Sheilajeanne

Aand they were sold before I could get there. Too bad, there was quite a good selection!

Thank you!

When did Tandy tools go south? Have a chance to buy some 30+ year old tools locally, and want to be sure it's worth it. Okay, 'locally' is rather a loose term. It's a 3 1/2 hour drive, but I have friends in the area, so will kill 2 birds with one stone, if I think the tools are worth the trip! Mostly stamps and several different swivel knives, plus some books, kits, etc.

I've got the answer to that...myyy precious!! [gollum, gollum!]

I don't think you really need a template for this. Just buy a veg tan strip from Tandy of whatever width you prefer - 1 1/2 inches would be about right. Get some sleigh bells from the local craft store (MIchaels would be my first choice here in Ontario) and maybe some red and green felt if you want to get fancy. Dye the strip whatever colour you want, and finish it with whatever top coat you normally use to make it weather resistant and nice and shiny. You'll need a D ring for hanging, or you could thread ribbon or twine through the top of the strip. Double the top of the strip over to hold the ring/twine, then either insert a rivet or sew the leather together to make a hanger. Measure carefully and place the bells at equal intervals, punch 2 holes for each bell, thread twine or lace through the hole and tie them in place. For a bit of colour, glue the felt to the back so about 1/4 inch of it peeks out around the edge of the strip. It will also cover over where you've attached the bells. You can also hang a bit of greenery at the top end of the strip for decoration. The sort of fake holly leaves, pine needles, pine cones, etc. used for decorating gifts would look nice. If you want to get fancy, get a narrow leather strip, cut slits in the strap slightly wider than the strip, 2 slits per bell, then thread the strip through the slits to hold your bells. The strip can hang down at the bottom, as an added bit of decoration, and you can attach it at the top when you make your hanger. Edit: If this sounds too compicated, Tandy does have a pattern for 99 cents: https://www.leathercraftlibrary.com/product/1419/door-hanger-pattern And they give assembly instructions, too! http://blog.leathercraftlibrary.com/2011/08/22/miniature-christmas-door-hanger/ A holly leaf pattern is available as well. https://www.leathercraftlibrary.com/product/1422/leather-holly-leaves-pattern

That was MY first thought, too, Jazz! Very nice piece!

LOL! Like they say, the United States and Great Britain are two countries separated by a common language! I had to think for a bit about meths, but eventually figured it out, as it is often called methylated spirits or methylated alcohol here in Canada.

battlemunky, Seems that Princess Auto and even Canadian Tire sell them. Of course, they cost more than in the States, and the price goes up approximately $100 a ton!

billybop, those Tandy presses are RIDICULOUSLY expensive! Only time I've ever bought something like that from Tandy was during there yearly "Seven Days of Christmas' sale, when it was being sold for a deep discount. Wondering what the Canadian equivalent of Harbor Freight would be...

Well said, battlemunky!

Here's the guide I use for deciding what sort of leather to use for a project:

Fred, so what size are the largest plates you do, using this press?

Zulu, look at the top bar in the posting screen. To the left of the quotation marks, you will see what looks like a link in a chain. Just click on that, and paste your link into the box that pops up. Easy peasy... :D

Making the link live for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNR8uT2kD7w

If you have a microsoft machine, no doubt you also have MS Paint, which has a picture resizing option. You can choose either pixels or percentage, and once you resize it in one dimension (height or width) the other dimension will automatically be resized by the same amount. I use the mail it to myself option for resizing photos on my phone.

Glad I took 2 years of Home Ec. in school, plus my mom taught me how to use her machine... Still, it's been a learning curve!

Ohh, never thought of doing that! (I'm not a big soda drinker, and I need the beer boxes to take the empties back) :D I do use Cheerios boxes for patterns though.

Yes, decorative cuts need to be done AFTER stamping, as otherwise the pear shaders, crescent shaders, etc. will close up the cuts. The swivel knife work looks pretty good to me, though some of the cuts could be deeper. It looks like you have good control of your blade, though. How did it feel when you were cutting with it? If the leather is properly cased, and the knife properly sharpened and stropped, it should just glide through the leather, like a hot knife through butter. If it sticks, either it isn't sharp enough, or the leather is too dry.

For a project like this, I imagine a stitching pony would be a real help, too. Some ponies have magnets on them, so you can put your needle there and not get things tangled up when you need a break, or if you need both hands to help sort out a problem!

LOL, Scoobie! Yeah, I've had a lot of problems opening some of those bottles! And sometimes the darn things spill or leak during the struggle! I've now gotten into the habit of wiping down the bottles and caps before re-sealing them, as that seem to help keep the caps from getting seized up.

When I buy a bottle of dye or some other liquid needed for leather work, the store always seals it in a ziplock bag. The bags are big enough to hold 3 bottles of dye. So, I keep them in the bags. The bags are then stored in a Rubbermaid container that is just a little taller than the tallest bottle. Currently, one container is so full the bottles can't fall over, and I have a second that contains the non-dyes, and it's getting pretty full too! Even if the containers do fall over, the bags will contain any spills/leaks. You'd think the companies that make the dyes could design a leak-proof container but noooo.....

Putnam, can't help but notice in the topic title you say you were using Tandy Edge Kote, but in your text you say it was Fiebing's. Which one was it?

That is GREAT work! I recently did several pieces using Fiebing's antique paste and Resolene, and the Resolene caused the antique to streak, despite me diluting the Resolene 50/50 with water, and waiting more than a day for it to dry. What sort of resist do you use?

Yin Tix, very nice! And i did get creative with the paisley pattern, and did not stamp exactly the way I was supposed to. Once you have the paisley figures outlined, you can do pretty well whatever you please with them. You can definitely see the difference in crispness between my Tandy tools, and whatever tools the maker of that strap used:

Doesn't suprise me, JLS! Their two-pocket coin purse (now also discontinued) had holes that were hellish hard to line up, and they did NOT tell you which hole to start your stitching with! I had to rip the whole thing out and start over again, twice, because I was a hole or two out on matching the inner and outer pieces together! Also the inner flap on some of the purses had the snap fastener installed the wrong way - dome side out, when it should have been the male side out! No biggie - I will just cut my own flap when I decide to do one of these purses! It's just a small piece of leather, and the clear-out price was too hard to resist, so I bought a bunch of them!