calanneh

Great idea on detaching the lid Tasha... I have been thinking about the closing issue but wasnt sure what I wanted to do yet. I think I will do as you suggested on that topic. On the bottom up or sides down... I was thinking of starting on the inside and working over the edges and then down. That way I can make sure the pieces on the inside make it all the way to the inside bottom edges and IF somehting does happen and it comes up a lil short, it will be on bottom and I can cut a pattern and inlay a piece on bottom to make it look like it is on purpose...lol. What are your thought for going bottom up?? I have books 1 & 3 Max! They are great books! I am going to chase the 'leather covered box' idea and if it doesnt work right I will make one from heavier hide without the box inside. Keep the ideas coming!!! The more the merrier!!!! William

Can we pick on ya for the pink curtains in the ironing board pic?!?!?!? My 'shop' is the corner of the living room right now. The wife forces me to hide my toys...i mean, tools when we have people coming over, but until I can get everybody elses stuff outa my garage all I get is a corner and few end tables to hide everything in!!! LOL I'll wait til I have it all spread out and a bit messy before I take a pic...that usually happens when she is outta the house for several hours and or my 'leather minions' come over to work on their stuff too. hehehe William

Hey guys! I am making a leather covered box and wanted to get a lil insight from the collective mind before I put knife to leather...... I plan to take a cigar box and cover it with two pieces of leather: One piece will cover the front and sides. I plan to have it glued to the inside of the box sides, wrap over the top edges and under to meet and cover the bottom. The top edges will have gouges ont he inside to help it fold over better. I will be stitching the inside corners together and have a piece of black suede on the inside bottom. Another piece will cover the lid and back. I plan cover the lid like you would the cover of a book and use double loop lacing on the outside edges, downt he back edges to attach to the side pieces and along the back bottom to attach to the leather on bottom. This will probably be a good challenge for me, especially the lacing, but if we don't challenge ourselves, we don't learn. Any thoughts? William

Short, Simple and to the point..... Gotta love it! William

Damn good product for a little 'rainy day' work..... Nice job! William

Welcome back Jbird!!!

Hey Cowboy! Welcome aboard and greetings from Houston!! William

WICKED!

Good thought Tom! I paid so much attention to the main part of the frog I didn't think of sanding the edges of the straps. I still have them here this morning so I think I will have another look at them with that in mind. I can touch that up some before I deliver them. My buddy also commented that they don't have any left hand draw frogs (and the shop owner is left handed) so he thinks those will go over pretty good to. I didn't wanna double post so I did not put these in 'critique my work', so if anybody else has comments, please let em know! PM me if ya are afraid to make me cry in public!! LOL William

and the rest....

Hey folks! I made a few sword frogs over the last few days that will be going in my buddy's shop at the Tex Ren Fest this weekend...or longer is they don't sell..lol!! They had all black so he asked me to make some brown and tan models as they are always having people ask for something other than black. But as 80% want black, they never make anything else. I made a few different designs and colors...left vs right....laced and unlaced....buckles and ties....etc etc. Some came out better than other. I was happy with my lacing (first attempt at double loop) but I did miss a loop on the very top as you will spot and had to splice twice (kinda noticeable). My stamping got a lil off on two of them...sneezed while striking one and my cat bumped my arm on another...sigh. Let me know what ya think! I will be making more next week (if these sell) and want to learn from my mistakes! William

Wonderful!! I am sure she will love it! One nice little touch that caught my eye.. Something as simple as using the white thread along the spine instead of the brown you used on the edge make the colors of the leather jump out even more!!! The little details like that separate the beginners from the experienced.... I never would have thought of that. William

Very nice looking. The color is good and even and the overall look is great! William

Here are the final product pix. I should have cleaned up the paint lines on the inside border, but I didn't think about it until it was too late. Had to get them to the post office today! Will

DOH! Forgot the pix......The white paint was a pain as the leather was dark (UV light exposure) and it took several coats to get a good even color.... Then the black straps rub on the white and make smudges...lol The customer needed a flat fastener on the arm guards as she was going to be carrying her baby while in costume, so I used some 2-3oz pigskin, cut it into strips and folded it over and glued it. Then dyed it and used the double D ring type hook-ups. Will pads.bmp worn_pads.bmp pads.bmp worn_pads.bmp

Had a customer request a few special pieces for her halloween costume. She is going as a Quidditch player form the House of Slytherin. For those not in the know, this is from the Harry Potter books and movies. Attached are the two pix she provided, an in process of the cut vegtan and then a few final pix. One big think I learned on this project.... I HATE WHITE PAINT ON LEATHER!!! Let me know what ya think. William

Dude!! You always make the kewlest stuff! I love it!! Will

Looks great Kendell! I love the color, your stitchign is nice and even and you edges look good. Great job! will

Perfect chance to expand, update and remodel the shop...hehehe Will

The color is great and the conchos and design really work well together.. Great job! Will

UPDATE... Three hours after my last post...they got robbed AGAIN!! Last Saturday night, just after dark, with several other stores in the strip center still open, two SOBs broke out one of the large panes of glass not covered by wood (only had two left) and TRIED to rob Tandy again.... This time, they were spotted! The owner of one of the other stores spotted them and called the cops! After about a 20-minute chase thru neighborhoods and running just about every stop light in Pasadena and Deer Park, they caught em!!!! In a borrowed truck no less!!! The police are not sure if these are the same folks that robbed the store twice last week or not, but they will be going away for a good bit. The man has a nice log record and was drugged up when they were caught, he will get ten years in the state pen if the judge throws the book at him....2 years if they go easy. The woman that was with him should get at least 2 years. Don't know if she has priors or not. The local DA is going to drive home the point to the judge that this has caused a mountain of stress on the employees of the store and that Tena's doctor stated she should be in the hospital because of what this has done to her blood pressure. Considering these folks didn't live in the area at all, but came to one of the area's worst hit by Hurricane Ike to find places to rob, the judge WILL NOT go easy... Tandy approved the bars for the window (which was already in progress) and Tena is having them installed this week so hopefully this will not happen again. William

Our hearts all go out to ya Tom!! Dealing with that kinda crap is never fun. Will

I bet any sized cowboy would love it.....big or little! Great job! Will

Looks like it turned out GREAT Schno! I hope to be moving from the same cramped area in the house to my garage with-in the next few months.... But alas, I gotta get everybody else's crap outa my garage first!! lol Great looking shop buddy!! Will

I've seen a number of buckskin shirts (got a friend who is an 'old west' reenacter) and I must say that is one of the best. Beautiful work! Will