a vague and almost impossible idea of me moving home to the US, but I have now been told that I'll never get a job as long as I have a beard. Okay, this guy was talking about the sort of corporate job I'd rather avoid, but the question remains - are blokes with beards treated differently in the US to those who 'ain't got 'em? Is there really some kind of uptight whiskery social stigma in the US that I'm not aware of over here in the laid-back liberal UK? :wtf: I gotta know!!!!! P.S. Why don't any of these emoticons have whiskers?

Have I shocked you Cousin? I'm soooo sorry - I was a very naive, spotty lad at the time and I simply didn't know where to put myself! It wouldn't happen these days... for lots of reasons!

When I was just a lad I worked in a harness shop. An absolutely 'drop dead gorgeous' young woman came in one day and threw a handful of leather straps on the counter and said could I make another set just like it but in shiny red patent. Well, I held it every which way, up to the light and even stood back at a distance but couldn't work out what it was. I told her that I would gladly make another but it would be helpful if she could tell me what sort of animal it was for. She smiled, reached into her bag and passed a photograph across the counter - boy were my cheeks red! She was an 'exotic dancer' and this was her costume...

Sorry Wildrose - Larry and Leenie went right over my head! - maybe they haven't made it to the UK yet? Who are they? That was really quite a photographic expedition, Hivemind. I am so impressed! it has really given me a taste for the sort of leatherwork on sale at these events. Many thanks. Those butterfly hair barrettes are absolutely beautiful. It must take hours to stain 'em. The plain belts also looked good and were easy to see and buy. The pictures did throw up a few questions though... (okay, 'no surprise there', I can hear you say). My sole intention here is to find the best way to display and sell my own goods and I find it helps me to critique other displays. I'm not saying I could do any better but I need to understand what ought to be changed to make the goods look more attractive before I build my own displays. I do try to be objective and look for the best side of things but ultimately I want to do the job better and sell more stuff. For those who may be interested, my observations follow: I definitely felt that a lot of time and care had been spent making the stuff on display. It looked well designed and well finished but much of it didn't seem to be displayed particularly well. Leaving aside the garment rails - I guess there is only so much you can do with a coat hanger - the hanging belt displays were good and colorful but a bit too 'busy' for me and the wide belts on the rough looking shelf definitely underwhelmed me. Such a shame as the belts looked nicely colored and well put together and I really liked that antler fastening idea. The wristbands/bracelts/cuffs on the wooden shelves looked untidy and didn't make me want to get closer and check 'em out. IMHO I felt the lovely pointy bottomed bags and other nice looking bits were let down by the sagging green cloth and a lack of presentation. I thought the pouches looked like they had been made, quickly, for the event and displayed without any thought to asthetics. On the plus side, the overall quality of the workmanship looked really excellent and some of the designs were outstanding. Once again the bar has been raised and I'm just hoping I can compete. Right now I'm losing faith in my ability to jump high enough... What did others think of the displays in the pictures? What could you change in order to to sell more stuff?

Russ, I have recently spent a bit of time thinking on exactly this subject and have come up with the following scale of belt blank to finished belt lengths. maybe this will help you. I find these 5 sizes fit the majority of people these days - and I'm inclined to agree that the proximity of fast food joints could have a marked affect on the local customer's circumference. My thinking also suggests that a few extra holes in a 32" belt will make it fit most smaller sizes. I always try to carry a few XXXL belts too. The blank has to take into account the fold-over for the buckle and a little extra length for doing the belt up. I reckon 10" is about right: 26-32" waist - 42" blank 34" waist - 44" blank 36" waist - 46" blank 38" waist - 48" blank 40" waist - 50" blank I ought to add that this is just a guide - some people suggest more and others suggest less but I am pretty happy with these figures. I'd be very interested to hear other people's thoughts on this

Nice idea, Luke, but I'm not sure I want to drag a showcase big enough for bags along to shows. That sounds like waaaay too much work for a lazy old man like me. I was wondering about a 'single wire' alarm system that will 'go off' if the wire is cut. I could thread it though the bags and as long as the circuit integrity was maintained it would stay quiet but if a thief chose to break the wire it would shout... Has anyone used anything like this - if so where did they get it from and how much was it?