fredk

You have to balance what you want to make with what customers' want. I make what I want but I'm also open to making something a customer wants, as long as its in my experience to do it. [One item which comes to mind was a car owner asked for covers for part of his car front seats. An area of the car seats were badly worn. I made the covers and he just glued them in place.] I'm also building up a stock of small items that I hope will make sales I once knew a prominent Ulster artist. She painted 'pet portraits' and the occasional human portrait. She once told me that she really hated doing these paintings. So why do you do them? I asked Her reply, 'because they pay the bills and allow me to paint what I really want to do' If you can, try going on journeys to nowhere on buses and trains and observe people. Go to a town centre and sit with a sandwich and coffee and observe people passing by. I've been using buses and trains, going to town cafes. I have a small sketch book full of ideas of things I've seen, designs of bags, purses and even wallets and so much more that other passengers or people walking by have. Go into fashion stores and look at the 'leather' items~* on sale. These are the things that some people will buy * on this, No.3 son drew my attention to a certain style of back-pack bag in a top fashion store. The bag was available in many colours and there was a sales offer on them. £125 instead of £160. The bag was an exact copy of the school bag we in Ulster used to use 50 years ago. I managed to find a price for those bags, about £2.50 in 1971-ish, or about £80 today, so not terribly expensive in comparrison; https://www.scaramangashop.co.uk/Fashion-and-Furniture-Blog/wp-content/uploads/bag4.jpg When I was involved in historical presentation groups a lot of my sales were to the group members and some to the public, about 70 / 30 % Since I left that and the groups have died away I'm doing mostly things just for family, and giving the odd item to friends. But I'm also building up a small stock of a range of items for when we are allowed to go out and do outside markets et cetera again. I have two 'sales agents' in two countries who both want stock, but at the moment and since March 2020 they can't get to the places they wanted to take my items A few years ago I thought I had nice earner all lined up. A certain shop keeper wanted me to make a range of certain things. He wanted quality as his only other source was from overseas and the quality was abysmal. During negotiations the shop keep disappeared and the shop locked up. It took almost 18 months till I found out where he was - in prison for fraud! His brother took over the shop and doesn't want my items, he's happy selling tat

Be warned; Some of these need complete rebuilding and parts filed and machined to make them work

You should read 'The Chicago Massacre of 1812'. I got it as e-book

This thread and today's date reminds me that I used to have a friend who bred rabbits for fun. He was an ex-submariner and had served during the UK-Argie Falklands War, which started 40 years ago today. Never called PTSD, he used to into his garden and pet and watch his rabbits whenever he was stressed out

I got an order from Le Prevo, about 2 weeks ago. Just some dye and some brass loops Stu handled most of the sorting of the order. No problems at all. Everything went just as it always has

There are numerous names for this machine. Some are not repeatable in polite company! but its known as a Chinese Patcher. There are few threads on here about this machine https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/94117-cheap-chinese-sewing-machine-question/ https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/99199-chinese-shoe-patcher/ https://leatherworker.net/forum/topic/86981-chinese-imported-sewing-machines/page/5/?tab=comments#comment-665876

A deviation off the main track I used to live in a certain town. It had a bad problem with pigeons, aka flying rats. The town council called in a pest control company. As usual with small local governments, the time between deciding and doing took some months. Pest control came. Made a report to the council - basically 'What pigeon problem?' They counted only about 20 pigeons round the town. In the earlier months about 100 Brazilian immigrants had arrived, to work in certain local factories. The pigeons were free dinners for them. As were all the fish in the numerous lakes and rivers around the area!

I newked that picture off ebay. My acrylic one isn't as nice. I just made a couple of saw cuts in a scrap piece of acrylic I had handy and removed the bit between the cuts to give the slot. The one in the photo is one you can buy out of China for about £3 / $3.50-ish The way I tend to do my hole making, with either type of punch, is to hold the working end, the hole punching end, with my left hand, the side of my hand pressing on the leather and fingers holding the punch tight to the leather. Mallet in my right hand. The plastic thingy is under the side of my left hand, so I slide it forwards beside the punch as I pull the punch out of the leather with my left fingers, rotating my hand at the wrist, I can keep the plastic on the leather pressing down Kinda hard to explain. After doing it a few times it becomes easy and automatic. I can sort of walk the punch along a line quite quickly this way - punch, pull out, slide along using the plastic as a slider, punch, pull out, slide along and so on

Like this;

oh dear, oh dear. I bought two sets of hole punches [different spacing], out of China thru ebay. Cost about £8.50 for a set of 3 of each [2, 4 & 6 hole punches] No problem with them. These are for making holes which take leather away I punch into a block of blocks of wood, end grain on. Sometimes I'll use a bit of scrap leather between my work piece and the blocks My block of blocks; I have a small off-cut of thick clear-ish acrylic plastic with a slot cut into it. I place the slot on each side of the hole punches, whatever the type, and hold the acrylic down hard whilst I pull the punches out

Interesting way to recycle old boots I look forward to seeing the finished bag I must say, you do have the 'creators eye' to see what can be made out of these other items PS; that facey thingy holding the knife up scares me! Heeeerrreee's Johnny!

