calanneh

OMG YO!!!!! That's some crazy stuff!!! LOVE IT!! William

Well the kits are on sale right now anyway..... And if get some good freebies with them. Now dont quote me as I am doign this frmo memory but I thinkt he freeies are as follows: Deluxe kit gets you 8 free crafttools OR $50 in books/craftaids OR a full side o'leather... Starter kit gets you 4 crafttools, $25 in books/craftaids OR a half shoulder.... The details are listed on the website and in the November sale flyer. If you use the 50% coupon on the kit, I am not sure you will get the freebie items. William

Well I just found out it will be 13 Scouts in 1 session...so it will be loads of fun!!!! hehehe I will have 3 assistants, 2 that I know have done a good bit of leatherwork in the past and one that has done nothing. He will be earnign the merit badge while he is helping. Yall have a good weekend and I'll post pix Tuesday evening! William

I will be teaching the Leatherwork Merit Badge to abotu 15 Boy Scouts over the next 5 days. Instead of letting them use kits, I am having htem cut their projects from scratch and punch the holes themselves. I made 6 different patterns for them to pick from; all involve punching & stitching by hand. I will get some pix of the guys working on their projects and post them next week when I get back. Wish me luck!!! William

Yep! There is a nationwide Tandy Black Friday sale. I will be working at my local Tandy to help them both mornings. 7-9am is 40% off retail sale (25% off leather) and the rest of the day the are the other deals shown on the postcard and several special deals on tagged items thruout the store!! If you look close, one of the coupons is 50% off one item...so if you've had your eye on one of the nice AS mallets...hehehe. For the guys on here in the Houston area, we have extra post cards at the store, so if you don't get one in the mail....come on by anyway and we will get ya hooked up! William

Frigging sweet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! William

Wonderful work Emma! They are great looking! William

Great simple idea that pays off in the end!!! It keeps your name in front of the customer and makes good use of scrap!! I might have to try that..... William

I got my shirt at the TX Ren Fest in 2006. Paid like $15 bucks for it on the markdown rack. It is a nice roomy 3X. The hat on it's own looks dorky, but with the whole emsemble, I like the effect. If I ever do another one, I will make it wider and shorter so it does not sit so high on my head. I have a short sword (15" long) but I havent had time to make a proper sheath for it, so I did not wear it. I bought a medium length sword (28") at the fest. I will be making sheaths for them both over the next year. I will probably put the short sword on my hip and the other across my back. My goal is to get a true claymore sword and carry that across my back. Make sure you upload pix of your outfit as you make your pieces!! William

Well welcome aboard Becca!!! Yes please do take pix...we love pix!!!! The wallet and book cover both look great! The lacing on the wallet looks nice and tight and the carvings are better than I do!!! LOL Keep up the good work! William TX

Nice elegant bag!! The contrast of the white stitching agianst the dark leather is wonderful! I love it!!! William

I put a layer of foam padding and then some regular workboot gel insoles in mine and they feel great! I walked around all day and only felt a few rocks or whatever thru them.

Yes, but any swords or daggers have to be secured using cable-ties so they can not be pull on anybody. If you are caught with a weapon out, you get arrested. This photo was out in the parking lot, so I let him take the cable-ties off just for the photo. Just about everybody out there has swords, daggers, flails, etc etc..... William

Here is a pic my my son at the Ren Fest with his bracers, belt and sword frog on. He is a bit of a show-off, hence the goofy pose and weird look on his face...lol. We ended up adding some cloth covered foam to the inside of the bracers and the grieves to tighten them up some. It also padded the bracers so he can wear them comfortable without sleeves. He didnt get the leather armour gloves finished in time to wear them. He (says he) will be adding more stuff to the ensemble over the next few weeks. It is more Japanese anime assasin than Ren Fest period, but it's what he wanted to wear..... Speaking of!! I didnt get a pic, but there was a guy in full Star Wars Stormtrooper armour with a kilt and Scottish ensemble over the top of it.....LOL William

Thanks Bro!! They are a little big...kinda floppy like duck feet. I plan to wet them down and try to shrink them a little. William

About 2 hours ago...... I was cutting a piece of 9 oz vegtan earlier this evening and I was using my sharpest knife. I love using it as it goes right thru the leather even better then the best razor knife blades I can find.... Well, it goes up the side of my pointer finger and can skin an inch long section of flesh just as good!!! Took abtou 15 mins to get it to stop bleeding. Luckily it only got skin, not meat. IF my hand would have been turned a tad more, it would have gone into my finger and probably thru my thumb...... Told ya I wasn't an easy child to raise......just ask my wife!!!!!!! hehehe William

Well, it was in the high 60s or low 70s for most of the day. I had an undershirt on and I was very comfortable. If I had a cloak....I would have been sweltering. I got a PM asking about a few of the costume pieces, so I am attaching close-ups to this message. I don't have any of the belt or the small right side pouch. I will take a few and upload them tomorrow. William

Beautiful!!! oh...so is the leatherwork..... LOL Looks great bro!!! You did a great job, even if the cups are a lil on the small size. What did you make it from 5-6 oz vegtan or what?? William

Well if we wanna get into non-leather mishaps...hehehe Yall remember that Evil Knievil movie that came out in 1974ish? Where he rode his motorcycle down the stairs of a football stadium..... Well I was 5 when I saw it......less than an hour after seeing the movie, my tricycle and I took a ride down a set of cement stairs (8 to be exact) outside our front door. I was upright for the first 2 steps. I remember waking up the following morning in the hospital with a large gash & 12 stitches in my head and my mom telling me I could never go to the movie ever again....... I had knocked myself out and was unconsious (sp) for over 15 hours....... ----------------- A few years later there was an incident with a big metal extention ladder, 15 stitches on the other side of my head and another unconsious stay overnight in the hosp.... hehehe Those were the two best 'scar' incidents. Lets just say I have several others, but those are the ones my mom tells me took a few years off her. I was not an easy child to raise. William

OK folks, yall have seen a few pix and threads of soem of my various projects. A pic of the finished product is attached for your amusement! The hat and boots from patterns made from true recovered Viking articles. The belt, pouches and wrist cuffs were ones I just made for the Fest, but they are pretty standard designs. William

I use PayPal. Never had a problem and they don't charge a monthly fee. They charge a very small % when a transaction is processed. Been using them for abotu 5 or 6 years. William

Looks great Marlon!! Keep the pix coming!!! William

Sounds like a great time was had by all and you got the leather word out!!! I teach several of my son's friends to make stuff and I be teaching the leatherwork merit badge at a Boy Scout Fall Camp this Saturday thru Tuesday. One of my son's friends made a blue suede corset for her Ren Fest costume (shown in the reenactment forum section) and now she is making presents for each of her family members for Christmas!! Not little stuff either...a leather bookcover for her mother, a cartridge case for her father's hunting belt, etc etc It is so thrilling when somebody picks it up and keeps going!!! William

I love the USMC black when it dries. I have used it on everything from a black leather belt to belt pouches to my son's grieves and bracers... I never had a problem with it until I used the Eco-flow satin sheen with it. William

Looks nice Clay! I like it! William