fredk

I do nothing to 'prep' the leather. I paint straight on the raw leather, whether its been stamped or not, or on dyed leather. imo the application of nfo before painting may inhibit the paint adhering After painting I apply a couple of coats of thinned acrylic varnish , and only then apply any antique if required, but very carefully I've been doing it this way for 24 years now

Very Nice

Use a 'hair' tool. It usually has two ends; a fine and a coarse, use the coarse end I have the cheaper Tandy version and it works terribly well

I'm used to a much shorter beret, as worn in the RAF. The length of your reminds me of French Special Forces ones War pig? more like a Warthog; geddit?

I think, because it tears easily its not Nappa. Its goat skin skiver

This is the wrong section to ask Anyway, you can't delete your posts; that might break continuity of any thread. Just take the forum out of any book-marks list and ignore it

. . . . a car, a hydraulic jack, the ground . . . .

bunkhousetools They have a website. I bought mine from them. They are the correct size, made of very thick resin https://bunkhousetools.com/product-category/embossing-plates/?orderby=popularity But you're gonna need some real pressure for them See your other question

I use a Tandy Pro press, others use arbour thingies, what ever can give pressure. I have number of different sized embossing plates I use And if the plate is not too big a ginormous whack with a mallet will do the trick too

Not mine - I stole the picture off the internetty just as an example I wish I could make a belt as nice as that

This is what I think of when I think of a 3 piece belt

To me a three piece belt is back piece, a buckle billet and a billet with the buckle holes. All sewn together. Any one of the three sections can be removed and changed The 3- piece can be seen on a gun belt mostly

We may need to get serious with the cleaners. IPA, Isopropanol Alcohol 70 to 99% then if that doesn't do anything Acetone

I use modelling acrylic paints all the time These were done just last week; No problemo

About spring 2018 I bought a pattern for a Plague Doctors mask from dieselpunk I started making it but it got thrown in to box unfinished. I had sewn together each of the side pieces but never joined them Yesterday evening I decided to see if I could finish it in time to included in the show this weekend. I made a few changes in the construction but not the design. I finished it about 14.45 today

That doesn't seem to be available in UK. A version of it is and I'm getting a price of £30 to £35 + s/h I'll stick with my latex / rubber gloves at £6 per 100

yes it is I found an old photo of me. Taken in Chicago by an itinerant photographer. Early 1960s. I had actually learnt to ride a horse at my uncles farm in Indiana, or was learning when I was this age

The annual crafting show is this weekend and I wanted some things ready to enter the show. One item I knocked up in a couple of days is this belt 'holster' for a gardening tool. A couple of pieces off some 'scrap' leather, about 2 mm, the front was wet moulded over a block of wood

Wow! my Cadillac Coupe DeVille only had 8 pots!

I have two spare arms and extra hands. Its said the English have tails

I can't help with the spurs but on cuffs, I use a spare arm which I have. I cut a piece of paper roughly to size, wrap it around the arm and mark it for cutting for a neater fit. That is then transferred to a piece of light card. That is tried on the arm to see if it fits well, if so I write on it what it is and to use it only on the flesh side of the leather, for if used on the grain side it will make the cuff smaller

I had an interesting experience once I had been using red dye. The glove had a pin hole in it and a little dye got in. Left hand, around the tip of the middle finger, the finger nail and run down the side of the finger and some over the back of the hand. It wouldn't scrub off. A day or two later I was in shop paying for something when one of the assistants appeared with the first aid box. She promptly started to bandage up my finger and hand, despite my protests that it was only dye. She mis-understood the word dye for die. 'no you won't die from that but you need to see a doctor or go the hospital'. I promised I'd go straight to my doctor and thanked her. Well, she got testing out her first aid training and did a good deed at the same time

I'm in the UK and I use UHU glue. Its a contact adhesive in a tube. Bostik is similar. I don't know what is available where you are

How about hiding the ends in 'cord ends'? I use them on the ends of lacing on bracers Available in many styles and colours Or simply a large bead. I use beads to end the laces on draw-string purses. Both ends pared down and glued into a hole in a wood bead

Look for name tags meant for dog collars Le Prevo sells them