fredk

I like to wipe over the raw leather with one of these; cellulose thinners, Fiebings Dye Prep, isopropanol alcohol or acetone. Which one depends on which come to hand first. Any one of them will de-grease the surface and some of them will remove marks such as dirt from the surface. After using a prep, I let it dry then wipe the leather over with a damp sponge a couple of times before attempting to dye it Chrome vs veg - chrome tan won't take a stamp impression very well nor wet mould

I can see both photos very clearly Nice choice for the exterior, but I'm not shure on your choice for the interior. It kinda doesn't go with the exterior. and I think you need to work on your edges

Cut through the leather, get a clean edge. Chrome tan will (usually) have a blue-ish line in the centre of the cross-section

I always dye the back of the belt the same colour as the front. Its the accepted here

I have pre-dyed veg tan which I bought from Le Prevo. IMO its brilliant. If you only need the colours you can get it in. In my case some shades of brown. No fussing with dyeing, cleaning up, potential bleed, et cetera. I don't really do any tooling but the leather takes a stamp impression very well In my case I got the leather in one of Le Prevo's discount sales. It was still a bit dearer than the non-dyed but it saves more time value than the extra cost that it is. I mean, think of the time you need to spend preparing the leather for dyeing, dyeing time, space taken up whilst it dries, cleaning up you dye area - with this, just cut a piece off and you're good to go This book cover was made from some of the pre-dyed

Nice

I apologise. I just learnt this evening that McDonalds has about 850 places in Russia and that McD owns the majority of them. How many the report did not say. Anyway, I've not had anything from a McD for about 2 years. The only thing I did get regularly was either a Hot chocolate drink or a Cappuccino coffee, so boycotting them is easy for me

The blade in question has been claimed by general leather workers, shoe-makers, cobblers, glaziers and carpet fitters I have one, hardly ever use it though

nope, I haven't

sounds like one of those hacking spams thingies

McDonalds are actually franchises owned by the local business person. McD supplies, sets guide prices and runs the advertising campaign but actually has no real input in that local, unlike a hop such as Tesco or ASDA

thick paper pattern; trace around and mark the special areas

POIDH

I wrap the item in tissue paper. Not very carefully. One large sheet of tissue paper wrapped around it. Then it goes into a white carboard box for posting or in to a white paper bag which has handles on it if its being collected in person I keep a lot of leather on hand, in what I call me ready-use boxes. Every thickness from 6mm to 0.5mm. Its all kept in plastic boxes. The main thing is I keep a computer spread sheet and a paper copy of a list of which box has which leathers in it I moved from a good generous sized shed to the spare bedroom in a small apartment. I have one main work table, a smaller one for dyeing and one for small assembling. What I'm thinking of doing this year is making a ginormous wood tray for doing the dyeing on. It will sit on my cutting / prep table when needed and after dyeing it can lifted away and stored vertically till the next time its needed

I forgot to mention; whatever board you use, if you are going to glue the leather on - seal the board. I use two coats of thinned waterproof PVA glue to seal the board. Without sealing your glue will soak into the board and not give a good bond to the leather

Ivan does this clicker die https://www.ivan.tw/collections/craftplus/products/craftplus-spiral-cutting-dies

I went through my stock of needles and measured their diameters with my digital callipers. Then I wrote their size on the packet. It'll do as long as I remember to to put the needles back in the correct packet - which I don't

Nice re-purposing there But I gotta ask, what size are US check books?!? Cheque books here are only about 2.5 inches high by 7 inches long, so covers ain't that big

The 'mahogany' antique I have, Eco-Flo Gel, tends to be a bit reddish

I'll suggest you try out this cutter from Tandy; https://www.tandyleather.world/products/craftool-lace-maker?_pos=13&_sid=bf4384696&_ss=r Start with a piece of leather with a central hole, insert tool and cut lace from inside to outside Quick to use, but takes time to learn the knack of keeping the lace even or for straight pieces of leather https://www.tandyleather.world/products/table-top-lace-cutter?_pos=3&_sid=d18ee9da7&_ss=r A simpler version can be made by embedding one or two box cutter blades in a block of wood and drawing the leather through them. Good for making non-standard custom widths

yes, a bag I made for no.1 dottir about 16 or 18 years ago, I glued the fabric part of the zipper to the back side of a piece of leather to make an inside pocket. Still holding true

Happy birthday to you May you have many more

There are specialist fabric glues. An example; https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bostik-806702-Simple-Fabric-Adhesive/dp/B01N91BB9O I've not used this one but another and it sticks any usual fabric to leather and remains very flexible

1. the wood I use is thick MDF which is more stable that plywood, especially the plywood I can get here 2. For the leather to MDF/wood, whether its veg or chrome tan I use either 'copydex', a rubber based glue, or a contact adhesive. Which one depends on which one I reach off my shelf first 3. I have a 4 inch wide brayer. A smaller one might do just as well. After laying the board on the leather I flip it over and use the brayer. Going from the centre to the edges and corners, working around in a star design fashion. 4. I do opposite edges next. I usually use contact adhesive on these. I hand press the leather onto the edge then run the brayer over it a few times. Here I must add, you must round off the top and bottom of the edge/side to get the leather to go around it easier 5. Holding the board up with its leather covered edge on my cutting mat I cut the glued leather away from where its longer than the width of the board. I cut it straight, using the board for where to cut 6. These days I cut my leather large enough so that I can bring the leather that's on the edge round onto the bottom of the board as well. I glue this now 7. Now I do the same for the other two sides. For cutting the excess from the corners, I use the outside of the leather already glued on as the cutting guide. This gives a neat over-lap. Sometimes, usually a little extra glue is needed here. But when it comes to the bottom of the board as I glue the leather on I use a sharp knife to cut through the two layers of leather to try and get a 45 degree angle from the corner. This gives a tidier butt join hth, if anything is not clear just ask again

1. set your project down 2. at each corner or where the stitching changes direction poke a circular hole there 3. if you are using chisels to make sewing holes; working from each corner in turn, make your holes so they meet up in the centre of the strip. If you are just using a stitching marker, same applies 4. As your holes get closer to that centre you can adjust the spacing of the holes slightly. Where your two lines of holes will meet you may end up with a spacing either larger or smaller than the others. This won't matter. It will not be noticed, except by you