I know some Spanish and US regiments wore a stove pipe hat but would you also not be looking for the Belgic [style] Shako? In its long form and its false front form? Stove-pipe style Shako Belgic Shako with false front, as worn by some re-enactors btw; to be historically accurate; these hats, both the plain Stove-pipe, the Stove-pipe Shako and the Belgic Shako are made with the flesh side of the leather to the outside of the crown. This was to replicate the look of the beaver fur used on the better quality officers' hats

Tandy has a pattern for one. Its in a set of 4 different hats https://tandyleather.com/blogs/leathercraft-library/2662-leather-hat-pattern-pak?_pos=3&_sid=899eb9514&_ss=r

I got a 1.5mm and a 2.5mm I don't use creasers and I didn't need them but I thought I'd get a couple of fixed distance ones just in case, to have available These actually worked out at about £4.45 each! Checking my notes; these were to be delivered in 14 to 21 days. After the 21 says I enquired to where they were and the seller gave me a big refund of part of the price and an apology for the delay. These arrived about 10 days later, thus total delivery time was about 31 days. Not that that has any bearing on how long something would take to get you

Last month I bought two cheap creasers out of China. They cost me about £7.60 each. Even their creasing part is superior. Two views of the 2.5mm one

All the other options you lot have mentioned are good for certain purposes, but not very good for spreading thin liquid glue, especially over a large surface and especially doing it quickly

Here is the type in a plastic pouch; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334272823004?hash=item4dd4367edc:g:mKUAAOSwiWJhzU-i I think gluing the plastic to the leather would give a better bond than metal to leather

Without something to support the magnet it wont stay in place for long You can get magnet closures which have a metal surround which has two or more prongs on it which pierce the leather and are folded over. You can also get magnets encased in a thin plastic pouch which can be glued to the leather. For the occasional time I've used a magnet I've glued it in place, just to hold it whilst working, then glued a very thin piece of material or leather over the backside of the item to hold the magnet in place

In the UK we have a latex based glue called Copydex. It was famous for it smelling of fish, but sadly no longer Its a very liquid glue. Not as runny as woodworkers PVA but almost. Each bottle of Copydex comes with a brush built into the inside of the screw off lid. But those brushes get bunged up and useless after a time. I started looking for glue brushes in my local hardware and decorating stores. All searching was fruitless, the shop staff didn't even know what I was looking for. An on-line search found me glue brushes, but also this; A silicone glue brush. It costs about £10 It reminded of something else; a pastry brush. I bought one in a supermarket called ASDA for only £1.50 I tried it last night and it worked very well, but I think I'll trim the brush a bit shorter so they are a little stiffer. Only real down side is this is too wide to fit into the Copydex bottle

I used to use an old metal biscuit box for my oven when I cooked fish at the beach after catching them Dig hole, light fire in hole, scape out some of the fire, put biscuit tin into hole on top of fire, put rest of fire on top of box lid, then cover with sand. Hopefully, having remembered to put cleaned and gutted fish wrapped in aluminium foil inside of box, along with a few small taties and onions Continue fishing, then remember dinner should be cooked then spend ages trying to remember just where you buried the tin oven, searching with a small battery flashlight which is about to go out - here sea fishing is done in darkness of twilight to dawn

Thanks for the explanation on how you make the stamp(s) Do you use a release agent, such as talc, between the polymer clay and the leather?

Sharp = a sharp needle, like a glovers needle

My #1 son still has an 8-track. In his 1978-year Cadillac Coup DeVille. I think he pinched all the tapes from my '78 Caddy for his un

A slight deviation; I want to buy some EVA foam, to put into boxes, with cut outs for holding game pieces. The cheapest I can get is a piece 50 cm x 50 cm for £15 delivered. Or, from the same supplier, a piece 1m x 1m for £18 delivered. At the moment I want only a small [about 25 cm x 20cm] piece to check if my idea will work out, but if it does I'll use the rest of the EVA, but if it doesn't I'll have to find a use for it all!

No problems. One uses a rod/bar setter with a dome shape in the end. I use a bar one size larger than the rivet, eg for a 6mm rivet head I use a 7mm setter